ERIC Number: EJ1055070
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2015-Apr
Pages: 17
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0038-0407
EISSN: N/A
The Paradox of Success at a No-Excuses School
Golann, Joanne W.
Sociology of Education, v88 n2 p103-119 Apr 2015
No recent reform has had so profound an effect as no-excuses schools in increasing the achievement of low-income black and Hispanic students. In the past decade, no-excuses schools--whose practices include extended instructional time, data-driven instruction, ongoing professional development, and a highly structured disciplinary system--have emerged as one of the most influential urban school-reform models. Yet almost no research has been conducted on the everyday experiences of students and teachers inside these schools. Drawing from 18 months of ethnographic fieldwork inside one no-excuses school and interviews with 92 school administrators, teachers, and students, I argue that even in a school promoting social mobility, teachers still reinforce class-based skills and behaviors. Because of these schools' emphasis on order as a prerequisite to raising test scores, teachers stress behaviors that undermine success for middle-class children. As a consequence, these schools develop worker-learners--children who monitor themselves, hold back their opinions, and defer to authority--rather than lifelong learners. I discuss the implications of these findings for market-based educational reform, inequality, and research on noncognitive skills.
Descriptors: School Effectiveness, Educational Change, Urban Schools, Ethnography, Interviews, Charter Schools, Middle School Students, Middle School Teachers, Administrators, Student Experience, Discipline, Social Class
SAGE Publications. 2455 Teller Road, Thousand Oaks, CA 91320. Tel: 800-818-7243; Tel: 805-499-9774; Fax: 800-583-2665; e-mail: journals@sagepub.com; Web site: http://sagepub.com
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Middle Schools; Secondary Education; Junior High Schools
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) (NIH); National Institutes of Health (DHHS)
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: 5R24HD047879; 5T32HD007163