White Teachers' Critical Vigilance at One "No-Excuses" Urban Charter School

• In Event: 63.085 - MTCC Roundtable Session 26
  In Roundtable Session: 63.085-4 - What Is This? Teachers' Perceptions of Their Contexts

Abstract

This paper explores White teachers’ beliefs and decision-making from a majority White teaching staff at a “no-excuses” charter school in a large urban district. Specifically, this project explores the ways in which some White teachers enacted ‘critical vigilance’ during day-to-day classroom practices and reflection of policies. Teachers’ were assessed by interviews and observations during a year-long situated ethnography with an analysis of individuals’ dispositions and practice. As “no-excuses” public charters are replicated across the country, there continues to be prevailing stereotypes about populations in these spaces by teachers, the majority of whom are White. However, as evidenced in this study, White educators can be allies of students and demonstrate vigilance that disrupts deficit beliefs about students’ of color in classrooms.

Author

• L. Trenton S. Marsh, University of Central Florida