"I Feel Like a Hypocrite": How Teachers Navigate School Choice in an Urban District

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session 12
  In Roundtable Session: Educational Policies and Reforms: Reactions, Responses, and Adaptations

Abstract

This study examines how urban high school teachers employed in different types of schools make sense of school choice. We found that while teachers valued certain affordances of school choice, many characterized their school’s model or choice type as inconsistent with their desire for equitable public school systems. Teachers struggled to reconcile this internal conflict but did so by focusing on equitable aspects of their schools and on the bureaucratic barriers or programmatic failings of traditional public schools. Further, we argue that policy context and school model represent understudied aspects of teachers’ working conditions. As AERA collectively considers equitable education systems, this work suggests that while policymakers and leaders embrace choice-based portfolio systems, for teachers, the situation is more complicated.

Authors

• Sophia Seifert, Temple University

• Maia B. Cucchiara, Temple University