The Omnipresence of Administrative Data Work: Portraits of U.S. Teachers’ Digital Platform Labor During Instruction (Poster 25)

• In Event: AERA Promising Scholarship in Education Research: Dissertation Fellows and Their Research
  In Invited Poster Session: AERA Promising Scholarship in Education Research: Dissertation Fellows and Their Research Poster Session

Abstract

In this work I draw on classroom observation data that includes screen capture of urban secondary science teachers’ laptop screens as they teach. This data illustrates the digital administrative tasks teachers juggle while they are present with children. Through this data, I developed case studies that showcase that teachers’ instructional time is interrupted by the need to communicate in-the-moment data on student behavior to administrators and parents. Additionally, I find that teachers serving the most racially and socioeconomically marginalized students experienced these interruptions more frequently, as they maintained extensive logs of students’ micro-behaviors (e.g. duration of bathroom breaks, reward points for compliance). My findings raise questions about how to curb demands placed on teachers to conduct real-time digital surveillance on students.

Author

• Tess Bernhard, University of Pennsylvania