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The Urban Review

, Volume 48, Issue 5, pp 743–765 | Cite as

Teacher Identity and Reform: Intersections Within School Culture

  • Heather Ann Bower
  • Eileen R. Carlton Parsons
Article
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Abstract

In the era of school accountability, school reform programs aimed at shifting school culture are often implemented in an attempt to increase student achievement as measured by standardized test scores. This ethnographic case study was conducted in Hawk Elementary, a low-performing, high-poverty school. Quantitative and qualitative data collected were analyzed for the purposes of investigating the intersection among school culture, teacher identity, and this type of education reform. Three composite teacher identities in relation to reform emerged from the data: the Believer, the Hopeful, and the Opposer. The influence of each of these identities on school reform is discussed.

Keywords

School culture School reform Teacher identity 
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Copyright information

© Springer Science+Business Media New York 2016

Authors and Affiliations

  • Heather Ann Bower
    • 1
  • Eileen R. Carlton Parsons
    • 2
  1. 1.Education DepartmentMeredith CollegeRaleighUSA
  2. 2.School of EducationUniversity of North Carolina at Chapel HillChapel HillUSA

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