My (ongoing) reading reflections on McCloskey and Cann (2013)’s article titled “What a Difference a Label Makes: Positioning and Response in an Afterschool Tutoring Program”.
Deficit labeling is a persistent issue in the P-20 educational system. A case study about a free afterschool tutoring program demonstrated “how educational tracking and understandings of disability permeated tutoring spaces and influence[d] tutors’ instructional decisions” (p. 338). This case study sheds light on how deficit views were learned behavior and thinking from the systemic nature of inequality in our educational institutions.
The purpose of this study was “to gain an understanding of how college-age tutors and their middle school tutees managed conversations about race, culture, and ability as they naturally occurred in this context” (p. 338)
Reference
Erin McCloskey & Colette N. Cann (2013) What a Difference a Label Makes: Positioning and Response in an Afterschool Tutoring Program, Mentoring & Tutoring: Partnership in Learning, 21:4, 338-355, DOI: 10.1080/13611267.2013.855866