Description
TitleA case study of Dwight Morrow High School and the Academies at Englewood
Date Created2011
Other Date2011-05 (degree)
Extentxii, 264 p. : ill., map
DescriptionThis study examines the impact of a voluntary school desegregation program—the Academies @ Englewood (A@E)—on the Dwight Morrow High School (DMHS)
campus in the upper-middle- class city of Englewood, New Jersey. The author of this dissertation conducted observations in both academic and social settings, in-depth interviews, surveys, and focus groups. The data that were collected and analyzed provided stark counter-narratives to the dominant discourse that linked diminished expectations and low academic ability with Black and Latino students at DMHS, but, in contrast, related academic privilege and cultural elitism with the racially heterogeneous students attending the A@E. Critical Race Theory in Education (Ladson-Billings & Tate, 1995; Solorzano & Yosso, 2001) was utilized as the theoretical framework in the analysis of the litigation that eventually led to the development and implementation of the A@E, to the current
cultures and organization of both academic programs, and to the academic and social experiences of the students in both programs. This research suggests the following: the A@E achieved its intended goal of attracting high- achieving White and Asian students to the DMHS campus and of providing a small
number (50 students per class) of high-achieving Englewood students with an academically rigorous high school option. However, the A@E students were not effectively integrated into the DMHS culture, but were, instead, kept isolated in a separate facility, where the A@E functioned as an autonomous, academically selective, school-within-a-school. Students who attended the A@E benefited from this rigorous,
enriched educational environment, but implementing the program fostered feelings of second-class citizenship in the DMHS students, who exhibited, and continue to exhibit, initiative in their ongoing attempts to maximize what they perceive to be limited
academic opportunities.
NotePh.D.
NoteIncludes bibliographical references
NoteIncludes vita
Noteby Emily Joy Jones McGowan
Genretheses, ETD doctoral
Languageeng
CollectionGraduate School - Newark Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Organization NameRutgers, The State University of New Jersey
RightsThe author owns the copyright to this work.