Maia Cucchiara
Datos Biográficos
| ID | 182153 |
|---|---|
| NOMBRE | Maia Cucchiara |
| NOMBRES | Maia |
| APELLIDO | Cucchiara |
| FIRMA | CUCCHIARA M |
| AFILIACIONES | Temple University |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-9111-7834 |
| VERIFICADO | Sí |
| TOTAL DE OBRAS | 20 |
| TOTAL DE CITAS | 233 |
| TOTAL COMO AUTOR | 20 |
| TOTAL COMO EDITOR | 0 |
| PRIMER AÑO DE PUBLICACIÓN | 2008 |
| AÑO MÁS RECIENTE DE PUBLICACIÓN | 2026 |
| ÍNDICE H | 6 |
Care, Success, and Accountability
Teacher expectations are key predictors of student outcomes, yet how they are produced and negotiated in practice remains understudied. Drawing on ethnographic research in two progressive high schools serving low-income students of color, we show expectations function less as individually held stable beliefs than as institutionally situated judgments that are continuously produced and revised through interaction and interpretation. We identify th…
‘We can’t lose you’
The COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent school closures forced educators to seek new means of engaging students, especially in schools serving low-income communities hit hard by the pandemic. This exploratory virtual ethnography, part of a larger study on the culture of progressive (or student-centered) schools, follows one innovative urban high school as it shifted from in-person to remote schooling. It documents how the school attempted to use Ins…
What is school culture? Proposing a new, integrative model
For decades, the term ‘school culture’ has been widely used in scholarly, policy, and popular discussions of education, school reform, and school leadership. Yet, school culture remains an abstract term, and different definitions abound. Moreover, important research on aspects of the school environment often does not fall under the purview of school culture research. Drawing from recent work in organizational sociology and cultural sociology, we …
Creating a space for regulation and reflection
In response to the growing awareness of trauma and its impact on student learning, schools across the country are implementing trauma-sensitive practices. Authors Maia Cucchiara and Mary Beth Hays describe an approach to trauma sensitivity in schools: the creation of restoration rooms, spaces designed to help students (and adults) return to a state of regulation. Restoration rooms are not for disciplining students. Instead, they are spaces equipp…
Bookshelf
In this regular column, Kappan authors recommend books and articles that have influenced them. In the September Bookshelf, Maia Cucchiara recommends Trust in Schools: A Core Resource for Improvement by Anthony Bryk and Barbara Schneider. Amie Rapaport recommends Becoming by Michelle Obama
I Feel Like a Hypocrite”
The Books Make You Feel Bad”
With ethnographic observations and in‐depth interviews of parenting classes serving middle‐ and upper‐middle‐class mothers, this paper explores how mothers engage and experience expert advice. Contemporary models of motherhood expect more than nurture and sacrifice; modern mothers must also be highly skilled and well informed. A wealth of information is available to help mothers navigate a high‐pressure environment in which their actions are beli…
Sometimes you have to pop them
Parenting education is designed to address problems associated with childhood poverty, but such programs have had limited success. This ethnographic study of a parenting class serving low-income African American mothers examines tensions between parents and instructors over the use of physical force in disciplining children or in resolving conflicts more broadly. The article uses the concept of cultural frames to analyze how parents and instructo…
I Just Need a Job!'' Behavioral Solutions, Structural Problems, and the Hidden Curriculum of Parenting Education
Parenting education programs aim to teach parents, often low-income mothers, a set of skills, behaviors, and attitudes believed to promote improved opportunities for their children. Parenting programs are often offered in schools, with instructors teaching pregnant or parenting teens about child development, attachment, and discipline strategies. Despite the large numbers of participants and significant public and private funding going to parenti…
Thinking Locally
A generation ago, billboards, flyers, or radio spots advertising a public school would have been unusual and surprising. Now they are an increasingly regular feature of the educational landscape. A
Seeking a ‘critical mass’
A growing body of literature has begun to explore the individual identities, motivations, and school choices of middle-class, typically white, parents who choose to reside in socioeconomically and racially mixed central city neighborhoods. Drawing on qualitative research in three US cities, we argue that a focus on middle-class parents’ collective engagement in schooling is particularly important in under-resourced urban contexts. In these enviro…
The Unacknowledged Disaster
Enter the Alternative School
I’ve Never Seen People Work So Hard!” Teachers’ Working Conditions in the Early Stages of School Turnaround
