Precipitates of power within a middle school culture of success

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Date
2010
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Publisher
University of Alabama Libraries
Abstract

This dissertation explores how students, teachers, classified personnel, and administrators articulate definitions of success. Data collection occurred at a middle school and included individual and group interviews, student responses, and pictures. Critical Discourse Analysis is the primary framework used to understand how languages of success operate according to the articulations of individuals within the school. This study concluded that three distinct categories exist within the school culture of success: Administrative, Pedagogic, and Student. However, the dominant culture of success is the Administration's ideologies of success which was apparent through the replication of words and phrases by faculty members and students. The threecategories of success were documented according to how individuals used various languages of success to create meanings relevant to the areas of academic, social, and personal success. The school displayed its culture through both the languages of success used and the visual spaces that represent success to members of the school and of the community. The implications for this project are for educators to begin to grasp how abstract terms like success play pivotal roles in forming students' identities.

Description
Electronic Thesis or Dissertation
Keywords
Educational leadership, Curriculum development, Education policy
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