English Teachers' Negotiations With Professional Development: Toward Greater Justice and Academic Achievement in Urban Schools

• In Event: 16.061 - Roundtable Session 4
  In Roundtable Session: 16.061-20 - Multiple Spaces of Activism for Educators and Their Students

Abstract

This paper draws from a qualitative study of the professional development experiences of three equity-oriented English teachers who taught across three urban districts in two states. The paper illustrates the limited extent to which professional development provided by the teachers’ urban school districts and schools addressed social inequalities and their impact on student achievement. The paper further explores how the teachers transacted with multiple professional development opportunities, within and outside of their school districts and schools, to strengthen their social justice stances and teaching practices. Through their agentive practices of professional learning, these teachers became more successful at offering students’ learning experiences which foregrounded issues of diversity and inequality and that raised students’ academic achievement.

Authors

• Allison Skerrett, The University of Texas - Austin

• Thea Williamson, The University of Texas - Austin

• Amber Warrington, Boise State University