Freedom as Failure: Restricting Student and Teacher Autonomy at a “No Excuses” School

• In Event: 153 - Regular Session. School Choice and Market Models of Schooling

Abstract

How do students and teachers construct notions of autonomy? How do “No Excuses” schools understand and address these demands for autonomy? Although charter schools emerged as an option to provide increased autonomy for both families and teachers, “No Excuses” charter schools—one of the most promising new approaches to urban school reform—rely on a highly prescriptive set of pedagogical and disciplinary methods that restrict student and teacher autonomy. Drawing on 15 months of ethnographic fieldwork at a “No Excuses” school and over 100 interviews with students, school staff, and parents, I find that students and teachers shared similar concerns over not being trusted to make decisions. While school leaders recognized their concerns, they alternatively defined autonomy in terms of opting in and personal efficacy. The experiences of teachers and students, however, did not always resonate with school understandings of choice. This study raises questions about the relationship between choice and academic achievement among disadvantaged groups, and traces how policies of school choice and accountability translate on the ground.

Author

• Joanne Wang Golann, Princeton University