“In Real Life, You Have to Speak Up”: Civic Implications of No-Excuses Classroom Management Practices

Abstract

Conceptualizing educational inequality as equivalent to the “achievement gap” has fueled the expansion of no-excuses charters, which purport to raise test scores and thereby equalize opportunities for low-income students of color. In contrast, I argue that the individual provision of opportunity is inadequate to address the structural inequalities that create differential achievement, and thus that no-excuses schools cannot be assessed using test scores alone. This ethnographic study examines how no-excuses classroom management shapes students’ development as citizens. My findings suggest that no-excuses classroom management is not a supportive structure that enables academic achievement, but a restrictive and often unfair system that reinforces compliance to institutional authority. I contend that the consequences of this system are more likely to perpetuate than to ameliorate inequality.

A Qualitative Research Synthesis of the “No Excuses” Charter School Model

“…Teacher training is described in sampled studies in terms of socialization to an established model in which previous experience and preparation are not seen as desirable nor are teachers’ perspectives or innovations welcome. Indeed, teachers described “a lack of trust at the leadership level for the people who were doing the work” (Graham, 2017, p. 252) as well as a lack of “transparency between how decisions were being made on a school-wide level, particularly on a disciplinary level, and teachers” (Torres, 2014, p. 9).…”

“…Furthermore, teachers describe institutional pressure to fully implement school disciplinary practices. In the following field notes, Graham (2017) observes a teacher correcting her students by describing the institutional pressure being brought to bear on her:Ms. Campbell said to the class, “You need to sit up straight.…”

“…These teachers describe a “one size fits all” model (Graham, 2017, p. 247) that can have negative impact on student well-being and school culture. This teacher’s comments are instructive:I didn’t like the—maybe I didn’t feel great about the culture, how the kids were in the school, in our grade.…”

“…For example, when asked what advice he would give a new student in his school, this student responded: “Be silent most of the time. Just practice being silent, just sit in a room” (Graham, 2017, p. 133). These two students responded this way:…”

Accountability and (In)Congruence in a No-Excuses School College-Going Culture

“…However, scholars argue that no-excuses authoritarian practices that raise student achievement may paradoxically widen class-based gaps in noncognitive skills and citizenship education, undermining students’ long-term life chances (Ben-Porath, 2013; Graham, 2020; Sondel, 2015; Stahl, 2020). Golann (2015) contends that no-excuses school behavioral norms demand compliance, thus denying students opportunities to make decisions and negotiate with authority, skills that help people thrive in college and as citizens.…”