[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"doc-seo-601381-105":3,"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":81,"doc-detail-601381-en":130},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"ok",{"site_id":7,"language":8,"slug":9,"title":10,"keywords":11,"description":12,"schema_data":13,"social_meta":74,"head_meta":76,"extra_data":78,"updated_unix":80},105,"en","nuance-in-no-excuses-unexpected-progressive-pedagogy-and-policy","Nuance in “No Excuses” - Unexpected Progressive Pedagogy and Policy","","“No Excuses” charter schools are central to education policy debates surrounding test success, learning environments, and the role of strict discipline. The study examines two high-performing New York City charter schools using classroom observations, student surveys, and interviews with administrators, teachers, and students. Results show that success stems from features that diverge from standard definitions: progressive mathematics pedagogy, reflective and abridged discipline practices, and strong school cultures that retain both students and teachers. Findings indicate greater nuance in the model than previously recognized.",{"@graph":14,"@context":73},[15,34,56],{"@type":16,"itemListElement":17},"BreadcrumbList",[18,23,27,31],{"item":19,"name":20,"@type":21,"position":22},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",1,{"item":24,"name":25,"@type":21,"position":26},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/","Document",2,{"item":28,"name":29,"@type":21,"position":30},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/research-report/","Research & Report",3,{"item":32,"name":10,"@type":21,"position":33},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/nuance-in-no-excuses-unexpected-progressive-pedagogy-and-policy/601381/",4,{"url":32,"name":10,"@type":35,"image":36,"author":41,"headline":10,"publisher":44,"fileFormat":47,"inLanguage":8,"description":12,"dateModified":48,"datePublished":49,"encodingFormat":47,"isAccessibleForFree":50,"interactionStatistic":51},"DigitalDocument",{"url":37,"@type":38,"width":39,"height":40},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/nuance-in-no-excuses-unexpected-progressive-pedagogy-and-policy/601381.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":42,"@type":43},"hdkawk","Person",{"url":19,"name":45,"@type":46},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-10-30","2026-10-15",true,{"@type":52,"interactionType":53,"userInteractionCount":55},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":54},"ViewAction",5,{"@type":57,"mainEntity":58},"FAQPage",[59,65,69],{"name":60,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":62},"What debates does the study address about “No Excuses” charter schools?","Question",{"text":63,"@type":64},"It examines what drives their test success and learning environments, and whether strict behavior policies are necessary or harmful for students’ engagement with authority.","Answer",{"name":66,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":67},"How did the researchers investigate pedagogy and discipline in the schools?",{"text":68,"@type":64},"They conducted classroom observations, student surveys, and interviews with administrators, teachers, and students in two high-performing charter schools in New York City.",{"name":70,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":71},"What explains the success of top “No Excuses” schools according to the findings?",{"text":72,"@type":64},"Their success is linked to elements that move beyond standard “no excuses” definitions, including progressive mathematics pedagogy, reflective and abridged discipline practices, and strong cultures that help retain students and teachers.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":32,"og:type":75,"og:title":10,"og:site_name":45,"og:description":12},"article",{"robots":77,"canonical":32},"index,follow",{"doc_id":79,"site_id":7},601381,1792189399,{"code":4,"msg":82,"data":83},"success",[84,88,92,96,100,105,110,114,119,122,126],{"id":22,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":85,"show_sort_weight":86,"slug":87},"Story & Novel",90,"story-novel",{"id":26,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":89,"show_sort_weight":90,"slug":91},"Literature",80,"literature",{"id":33,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":93,"show_sort_weight":94,"slug":95},"Exam",70,"exam",{"id":55,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":97,"show_sort_weight":98,"slug":99},"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":101,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":102,"show_sort_weight":103,"slug":104},6,"Technology",50,"technology",{"id":106,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":107,"show_sort_weight":108,"slug":109},7,"Healthcare",40,"healthcare",{"id":111,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":29,"show_sort_weight":112,"slug":113},8,30,"research-report",{"id":115,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":116,"show_sort_weight":117,"slug":118},9,"Religion & Spirituality",20,"religion-spirituality",{"id":117,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":120,"show_sort_weight":117,"slug":121},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":123,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":124,"show_sort_weight":123,"slug":125},10,"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":127,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":128,"show_sort_weight":55,"slug":129},19,"General","general",{"code":4,"msg":82,"data":131},{"doc_id":79,"user_id":132,"nickname":42,"user_avatar":133,"doc_module":4,"category_id":111,"category_name":29,"doc_title":10,"doc_description":12,"doc_content":134,"file_id":135,"file_url":136,"file_type":137,"file_size":138,"view_count":55,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":22,"is_downloadable":22,"audit_status":22,"page_count":139,"language":140,"language_code":8,"site_id":7,"html_lang":8,"table_of_contents":141,"faqs":142,"seo_title":143,"seo_description":12,"update_tm":144,"read_time":145},3985747859855,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_276721f389ce27ea32af1340a28f341c","Nuance