"Playing the Game" or "Buying In": Charter Teacher Professionalism Under School Choice and Accountability

• In Event: 41.083 - Roundtable Session 15
  In Roundtable Session: 41.083-8 - The Role of Teachers and Leaders in School Choice Policy

Abstract

Charter schools were created with the intention of empowering teachers to implement school and classroom strategies in accordance with their educational expertise. Yet charter schools have also have higher rates of teacher turnover and hire fewer credentialed, experienced teachers. In the context of shifting and contested notions of teacher professionalism, the charter school context provides insight into how teachers fare under contemporary educational policy arrangements. This comparative qualitative case study seeks to understand how teacher professionalism is defined, enacted, and experienced in charter schools. By studying teacher professionalism in charter schools, this study addresses the changing context of teaching and implications for the future of teaching as a profession.

Author

• Beth Wright-Costello, Loyola University Chicago