Becoming an Urban Teacher

• In Event: Roundtable Session 50
  In Roundtable Session: Teachers and Administrators in Schools

Abstract

One reason for teacher turnover in urban, high-poverty schools is an inability to manage student behavior. To remedy this problem, no-excuses schools provide intensive teacher coaching and standardized behavioral strategies. In my fieldwork at a no-excuses middle school, I find, however, that the school fails to curb teacher turnover. The school’s effort to refashion its teachers is limited by teachers’ own teaching ideals and dispositions. Teachers who are not a “natural” fit find it difficult to adopt an authoritative style. While some teachers adapt, others find that the school’s insistence on uniformity limits their own effectiveness. These findings reveal the difficulty of standardizing teaching practice, and provide empirical support for Bourdieu’s notion of the durability of the habitus.

Author

• Joanne Wang Golann, Princeton University