School turnaround—a reform strategy that strives for quick and dramatic transformation of low-performing schools—has gained prominence in recent years. This study uses interviews and focus groups conducted with 86 teachers in 13 schools during the early stages of school turnaround in a large urban district to examine teachers’ perceptions of the social and organizational conditions within their schools. The study shows that some turnaround school…
Middle‐Class Parents and Urban Public Schools
Middle‐class flight from urban public schools to suburban districts or private schools is a key source of educational inequality. Recently, however, a number of studies have focused on middle‐class and upper‐middle‐class families who have made a different choice, opting to remain in the city and send their children to neighborhood public schools. While the movement of advantaged families into urban public schools has received positive attention i…
Choosing selves
With the proliferation of choice policies in education, parents are increasingly positioned as ‘consumers’ tasked with choosing the ‘best’ school for their children. Yet a large body of research has shown that the process of selecting a school is far more complicated than policy-makers and researchers often predict. This article uses ethnographic data on middle-class parents in a large city who are considering sending their children to a diverse …
Marketing Schools, Marketing Cities
"Are We Doing Damage?" Choosing an Urban Public School in an Era of Parental Anxiety
There is an ample scholarly and popular literature describing the rise in "anxiety" among middle-class parents. This paper draws from a study of urban middle-class parents who were considering sending their children to public school. Focusing on one neighborhood and its school, it describes the impact of anxiety on the choice process. It further examines the emergence of a counter-movement among parents who saw their choice of the school as rejec…
Perils and Promises
Given recent trends, middle-class families may become an increasing presence in urban districts. Such parents could help secure badly needed resources and raise expectations. This study of parental involvement in two urban schools suggests that middle-class parental involvement may be more complex than often assumed. The authors find that middle-class parents bring myriad resources to urban schools and can be catalysts for change. However, the re…
Re‐branding urban schools
This article examines an effort to use urban schools to promote the revitalization of a large northeastern city in the United States. In order to attract and retain professional families to a regenerated central city, downtown schools are re‐branded and promoted to such families as suitable for their children. The article draws on interviews and observation in a particular downtown elementary school to examine the experiences of different groups …
Perils and Promises
Given recent trends, middle-class families may become an increasing presence in urban districts. Such parents could help secure badly needed resources and raise expectations. This study of parental involvement in two urban schools suggests that middle-class parental involvement may be more complex than often assumed. The authors find that middle-class parents bring myriad resources to urban schools and can be catalysts for change. However, the re…
Middle‐Class Parents and Urban Public Schools
Middle‐class flight from urban public schools to suburban districts or private schools is a key source of educational inequality. Recently, however, a number of studies have focused on middle‐class and upper‐middle‐class families who have made a different choice, opting to remain in the city and send their children to neighborhood public schools. While the movement of advantaged families into urban public schools has received positive attention i…
Choosing selves
With the proliferation of choice policies in education, parents are increasingly positioned as ‘consumers’ tasked with choosing the ‘best’ school for their children. Yet a large body of research has shown that the process of selecting a school is far more complicated than policy-makers and researchers often predict. This article uses ethnographic data on middle-class parents in a large city who are considering sending their children to a diverse …
"Are We Doing Damage?" Choosing an Urban Public School in an Era of Parental Anxiety
There is an ample scholarly and popular literature describing the rise in "anxiety" among middle-class parents. This paper draws from a study of urban middle-class parents who were considering sending their children to public school. Focusing on one neighborhood and its school, it describes the impact of anxiety on the choice process. It further examines the emergence of a counter-movement among parents who saw their choice of the school as rejec…
Re‐branding urban schools
This article examines an effort to use urban schools to promote the revitalization of a large northeastern city in the United States. In order to attract and retain professional families to a regenerated central city, downtown schools are re‐branded and promoted to such families as suitable for their children. The article draws on interviews and observation in a particular downtown elementary school to examine the experiences of different groups …
Seeking a ‘critical mass’
