ABSTRACT
This chapter confronts the tension between 'no excuses' reform (NER) and Social Context Reform (SCR), the former committed to in-school-only policies and the latter calling for social and educational reform that addresses equity and opportunity. It considers these two claims: in-school and classroom reform must be couched in larger social reform, and these reforms must first address equity of opportunity, against research on inequity before turning to an examination of pedagogies of equity and opportunity in classrooms addressing literacy. Whereas NER has reinforced traditional commitments to measurement and prescription associated with learning and teaching, pedagogies of equity and opportunity exist within some broad guiding concepts-collaboration and choice, reimagining content, de-testing and de-grading schools-that honor the agency and autonomy of students and teachers. One way to consider the conditions of teaching and learning in the classroom and what reforms are needed is to examine the prepositions of teaching: education done to students, education done for students, and education done with students.
