Labels Are For Soup Cans: A Phenomenoglogical Study Of Elementary Principals' Experience With Ascribed School Status Under Georgia's Consequential Accountability System
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Brock, Dana Thomas
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Labels Are For Soup Cans: A Phenomenoglogical Study Of Elementary Principals' Experience With Ascribed School Status Under Georgia's Consequential Accountability SystemAbstract
The purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore the lived experiences of principals working in socioeconomically disadvantaged schools labeled as failing under the pressures and sanctions of test-based accountability. In this era of increasing accountability, strong leadership is crucial to improving the academic achievement in schools labeled as failing. Principals serving disadvantaged student populations in Title I schools are more likely to be penalized for failing to make adequate progress. This study was situated within the specific context of Title I schools labeled as failing. The need exists to understand the experience of negative reform mechanism and its meaning from the perspective of principals. Existing studies do not illuminate the perspective of school leaders. This study utilized an interpretative phenomenological analysis framework to understand how school leaders make sense of their ascribed school labels and consequential accountability mechanisms in the context of Title I schools. The findings from this study provided a deeper understanding of principals’ experiences and beliefs about their schools’ ascribed label. Findings were reported as four themes: responding to the school’s unique needs, feelings of stigmatization, the confluence of forces beyond the school’s control, and questioning fairness in comparisons. This study sought to draw attention to consequential accountability mechanisms as a matter of social justice. Findings of this study suggest that policymakers should focus on the implications of negative labels and structural inequalities in underperforming schools.Collections