Curriculum of Control

Nicole Mittenfelner Carl is the Director of the Urban Teaching Residency and Urban Education programs at the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education. She is the coauthor, with Sharon M. Ravitch, of Qualitative Research: Bridging the Conceptual, Theoretical, and Methodological and Applied Research for Sustainable Change: A Guide for Education Leaders.

"A Curriculum of Control is a methodological and conceptual triumph, a clarion call for humanizing change in schools and the field of education. Through a humanizing, assets-based lens the book evinces catalytic understanding of what it means and feels like to exist in the current public school milieu of compliance and control. The book pulls readers into a compelling story of human experience, offering an actionable critique of how limiting and scarce schools and classrooms are and how liberating and abundant they can be." — Dr. Sharon Ravitch, coauthor of Leadership Mindsets for Adaptive Change: The Flux 5 "I could definitely see this book being used in educational studies courses to illustrate how the processes of control that reflect a more carceral approach to schooling begin in elementary school. I also think it could be used to demonstrate the impact of that control on elementary students and teachers." — Lisa Smulyan, author of Balancing Acts: Women Principals at Work"A Curriculum of Control is a layered, troubling, and honest ethnographic exploration of control-based school and classroom culture in an urban K-8 school. It’s an especially important read for educators and school leaders today, when the most hyper-punitive aspects of schooling are hidden behind the facade of transformational-sounding initiatives like trauma-informed care and restorative practices. Nicole Mittenfelner Carl models the power of student voice, weaving a powerful, important analysis of the impact of these conditions from students' experiences and words." — Paul Gorski, author of Fix Injustice, Not Kids and Other Principles for Transformative Equity Leadership"Why are low-income Black students so often portrayed in the news and public discourse as fierce, defiant, or 'bad' and in need of discipline? In A Curriculum of Control, Carl reframes these narratives, showing student fierceness as a human response to dehumanizing systems—and revealing how schools like Baker are products of systemic and structural inequality shaping the lives of students, families, and communities." — Linda M. Pheng, University of Pennsylvania

• PrefaceAcknowledgments1. Hidden Curricula and the Myth of Opportunity 2. The Curriculum of Control 3. Relational Dynamics, Power Struggles, and Resistance 4. Parentification and Infantilization of Students 5. Implications of Internalizing the "Deficit Default" 6. The Realities of Systemic Failure 7. Struggling for Humanity ConclusionAppendix: Research Methodology and DesignNotesReferencesIndex