Super structures: an exploration of teachers' responses to student behavioral management systems in "no excuses" charter schools / Mary Elizabeth Del Savio.

Format:

Book

Manuscript

Thesis/Dissertation

Author/Creator:

Del Savio, Mary Elizabeth, author.

Contributor:

Remillard, Janine, degree supervisor, degree committee member.

Goodman, Joan F., degree committee member.

Schultz, Katherine, degree committee member.

University of Pennsylvania. Department of Education, degree granting institution.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Penn dissertations--Education.

Education--Penn dissertations.

Local Subjects:

Penn dissertations--Education.

Education--Penn dissertations.

Physical Description:

vii, 233 leaves : illustrations ; 29 cm

Production:

[Philadelphia, Pennsylvania] : University of Pennsylvania, 2016.

Summary:

This study explores teachers' reactions to and reflections on learning and implementing so-called No Excuses style student behavioral management systems employed in some charter schools. To date, research on these systems has focused primarily on student achievement outcomes, such as graduation rates and performance on standardized tests (Berends, 2015). Absent from the literature is an investigation into the various ways in which teachers learn, engage with, and respond to these practices. Existing research suggests that teachers would experience tensions over the loss of autonomy in navigating the social aspects of the classroom (Ingersoll, 2003). Moreover, teachers' work is moral work (Campbell, 2003; Goodman & Lesnick, 2001; Sanger & Osguthorpe, 2013; Sockett, 1993; Tom, 1984), and the act of sanctioning students' behavior raises ethical questions. For these reasons, it was hypothesized that teachers would experience tensions between acting in accordance with their own values and implementing the behavioral management system as designed, and that they would resist these constraints.

Therefore, the guiding questions for this research were: what are teachers' initial and developing reactions to implementing the No-Excuses behavioral management systems? What is the impact of learning and implementing these systems on teachers' developing identities over time? A series of semi-structured interviews were conducted with twelve teachers who were prepared for teaching through a single alternative certification program, City Educators, and placed in No Excuses charter schools in a large northeastern city.

An initial analysis of the data revealed that, contrary to the predictions of the existing research, educators experienced mild tensions while learning and implementing the behavior management plans but reported little resistance. While No Excuses contexts constrain certain aspects of teachers' autonomy, new educators may also experience these systems as empowering rather than limiting. Since the scripted approach to classroom management defines student "misbehavior" as well as the resulting penalties, new teachers are, in a sense, relieved of making their own decisions. In this way, the systems permit teachers to defer responsibility, excusing them from wrestling with, and taking full responsibility for, ethical dilemmas as they arise in practice.

Notes:

Ph. D. University of Pennsylvania 2016.

Department: Education.

Supervisor: Janine Remillard.

Includes bibliographical references.

OCLC:

974559505