College-for-All and the Grammar of Schooling

• In Event: 63.061 - Changing the Grammar of Schooling? An Examination of Reform

Abstract

Purpose and Theoretical Framework

It has been almost a decade since President Obama launched the national “college-for-all” push, stating that that “every American will need to get more than a high school diploma” to be competitive in our global economy. Reforms designed to “de-track” high schools seek to provide universal access to the same rigorous college-prep sequence of courses to ensure college access for all (Mehan, 2012), yet the consequences of these policies are just beginning to emerge (Quartz et al., in press). In addition to increases in college enrollment rates of first-generation college students, the grammar of schooling is driving the expansion of credit recovery and the normalization of failure. Schools interpret the idea that all students must be batch processed to college by requiring that they take—and re-take until they pass—a set of required Carnegie units. This paper examines how schools face the challenge of mediating or disrupting the deficit orientation of routine failure that results from the “regular structures and rules that organize the work of instruction” (Tyack & Tobin, 1994, p. 454). By framing the implementation of college-for-all reform as a challenge to the grammar of schooling, this paper aims to capture the local moral codes (Ignatieff, 2017) and innovative practices that are redefining what it means to be college ready.

Methods and Data Sources

Using mixed methods, this study examines the local implementation of college-for-all reform in the context of an urban neighborhood K-12 public school that serves 1,000 high-poverty first-generation college-going students. Using longitudinal transcript data, college enrollment data, and student survey data for a cohort of 84 high school seniors, this study analyzes students’ credit recovery experiences by mapping their course-taking pathways, the variety of resulting postsecondary outcomes, and student reports about the quality of their school experience. Second, the study uses qualitative interview data from six teachers and school administrators along with school planning and accreditation documents to capture the set of norms and practices that shape students’ preparation for college.

Results and Scholarly Significance

The study found that despite initial enrollment in the same college-prep coursework in 9th grade, first-generation college going students travel a variety of course-taking pathways, or tracks, through high school. Almost half of the students studied experience college-for-all reform as a sequential re-taking of classes during the school year, online, and in the summer months. The paper describes the effect of these routine failures on students’ post-secondary trajectories and outlooks. For example, students who re-took the most classes were more likely to attend a 2-year college and report less support from teachers. Mediating these experiences, the paper describes innovative structures, norms, and practices developed by the school to challenge the credit-based grammar of schooling. These included community internships, social action research projects, and interest-based seminars designed to actively engage students, affirm their home languages, and develop their college-going identities. The paper contributes to research on college-for-all reform implementation by describing the need to disrupt the normalization of failure by challenging the grammar of credit recovery in high schools.

Author

• Karen Hunter Quartz, University of California - Los Angeles