Personal Consequences of Compliance and Resistance to Mandated Reforms for Teachers in Low-Performing Schools

• In Event: Situated Pedagogical Decision Making

Abstract

This case study presents the personal dilemmas of teachers working in a high poverty, racially segregated, low-achieving school district when confronted with recent changes in the state’s high stakes assessment and the district’s mandate to “teach to the test.” Both teachers were conflicted as they saw these changes challenging their abilities to engage their students in meaningful learning activities through a process of weaving together their knowledge of content, with an understanding of their students’ abilities, interests, and needs. The adversarial climate that resulted reduced the creative moments available to the teachers, constrained their abilities to respond to emergent needs in the classroom, marginalized, and caused them to respond to district initiatives that lead to both compliance and resistance.

Authors

• Martha A. Adler, University of Michigan - Dearborn

• Christopher Burke, University of Michigan - Dearborn