This book explores how, why, and with what consequences one no-excuses charter network marketizes teaching and learning, through the author’s 1000 hours of covert participant observation at a network charter school. In her research, Brooks found that the “AAG” (pseudonym) network re-conceptualized teaching by urging staff to envision their careers in corporate education rather than in classroom teaching. While some employees received a boost up the corporate ladder, others found themselves being pushed out of the organization. Despite AAG’s equity-conscious discourse, administrators emphasized controlling student behavior as a central measure of teaching effectiveness. Brooks develops the concept of creative compliance to describe the most successful teachers’ tactics for adhering to formal policies strategically, bending the rules in order to survive and advance in a workplace fraught with competition and insecurity.
Author(s): Erinn Brooks
Publisher: Palgrave MacMillan
Year: 2020
Language: English
Pages: 194
City: Cham
Acknowledgments
Contents
List of Figures
List of Tables
1 Market-Centered Mania and Network Charter Schools
1.1 A Brief History of Charter Schools
1.1.1 Types of Charter Schools
1.1.2 The No-Excuses Model
1.1.3 The No-Excuses Network Niche
1.2 Market-Centered Reform
1.2.1 Accountability
1.2.2 Accountability Among Charter Networks
1.2.3 Competition
1.2.4 Competition Among Charter Networks
1.2.5 Scale
1.2.6 Scale Among Charter Networks
1.3 Market Mania Meets the New Paternalism
1.4 Overview of the Book
References
2 Going Undercover at Eclipse
2.1 The AAG Network
2.1.1 Building the Brand
2.2 Eclipse Prep
2.2.1 Student Characteristics
2.2.2 Staff Characteristics
2.3 Data Collection
2.3.1 Data
References
3 AAG’s Frontstage
3.1 AAG’s Frontstage
3.1.1 Achieving Measurable Results
3.1.2 Marketing the AAG Brand
3.1.3 Recruiting and Retaining Customers
3.2 Marketization and Paternalism at Work
3.2.1 Staffing AAG Schools
3.2.2 Standardizing the Labor Process
3.2.3 Surveilling the Labor Process
3.3 Front and Center
References
4 Eclipse’s Backstage
4.1 Eclipse’s Backstage
4.1.1 Managing Student Behavior
4.1.2 Policing the Details
4.1.3 Inciting Fear Instead of Feeling Afraid
4.2 Discussion and Conclusion
References
5 Competing on AAG’s Career Ladder
5.1 Tracking the Teachers
5.2 Re-Conceptualizing the Teaching Profession
5.2.1 Promotion Track
5.2.2 Plateau Track
5.2.3 Turnover Track
5.3 Communicating Track Membership
5.3.1 Formal Methods
5.3.2 Informal Methods
5.4 Cultivating Track Investment
5.4.1 Resisting and Reinforcing Track Boundaries
5.5 Eliminating Nonperformers
5.6 The Consequences of Competition
References
6 Complying Creatively with AAG’s Blueprint
6.1 Navigating Formal Policy on the Ground
6.1.1 Formal Policy: Keeping Kids in the Room
6.1.2 The Challenge of Keeping Kids in the Room
6.2 Complying Creatively
6.2.1 Creative Compliance: Matthews Sending Students Out—For Pullouts
6.2.2 Failed Creative Compliance: Crosby Sending Students Out—For Pullouts
6.2.3 Contested Creative Compliance: Neal Sending Students Out—To Other Classrooms
6.2.4 Resigned Compliance: Daniels Sending Students Out—To a VP
6.2.5 Noncompliance: Flynn Sending Students Out—To the Hallway
6.3 Discussion and Conclusion
References
7 Covering AAG’s Tracks
7.1 Introducing Student Success Coaches
7.1.1 Classroom Coverage
7.1.2 Mutual Surveillance
7.2 TA Resistance
7.2.1 Claiming Hours and Protecting Time
7.2.2 Outsiders Within
7.3 Carrots and Sticks
References
8 AAG Dreams and Eclipse Realities
8.1 Implications
8.1.1 Re-Conceptualizing the Teaching Profession
8.1.2 Consequences
8.2 The Quality of Schooling Under Marketization
8.2.1 Organizational Instability
8.2.2 Social Reproduction
8.2.3 Equity-Conscious Discourse
8.3 Conclusion
References
Appendices
Appendix A/Participant Table
Appendix B/Methodological Reflections
Gaining Access
Data Analysis
On Covert Research
References
Index
