Teachers' challenges and the promise of equitable classrooms: why students who need more get less

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dc.contributor.authorWood, Suzanne
dc.contributor.supervisorGray, Garry C
dc.date.accessioned2018-09-28T21:39:30Z
dc.date.copyright2018en_US
dc.date.issued2018-09-28
dc.degree.departmentDepartment of Sociology
dc.degree.levelMaster of Arts M.A.en_US
dc.description.abstractThe education of youth in the United States has become a highly contested subject over the past decades. This thesis argues that one of the earliest institutions American citizens encounter – the public school system – organizes the work of many teachers in ways that reproduce inequality of opportunity for students. Drawing on qualitative data from fourteen in-depth interviews with experienced elementary school teachers in Los Angeles, this thesis illustrates how teachers experience and navigate specific structural barriers to the pursuit of equity in the classroom. Applying social reproductive theory to teacher interviews, this research discovered how, despite rhetorical commitment to equality of opportunity in education student outcomes continue to vary according to the socioeconomic status of the student population. This will help us understand systemic barriers built into the structure of the education system. These barriers operate as obstacles that teachers and students must navigate, in order to achieve success. This thesis argues that teachers should begivenmore flexibility to assess the needs of each specific class and adapt their curriculum and strategies to meet those needs. Unfortunately, in the current test-score driven system, schools with the lowest performing students are the ones whose administrations are under the most pressure to improve the low scores rather than fix the problems associated with low scores. As such, the teachers that need this flexibility the most, are the ones whose administrations keep them on the tightest rein, further reducing their ability to utilize their knowledge and implement effective strategies in the classroom. The result is the self-perpetuating cycle of inequality reproduction that we can see across North America today.en_US
dc.description.embargo2019-08-13
dc.description.scholarlevelGraduateen_US
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/1828/10114
dc.languageEnglisheng
dc.language.isoenen_US
dc.rightsAvailable to the World Wide Weben_US
dc.subjectSociology of Educationen_US
dc.subjectInequality in Educationen_US
dc.subjectClass Based Inequalityen_US
dc.subjectEducationen_US
dc.subjectTeacher Accountabilityen_US
dc.subjectTeacher Attonomyen_US
dc.subjectTeacher Challengesen_US
dc.subjectAddministrative Constraints when teachingen_US
dc.subjectEducation Institutionsen_US
dc.subjectSocial Mobilityen_US
dc.subjectEducation for Social Mobilityen_US
dc.subjectsocioeconomic statusen_US
dc.subjectequal opportunityen_US
dc.subjectcycles of inequalityen_US
dc.titleTeachers' challenges and the promise of equitable classrooms: why students who need more get lessen_US
dc.typeThesisen_US

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