Moments or a Movement? Teacher Resistance to Neoliberal Education Reform

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Public school teachers in the USA are working in an era of intense interference from neoliberal reform policies. Corporate-driven forces are working to dismantle unions, narrow curricula, replace neighborhood schools with charter schools, tie student test scores to teacher evaluations and replace university-prepared career teachers with ‘elites’ from Teach for America who have five weeks of teacher training and a two-year commitment to teach in ‘high need’ schools. Nevertheless, teachers across the USA are engaging in social action to combat neoliberal reforms. This article examines instances of teacher action and asks: are these moments of teacher resistance or the beginning of a movement of teacher resistance to neoliberal school reform? ‘Mr Horn, could you please come see me in my office?’ Momentarily transported back in time to my own middle school years, I bravely answered, ‘Sure, Mrs Thomas.[1] I’ll be down in a minute.’ This was the first time Mrs Thomas, my principal, had called me to her office, but as I nervously weaved my way through the noisy halls of Pioneer Middle School and down the stairs, I was pretty sure why I had been summoned and only wondered why it had taken so long. About a week before, I had been formally observed by one of my assistant principals, Mrs Vaughn. All teachers at Pioneer were observed regularly by administration, and for language arts and math teachers, observations were in place to closely monitor our compliance with the prescribed America’s Choice curricula (America’s Choice, n.d.). Two years earlier, Pioneer had failed to make annual yearly progress (AYP) for five consecutive years, and in accordance with No Child Left Behind (NCLB) policy, and because it was a Title I school, Pioneer had been restructured. Through the restructuring process, a completely new administrative team had been brought in, 65% of the teaching staff was