This narrative study examines a failed attempt to unionise an urban charter school. To investigate why this effort failed, I construct two competing 'stories of the school' -- the discursive narratives each side told about how the school operates, who it serves, and how it fits into a larger battle for educational, racial, and economic justice. I…

School counselors serve students' academic, career, and social/emotional needs through a comprehensive school counseling program, and center their work on concepts of equity, advocacy, social justice, and systemic change, to remove barriers and increase opportunities for all PK-12 students. Charter schools are also unique public school settings as…

This qualitative case study focuses on the impact of neoliberal education reform on an urban charter school serving students of Color. This study has two main objectives: to examine how neoliberal reform influences the goal-oriented actions of data meetings (DMs) in an urban elementary school and engages in a formative intervention methodology to…

This article examines the rise of charter schools in New York City through the lens of representation of educators on school governing boards. During its inception in the early 1990s, the charter school movement garnered support from progressives and conservatives alike. Albert Shanker, longtime head of the American Federation of Teachers,…

Departing from mainstream accounts of the post-Katrina New Orleans state takeover and the more recent "unification" of schools under local governance, this case study utilizes the plantation (Hartman, 1997; Woods, 1998, McKittrick, 2011) as a theoretical device and the silenced archive (Trouillot, 2015) as a method of inquiry to better…

Restorative justice practices are an increasingly popular approach to behavioral management, rooted in relationships rather than the behaviorist approach of many traditional forms of schooling. Research on restorative practice implementation demonstrates that schools rarely have time to consider cultural change, as they rush to reduce suspensions…

With this paper, we present an autoethnographic analysis of one traditionally trained teacher's experience working in an urban charter school with predominantly TFA-trained colleagues. To begin, we provide a review of literature that highlights the research landscape's hyper-focus on the experiences of TFA CMs, after which we describe the…

School systems have taken on greater roles in guiding and supporting classroom instruction by redesigning their "educational infrastructure" -- the coordinated resources, structures, and norms that support teachers' work and drive instructional improvement. However, teachers often adapt or resist common instructional approaches citing…

School systems have taken on greater roles in guiding and supporting classroom instruction by redesigning their "educational infrastructure"--the coordinated resources, structures, and norms that support teachers' work and drive instructional improvement. However, teachers often adapt or resist common instructional approaches, citing…

Over the past two years, there have been calls for racial justice in nearly every sphere of social and political life, including the field of education. As much of the nation reeled at yet another life violently taken at the hands of a police officer, education workers faced the challenge of responding to local and national demands for policy…

In the spring of 2020, the COVID-19 virus shuttered schools across the country and world and calls for racial justice expanded into nearly every sphere of social and political life as the nation reeled at another life violently taken at the hands of a police officer. School system leaders faced difficult decisions about delivering instruction…

In the wake of the tragedy and destruction that came with Hurricane Katrina in 2005, public schools in New Orleans became part of an almost unthinkable experiment--eliminating the traditional public education system and completely replacing it with charter schools and school choice. Fifteen years later, the results have been remarkable, and the…

Educational innovations such as 'no-excuses' charter schools have emerged as a discipline-focused approach to schooling as they are predicated on communicating high-expectations and personal responsibility. As 'no-excuses' charters are replicated across the United States as part of a neoliberal education reform policy, there continues to be…

In the United States, charter school proliferation remains a top priority for neoliberal education reformers and their private sector allies. Such schools are owned and run by private operators yet receive public funding, resulting in large transfers of public assets into private hands. Co-location facilitates this process by providing charters…

Silent, single-file lines. Detention for putting a head on a desk. Rules for how to dress, how to applaud, how to complete homework. Walk into some of the most acclaimed urban schools today and you will find similar recipes of behavior, designed to support student achievement. But what do these "scripts" accomplish? Immersing readers…