“We aren’t what we say:” discontinuities of teacher beliefs and instructional practice at a “no-excuses” and high-achieving urban charter school

Abstract

ABSTRACT As ‘no-excuses’ charter schools (NECS) continue to (re)emerge as a discipline-focused approach, there continues to be limited empirical research documenting the beliefs of teachers within these contexts. This ethnographic study explored the beliefs of White teachers who enact the vision of a NECS, with Black and Latinx learners, in one of the largest U.S. cities. Data revealed that teachers had broader educational goals for students that did not concretely manifest in actual instruction in classrooms with students. Instead, teachers’ pedagogical beliefs became suppressed within the organisational context, which translated to repressive practices in ways that demonstrate implicit racial bias.