A growing body of literature has begun to explore the individual identities, motivations, and school choices of middle-class, typically white, parents who choose to reside in socioeconomically and racially mixed central city neighborhoods. Drawing on qualitative research in three US cities, we argue that a focus on middle-class parents’ collective engagement in schooling is particularly important in under-resourced urban contexts. In these enviro…
I’ve Never Seen People Work So Hard!” Teachers’ Working Conditions in the Early Stages of School Turnaround
School turnaround—a reform strategy that strives for quick and dramatic transformation of low-performing schools—has gained prominence in recent years. This study uses interviews and focus groups conducted with 86 teachers in 13 schools during the early stages of school turnaround in a large urban district to examine teachers’ perceptions of the social and organizational conditions within their schools. The study shows that some turnaround school…
I Just Need a Job!'' Behavioral Solutions, Structural Problems, and the Hidden Curriculum of Parenting Education
Parenting education programs aim to teach parents, often low-income mothers, a set of skills, behaviors, and attitudes believed to promote improved opportunities for their children. Parenting programs are often offered in schools, with instructors teaching pregnant or parenting teens about child development, attachment, and discipline strategies. Despite the large numbers of participants and significant public and private funding going to parenti…
Thinking Locally
A generation ago, billboards, flyers, or radio spots advertising a public school would have been unusual and surprising. Now they are an increasingly regular feature of the educational landscape. A
The Books Make You Feel Bad”
With ethnographic observations and in‐depth interviews of parenting classes serving middle‐ and upper‐middle‐class mothers, this paper explores how mothers engage and experience expert advice. Contemporary models of motherhood expect more than nurture and sacrifice; modern mothers must also be highly skilled and well informed. A wealth of information is available to help mothers navigate a high‐pressure environment in which their actions are beli…
Sometimes you have to pop them
Parenting education is designed to address problems associated with childhood poverty, but such programs have had limited success. This ethnographic study of a parenting class serving low-income African American mothers examines tensions between parents and instructors over the use of physical force in disciplining children or in resolving conflicts more broadly. The article uses the concept of cultural frames to analyze how parents and instructo…
Re‐branding urban schools
This article examines an effort to use urban schools to promote the revitalization of a large northeastern city in the United States. In order to attract and retain professional families to a regenerated central city, downtown schools are re‐branded and promoted to such families as suitable for their children. The article draws on interviews and observation in a particular downtown elementary school to examine the experiences of different groups …
Perils and Promises
Given recent trends, middle-class families may become an increasing presence in urban districts. Such parents could help secure badly needed resources and raise expectations. This study of parental involvement in two urban schools suggests that middle-class parental involvement may be more complex than often assumed. The authors find that middle-class parents bring myriad resources to urban schools and can be catalysts for change. However, the re…
Marketing Schools, Marketing Cities
"Are We Doing Damage?" Choosing an Urban Public School in an Era of Parental Anxiety
There is an ample scholarly and popular literature describing the rise in "anxiety" among middle-class parents. This paper draws from a study of urban middle-class parents who were considering sending their children to public school. Focusing on one neighborhood and its school, it describes the impact of anxiety on the choice process. It further examines the emergence of a counter-movement among parents who saw their choice of the school as rejec…
Middle‐Class Parents and Urban Public Schools
Middle‐class flight from urban public schools to suburban districts or private schools is a key source of educational inequality. Recently, however, a number of studies have focused on middle‐class and upper‐middle‐class families who have made a different choice, opting to remain in the city and send their children to neighborhood public schools. While the movement of advantaged families into urban public schools has received positive attention i…
Choosing selves
With the proliferation of choice policies in education, parents are increasingly positioned as ‘consumers’ tasked with choosing the ‘best’ school for their children. Yet a large body of research has shown that the process of selecting a school is far more complicated than policy-makers and researchers often predict. This article uses ethnographic data on middle-class parents in a large city who are considering sending their children to a diverse …
I’ve Never Seen People Work So Hard!” Teachers’ Working Conditions in the Early Stages of School Turnaround
