"We Bring Out the Best": Exploring Teacher and Student Positioning in Early College High Schools

• In Event: High School Counselors and Teachers and College Access

Abstract

Early college high schools (ECHSs) allow historically underrepresented students to earn up to an associate degree during high school. While studies have documented the model’s effectiveness, ECHS teachers have received less attention. To gain insight into teachers’ practice and the ECHS contexts in which they work, this study examines teacher professional identity, asking how ECHS teachers position themselves vis-à-vis their students. Findings suggest that to legitimize their professional roles, ECHS teachers positioned their students in contradictory ways—as academically deficient on the one hand and elite on the other—usually relative to students in regular high schools. The study unpacks the intersections of professional identity, elitism, and ECHS reform, with implications for college access and equity.

Authors

• Julia Cassman Duncheon, University of Washington

• Dustin Hornbeck, University of Memphis