INQUIRY, POLICY, AND TEACHER COMMUNITIES: COUNTER MANDATES AND TEACHER RESISTANCE IN AN URBAN SCHOOL DISTRICT

This paper offers windows into two teacher inquiry communities that met regularly in Philadelphia during the 2010-2011 school year at a time when the school district was implementing a series of top-down mandates aimed at improving student achievement in low-income, low-performing schools. We document how teachers in both inquiry communities collectively grappled with neoliberal reforms and de-professionalizing initiatives and consider how these spaces offered opportunities for teachers to draw upon their own "counter-mandates" which included personal histories; their commitments to social justice; and the expertise of educators and scholars who informed their philosophies and practices. The paper concludes with implications for those working with teachers, especially ones in urban centers, in which neoliberal reform initiatives are increasingly shaping policy and informing teachers' experiences.