School turnaround—a reform strategy that strives for quick and dramatic transformation of low-performing schools—has gained prominence in recent years. This study uses interviews and focus groups conducted with 86 teachers in 13 schools during the early stages of school turnaround in a large urban district to examine teachers’ perceptions of the social and organizational conditions within their schools. The study shows that some turnaround school…
Thinking Locally
A generation ago, billboards, flyers, or radio spots advertising a public school would have been unusual and surprising. Now they are an increasingly regular feature of the educational landscape. A
Seeking a ‘critical mass’
A growing body of literature has begun to explore the individual identities, motivations, and school choices of middle-class, typically white, parents who choose to reside in socioeconomically and racially mixed central city neighborhoods. Drawing on qualitative research in three US cities, we argue that a focus on middle-class parents’ collective engagement in schooling is particularly important in under-resourced urban contexts. In these enviro…
The Unacknowledged Disaster
Enter the Alternative School
I Just Need a Job!'' Behavioral Solutions, Structural Problems, and the Hidden Curriculum of Parenting Education
Parenting education programs aim to teach parents, often low-income mothers, a set of skills, behaviors, and attitudes believed to promote improved opportunities for their children. Parenting programs are often offered in schools, with instructors teaching pregnant or parenting teens about child development, attachment, and discipline strategies. Despite the large numbers of participants and significant public and private funding going to parenti…
The Books Make You Feel Bad”
With ethnographic observations and in‐depth interviews of parenting classes serving middle‐ and upper‐middle‐class mothers, this paper explores how mothers engage and experience expert advice. Contemporary models of motherhood expect more than nurture and sacrifice; modern mothers must also be highly skilled and well informed. A wealth of information is available to help mothers navigate a high‐pressure environment in which their actions are beli…
Sometimes you have to pop them
Parenting education is designed to address problems associated with childhood poverty, but such programs have had limited success. This ethnographic study of a parenting class serving low-income African American mothers examines tensions between parents and instructors over the use of physical force in disciplining children or in resolving conflicts more broadly. The article uses the concept of cultural frames to analyze how parents and instructo…
Creating a space for regulation and reflection
In response to the growing awareness of trauma and its impact on student learning, schools across the country are implementing trauma-sensitive practices. Authors Maia Cucchiara and Mary Beth Hays describe an approach to trauma sensitivity in schools: the creation of restoration rooms, spaces designed to help students (and adults) return to a state of regulation. Restoration rooms are not for disciplining students. Instead, they are spaces equipp…
Bookshelf
In this regular column, Kappan authors recommend books and articles that have influenced them. In the September Bookshelf, Maia Cucchiara recommends Trust in Schools: A Core Resource for Improvement by Anthony Bryk and Barbara Schneider. Amie Rapaport recommends Becoming by Michelle Obama
I Feel Like a Hypocrite”
‘We can’t lose you’
The COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent school closures forced educators to seek new means of engaging students, especially in schools serving low-income communities hit hard by the pandemic. This exploratory virtual ethnography, part of a larger study on the culture of progressive (or student-centered) schools, follows one innovative urban high school as it shifted from in-person to remote schooling. It documents how the school attempted to use Ins…
What is school culture? Proposing a new, integrative model
For decades, the term ‘school culture’ has been widely used in scholarly, policy, and popular discussions of education, school reform, and school leadership. Yet, school culture remains an abstract term, and different definitions abound. Moreover, important research on aspects of the school environment often does not fall under the purview of school culture research. Drawing from recent work in organizational sociology and cultural sociology, we …
Care, Success, and Accountability
Teacher expectations are key predictors of student outcomes, yet how they are produced and negotiated in practice remains understudied. Drawing on ethnographic research in two progressive high schools serving low-income students of color, we show expectations function less as individually held stable beliefs than as institutionally situated judgments that are continuously produced and revised through interaction and interpretation. We identify th…
Political science (14 obras) · Sociology (14 obras) · Psychology (12 obras) · Early Childhood Education and Development (8 obras) · Parental Involvement in Education (7 obras) · Pedagogy (7 obras) · Social Psychology (7 obras) · Developmental psychology (6 obras) · School Choice and Performance (6 obras) · Diverse Education Studies and Reforms (5 obras)