Principal Code Switching: How the Manufacturing of Capital Benefits Marginalized Students

• In Event: Black Women and Girls in the Education Pipeline

Abstract

This study aims to examine how one principal draws from her cultural capital to meet the science needs of her students in an urban school district. Through a case study, this research examines both the cultural and social capital that is strategically negotiated as the the elementary principal comes to decisions that accommodate the district, her parents, and students. With the adoption of the new science standards, this principal finds ways to strategically negotiate for what her students need in elementary science, as well to support the post-secondary needs of her students as they enter their community as professionals by code-switching.

Author

• Stefanie L. Marshall, Michigan State University