Principled Neglect and Compliance: Responses to No Child Left Behind and the Common Core State Standards at an Expeditionary Learning Middle School

• In Event: 14.043 - Roundtable Session 1
  In Roundtable Session: 14.043-9 - Conceptions and Critiques of No Child Left Behind and the Common Core State Standards: Listening to Voices From the Field

Abstract

This qualitative study of educators’ responses to No Child Left Behind and the Common Core State Standards at one Expeditionary Learning school investigates the role of leadership, teacher professionalism, and organizational affiliation in school-level implementation of federal education policy. This study used sense-making theory (Spillane, Reiser, & Reimer, 2002) and the concept of inquiry as stance (Cochran-Smith & Lytle, 2009) as complementary frameworks to unpack and analyze teachers’ and administrators’ conceptions and critiques of NCLB and CCSS. Findings demonstrate that principled neglect and principled compliance enabled the school to remain student-centered and aligned with the Expeditionary Learning philosophy.

Author

• Rebecca H. Stern, Boston College