Abstract
This article presents data from an ethnographic study focused on the school engagement of Puerto Rican girls. I explore the school engagement of Puerto Rican girls through the metaphor of passing. The findings demonstrate that despite variation between individual girls in academic achievement, all of the girls in the study suffered negative consequences from the limited ways that school engagement was constructed at their school. I argue that to understand and address the opportunity and achievement gap between Puerto Rican girls and other students, we must pay close attention to how this group of students is passing their time at school and to what passes as school engagement.
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Notes
Names of students, the school and teachers are pseudonyms.
Emphasis added by author on preceding quotes.
I also recorded individual interviews with each of the girls’ parents and twenty members of the JMS staff, 13 of which were with the girls’ primary subject teachers (Social Studies, Math, English, Reading, and Science).
Each scenario provided a student’s name, race/ethnicity, and gender as well as the parents’ occupation, educational background, and income level.
The difficulties of operating a school without a full, certified teaching staff were often voiced by administrators and teachers when they discussed teaching and learning at JMS. This problem was reflective of the School District’s struggle to employ qualified teachers for all classrooms. In the academic year 2000– 2001, JMS began the year with 21 teacher vacancies. These vacancies were the result of experienced teachers who transferred to other schools, retired or teachers who were out on maternity or sick leave. Classes were thus overcrowded and it was not unusual for students to have at least one long-term substitute (usually a non-certified, inexperienced teacher) as the teacher in one of their primary subjects.
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Special thanks to Sarah Jewett and Erin McNamara Horvat for their thoughtful feedback on multiple drafts of this article.
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Dow, R.R. Passing Time: An Exploration of School Engagement among Puerto Rican Girls. Urban Rev 39, 349–372 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11256-007-0063-9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11256-007-0063-9