Accountability Strain, College Readiness Drain: Sociopolitical Tensions Involved in Maintaining a College-Going Culture in a High 'Minority', High Poverty, Texas High School

University of North Carolina Press. 116 South Boundary Street, P.O. Box 2288, Chapel Hill, NC 27515-2288. Tel: 800-848-6224; Tel: 919-966-7449; Fax: 919-962-2704; e-mail: [email protected]; Web site: http://uncpress.unc.edu/

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Accountability; College Readiness; College Bound Students; High School Students; Minority Group Students; Poverty Areas; Educational Change; Educational Policy; Sanctions; Qualitative Research; Case Studies; Ethnography; Politics of Education; Stress Variables; Barriers; Exit Examinations; Information Dissemination; Educational Legislation; Federal Legislation; Academic Failure; Demography; Teacher Persistence; Labor Turnover; Disadvantaged Environment; Educational Environment; Advanced Placement Programs; Academic Achievement; Semi Structured Interviews

10.1353/hsj.2015.0001

0018-1498

Currently school reform discourse encourages states to adopt college readiness standards. Meanwhile, federal and state accountability and related mandated reforms remain a policy concern. As such, it is important to examine the interplay between accountability and the establishment of a college-going culture in high "minority", high poverty high schools. This qualitative case study integrated critical ethnographic approaches to examine how a high "minority", high poverty enrollment high school negotiated the politics of implementing a college-going culture in the midst of responding to state accountability sanctions. In-depth interviews with faculty and students as well as observations revealed that the state accountability sanctions were not the only stressors that conflicted with the establishment of a college-going culture. Multiple sociopolitical factors precipitated a negative academic climate as well. For instance, pressures to improve the high school's poor accountability rating led to a school-wide instructional focus on the state exit exam, which interfered with the school's college-going culture. Finally, while the school offered programs and supports that provided college information, this information was not disseminated in a systematic way that would reach all students.

As Provided

60

2015

EJ1051387