Scripting the Moves: Culture and Control in a "No-Excuses" Charter School

by Joanne W Golann

An inside look at a "no-excuses" charter school that reveals this educational model’s strengths and weaknesses, and how its approach shapes students

Silent, single-file lines. Detention for putting a head on a desk. Rules for how to dress, how to applaud, how to complete homework. Walk into some of the most acclaimed urban schools today and you will find similar recipes of behavior, designed to support student achievement. But what do these “scripts” accomplish? Immersing readers inside a “no-excuses” charter school, Scripting the Moves offers a telling window into an expanding model of urban education reform. Through interviews with students, teachers, administrators, and parents, and analysis of documents and data, Joanne Golann reveals that such schools actually dictate too rigid a level of social control for both teachers and their predominantly low-income Black and Latino students. Despite good intentions, scripts constrain the development of important interactional skills and reproduce some of the very inequities they mean to disrupt.

Golann presents a fascinating, sometimes painful, account of how no-excuses schools use scripts to regulate students and teachers. She shows why scripts were adopted, what purposes they serve, and where they fall short. What emerges is a complicated story of the benefits of scripts, but also their limitations, in cultivating the tools students need to navigate college and other complex social institutions―tools such as flexibility, initiative, and ease with adults. Contrasting scripts with tools, Golann raises essential questions about what constitutes cultural capital―and how this capital might be effectively taught.

Illuminating and accessible, Scripting the Moves delves into the troubling realities behind current education reform and reenvisions what it takes to prepare students for long-term success.

Genres: Education, Academic, Sociology, Ethnography

248 pages, Hardcover

First published June 8, 2021

Reviews

[Trish Serpa · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really appreciated how this author organized and processed her study of a no-excuses charter school. She gave voice to many of my own experiences, drawing connections between the daily experience of control and antagonism at charters and broader social, political, and economic trends. This book effectively wove together the relationship between the day-to-day operations of a school and a commentary on the climate of education in the United States. While I felt that most of what she said resonated with my own experiences, I also think that it left me wanting to read more about the author's conclusions and solutions to some of the issues raised.

[Nola · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was really interesting and I learned so much about charter schools

[Yisu Z. · Rating 4 out of 5]

范本型当代教育社会学写作，关于文化资本的另一种（聪明）的阐释：文化资本不单单是norm，品味，情感，更是一种互动技能（这个观点值得推敲和批评，以后再说）。这种no-excuses 学校（类似毛坦厂，当然形式不一样），利用很严格的文化脚本来规训学生，虽然提高了成绩，稳定了纪律，但也让学生丧失了体验／发展互动的机会，以及其他blablabla。但是对学校这种「既要也要」的视角无疑意味着提出一项巨大无比的要求，哪里的学校可以做到？书中此类学校无疑是一种极端教育，更让读者思考的是在其他社会机构里，有可能产生那种轻松的自然感吗？

[Cathy Zhu · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great read, learned a lot about the history and effects of the no excuse charter school movement. Definitely affirmed my thoughts on this issue. Super well written too, felt like I was reading a story.

[Fatara · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great book - focused on understanding classrooms in charter schools - lots of food for thought!

[Jordyn Case · Rating 4 out of 5]

Golann writes an eye opening account on the institutions of charter schools and how they operate to achieve their goal.

[Deanna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Scripting the Moves was interesting, insightful, informative, and a must-read for urban (school) policy makers and educators.

Note: I skipped over the “conclusion” section. I noticed it regurgitated the information that was presented throughout the entire book.

[Veronica Patrice · Rating 3 out of 5]

I felt like this could have been a really good book but it read too much like a text book.