Achievement vs. Social Justice
This chapter discusses the use of an instructional model called platooning as a strategy to raise student achievement at a diverse, urban public elementary school. Pressure in schools, particularly on teachers, to demonstrate student growth on quantitative measures led teachers at this school to reorganize their instruction into a platooning model. This approach carried unanticipated consequences resulting in social justice issues for the students. The chapter covers the tensions that led to the adoption of the model and the theoretical constructs of social justice that were violated. Although these teachers would not describe what happened from a social justice framework, the level of concern for students, and the teachers’ determination to make empowered decisions on their behalf, demonstrates the fundamental concepts of the social justice agenda in public education.