in “No Excuses”: Unexpected Progressive Pedagogy and Policy  \nMonique H. Harrison 1  \nEducation and Urban Society 2023, Vol. 55(3) 342–370 © The Author(s) 2022 Article reuse guidelines:  \n[sagepub.com/journals-permissions](sagepub.com/journals-permissions)[ ](sagepub.com/journals-permissions)[DOI: 10.1177/00131245221076096](DOI: 10.1177/00131245221076096)[ ](DOI: 10.1177/00131245221076096)[journals.sagepub.com/home/eus](journals.sagepub.com/home/eus)  \nAbstract  \n“No Excuses” charter schools are at the center of many debates in education policy. First, what accounts for their test success, excellent learning environments or merely test preparation? Second, are strict behavior policies necessary to create efficient learning environments or are they harmful to students and their ability to navigate authority? This study uses classroom observations, student surveys, and interviews of administrators, teachers and students to understand the dynamics of pedagogy and discipline in two high-performing charter schools in New York City. Surprisingly, what makes these top “no excuses” schools successful is what distances them from the “no excuses” standard definitions. The schools displayed progressive mathematics pedagogy, reflective and abridged discipline practices, and strong school cultures that retained both students and teachers. These findings suggest that there are more nuances in the “no excuses” model than previously known and which need to be understood before continued replication.  \nKeywords  \ncharter schools, educational reform, urban education  \n1 Stanford University, CA, USA  \nCorresponding Author:  \nMonique H. Harrison, Graduate School of Education, Stanford University, 520 Galvez Mall, Stanford, CA 94305, USA.  \n[Email: moniqueharrison@stanford.edu](Email: moniqueharrison@stanford.edu)  \nTesting success is complex. Does it reflect deep learning, excellent pedagogy, and supportive environments or rather test preparation and/or privilege?“No Excuses”(NE) charter schools live in this ambiguity—hailed for producing excellent results in both testing and college acceptance for underrepresented groups, and criticized for their harsh discipline policies, shallow test-oriented learning, and low college completion rates. But which is it? Or does it all exist simultaneously? Recent work has shown that harsh discipline policies themselves are not related to academic success and potentially damage nonacademic outcomes like social and behavioral skills (Golann & Torres, 2020) . How are these schools producing outcomes and is it worth it?  \nUnderstanding the relationship to learning and academic success in these schools is timely and important given that charter schools have now become a staple in many urban regions. In New York City (NYC), the context for this study, about 10% of students attend charter schools (Algar, 2016) . Charter networks like KIPP, Uncommon Schools, SuccessAcademy, andAchievement First each have many schools in the city (a combined total of 107 in NYC in January, 2020). These networks in particular embrace the “no excuses”(NE) banner, which is defined as touting high expectations, a college-going culture, extended school time, and strict behavior systems (Dobbie & Fryer, 2011; Golann, 2015; Goodman, 2013; Whitman, 2008) . A meta-analyses of NE charter schools points to increased test scores for these students (Chenget al., 2015). As suggested by Torres and Golann (2018), the mechanisms that are producing positive results need to be fully understood before advocating for broad replication of schools/school cultures that emphasize strict disciplinary procedures.  \nThe development of national standards and tests created an opportunity to understand the success of these NE schools. The changes brought by the Common Core Standards have, in math, placed an emphasis on number sense, critical thinking, and the utilization of multiple strategies, a diversion from the traditional practices that emphasized memoriz","cbCaih19zbRu6nLz","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaih19zbRu6nLz","pdf",640264,29,"English","# Abstract\n## Research focus\n## Methods\n## Findings\n## Implications","[{\"question\":\"What debates does the study address about “No Excuses” charter schools?\",\"answer\":\"It examines what drives their test success and learning environments, and whether strict behavior policies are necessary or harmful for students’ engagement with authority.\"},{\"question\":\"How did the researchers investigate pedagogy and discipline in the schools?\",\"answer\":\"They conducted classroom observations, student surveys, and interviews with administrators, teachers, and students in two high-performing charter schools in New York City.\"},{\"question\":\"What explains the success of top “No Excuses” schools according to the findings?\",\"answer\":\"Their success is linked to elements that move beyond standard “no excuses” definitions, including progressive mathematics pedagogy, reflective and abridged discipline practices, and strong cultures that help retain students and teachers.\"}]","Nuance in “No Excuses” - Unexpected Progressive Pedagogy and Policy | PDF",1792092500,73]