Anticipation, Reorganization, and Preemption: A Study of Pre-Implementation at Adams School

• In Event: 435 - Section on Sociology of Education Roundtables (one-hour)
  In Refereed Roundtable: Table 15. Politics, Curriculum and Reform

Abstract

Accountability policy has become a central, resilient approach for achieving equality in education. We see this in the ongoing enactment of the No Child Left Behind Act and the recent adoption of the Common Core Standards. However, scholars assert that NCLB has exacerbated inequality by encouraging schools to “game the system” and focusing punitive attention towards schools that serve underserved populations. I study one such school, Adams, to unpack the ways reactivity and organizational context combine to shape behavior under acute accountability pressure. Adams provides a particularly apt setting for this study for two reasons. First, it has consistently failed under NCLB and has been on academic probation for over ten years. Second, it is a high-poverty, high-minority school that has been plagued with local gang and drug issues for decades. Whereas much of the education policy literature studies implementation as beginning on the day a policy is formally implemented, I take the logically prior step and study what Adams does in anticipation of the implementation of the Common Core Standards. I argue that these activities lay the foundation for policy implementation and play an important role in the form policy takes over time. I draw on complementary insights that outline the role of forward-looking orientation in shaping preemptive, preparatory, and protective behavior. I analyze leadership interviews to outline the ways Adams strives to prepare for policy shifts as it grapples with the challenges specific to its neighborhood and student population.

Author

• Debbie Heesun Kim, Northwestern University