ERIC Number: EJ1131028
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2017
Pages: 19
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0268-0939
EISSN: N/A
"More [Time] Is Better or Less Is More?" Neoliberal Influences on Teaching and Learning Time
Roda, Allison
Journal of Education Policy, v32 n3 p303-321 2017
This article examines the neoliberal influences on "Port City Schools" (PCS) unique district-wide extended learning time (ELT) initiative. Despite the recent popularity of ELT in urban schools, there have been few qualitative studies that question how stakeholders make sense of ELT on the ground. This research fills that gap in the literature by exploring ELT programming across PCS's choice and neighborhood K-8 schools. The interview and observation data reveal an inherent tension between "more time is better" in the enrichment-filled choice schools and "less is more" in the intervention-filled neighborhood schools. Findings illuminate the ways in which school choice, neighborhood segregation, and high stakes testing push the district to use ELT to boost test scores in the lower performing neighborhood schools, while the choice schools are given flexibility in ELT programming because they are meeting expectations for student success. Because neoliberalism fails to take into account the strong relationship between test scores and socio-economics and school choice and segregation, it leads to a cycle of inequality in which children in the choice schools receive a well-balanced curriculum and children in the neighborhood schools get test preparation during ELT. Fixing this system could fix inequalities in ELT programming across all schools.
Descriptors: Neoliberalism, School Districts, Qualitative Research, Urban Schools, School Choice, Correlation, Achievement Tests, Scores, School Segregation, Test Preparation, Equal Education, School Schedules, Enrichment Activities, Educational Practices, Elementary School Students, Middle School Students, Interviews, Focus Groups, Stakeholders, Case Studies, Administrator Attitudes, Teacher Attitudes, Counselor Attitudes, Race, Ethnicity, Lunch Programs, Charter Schools, Institutional Characteristics, Hispanic Americans, Statistical Analysis, Low Income
Routledge. Available from: Taylor & Francis, Ltd. 530 Walnut Street Suite 850, Philadelphia, PA 19106. Tel: 800-354-1420; Tel: 215-625-8900; Fax: 215-207-0050; Web site: http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Elementary Education; Middle Schools; Secondary Education; Junior High Schools
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A