Teacher resistance to improvement of schools with diverse students

Abstract

Two university researchers who have considerable practitioner and research experience in urban schools conducted an interventionist action research project in collaboration with the professional staff of a diverse urban elementary school. The goal was to collaborate with the administration, faculty and staff in an average urban elementary school to improve the academic success of all students and all student groups regardless of the race, ethnicity and family income of the students and their families. While analyses of the school’s state accountability data indicated that there was some improvement in the academic success of the school’s diverse students, particularly among the lowest scoring student group, problems that arose in this process led the researchers to identify four themes of resistance to school change. These were ‘externals are the cause of low achievement and achievement gaps’, ‘accountability systems are destructive to my teaching’, ‘suggesting change is critique’ and ‘we are not leaders’. Following a description of the themes, implications and recommendations are briefly discussed.

Notes

1. Some scholars, like Perry et al. (2003), have critiqued the very notion of the ‘achievement gap’. For example, they argued that:

 when speaking of the ‘achievement gap’ it is understood by virtually everyone that this does not refer to a gap between Africans and Asians or a gap between Africans and Latinos or a gap between Africans and anyone else other than Europeans. Therefore, right away, it seems that something more than achievement is being discussed when the gap language is used. (p. 137)

2. Baker Elementary is a pseudonym for the school.

3. Both authors were teachers, and the first author was a school leader for nearly 10 years.

4. These are the race and ethnicity categories used by the Texas Education Agency and not those we would necessarily use.