Negotiating Mandates and Memory: Inside a Small Schools Network for Immigrant Youth

Abstract

Context Networks are seen as important vehicles for educators’ professional development because they provide opportunities for educators to develop their teaching and leadership capacities and establish forums for educator resistance. Networks that also function as intermediary organizations provide spaces in which educators and network leaders can bridge and buffer the external demands of accountability policies. Focus of Study This article considers how the Internationals Network for Public Schools (Internationals Network) contends with the often incompatible external demands of current accountability policies, and the internal professional and pedagogical practices of their schools. First, this article explores the challenges that the International schools encounter as they negotiate commitments to inquiry-based learning and local decision making in the context of top-down mandates. Second, it discusses the history, practices, and internal challenges of the network. Finally, it provides examples of how the network acts as a bridge and buffer for the schools as it negotiates current external accountability pressures. Setting The International High Schools serve a population of recently arrived immigrant youth from over 90 countries, who speak over 50 languages and come from socioeconomic backgrounds that qualify most for free lunch. The International High Schools constitute a network of nine public high schools throughout New York City and one newly opened school in Oakland, California. The term network is used here to refer to both the nonprofit intermediary organization, Internationals Network, and the community of Internationals educators across schools. Research Design This case study engages Shore and Wright's (1997) approach to the anthropology of policy that involves exploring policies through various sites to understand how the discourses, provisions, and technologies of education policies are encountered, experienced, and negotiated by different members of a community. This article is based on participant observation of network meetings and retreats, and interviews with educators and leaders within the Internationals Network that took place over a period of 2 years. Findings This study finds that the role of the network is critical in the Internationals context because it creates spaces for fostering professional community and contending with the multiple external demands of accountability policies. This study also concludes that the institutional knowledge and historical memory that has grown over time within and between International schools is a significant resource for educators as they negotiate external challenges. Finally, this study calls for an accountability of policy itself in which policy makers consider how education policies are experienced by youth, educators, and schools.

bELonging: Do Students Classified as English Learners Feel Included?

“…However, another body of literature suggests that schools can create inclusive and welcoming classroom environments for EL-classified students, which can result in expanded social interactions both inside and outside of classrooms, as well as strong relationships between teachers and students (Hopkins et al, 2015; Jaffe-Walter, 2008; Jaffe-Walter & Patton Miranda, 2020; Lowenhaupt, 2014). For example, in a study of specialized schools for newcomer students, Jaffe-Walter and Patton Miranda (2020) assert that such programs “offer unique culturally affirming environments, educational opportunities, and safe spaces to develop linguistic skills and to transition to life in the United States” (p. 104).…”

Humans in Hierarchies: Intergroup Relations in Education Reform

“…The interaction of identity and power dynamics in hierarchical loosely coupled systems creates conditions that lead actors at lower levels of the system to stereotype actors at higher levels because they feel threatened by reforms coming from the top-down. Teachers often feel threatened by top-down reforms which can jeopardize the way they do their jobs, their relationships with students, and their job security (Baum, 2002; Conley & Glasman, 2008; Day, 2002; Hargreaves, 1998; Jaffe-Walter, 2008; Olsen & Sexon, 2009; Van Veen & Sleegers, 2006). The literature in organizational behavior on “threat rigidity” suggests that when individuals experience threat, they tend to rely and focus on their preconceived ideas, expectations, and stereotypes rather than considering a greater range of information (Staw et al, 1981).…”

Leaders’ Negotiation of Teacher Evaluation Policy in Immigrant-Serving Schools

“…In this paper, we focus on the role of school leaders as actors in the policy negotiation process and how they engage in the complex work to “craft coherence” between policy mandates and the internal communities of their schools (Jaffe-Walter, 2008; Honig & Hatch, 2004). Honig and Hatch (2004) conceives of this process as involving policy buffering or resisting policies that are incoherent with schools needs or “bridging” to negotiate with external actors to influence the terms of compliance.…”

“…However, given the ways that policies can lead to negative consequences for traditionally marginalized students, we argue that negotiating policy is a critical dimension of socially just leadership for schools serving immigrant EL students (Turner, 2020). Much has been written about how school-based accountability policies that utilize high stakes testing punish schools and teachers that serve these students (Jaffe-Walter, 2008). In addition, accountability pressures—to meet adequate yearly progress and avoid poor school ratings, for example—have led to the push-out and drop-out of immigrant ELs and the marginalization of teachers of EL students (Berliner, 2011; Dabach, 2015; Darling-Hammond & Cook-Harvey, 2018; Gichiru, 2014; Hakuta, 2011; Martin, 2016; Sunderman et al, 2005).…”