Identity and Politics in School Reform Research

Keywords, JEL Codes GEORGE AKERLOF AND RACHEL KRANTON (2002) START WITH a question: Why do schools with similar resources produce such widely varying outcomes? Why is it that schools with similar class sizes, for example, produce highly varied levels of student learning? Quoting one of their own referees, Akerlof and Kranton note that “economists do not have good models for explaining why school resources do or do not (as often found) affect the returns to schooling” (Akerlof and Kranton 2002, 1167). Economists have produced evidence showing that resources do matter, but they have not shown how they matter. Motivated by the sociological literature on schools, Akerlof and Kranton make the following argument about school resources and achievement. Student learning depends on interactions between students and schools. Students have an identity, such as “burnout” or “nerd.” A student will try to learn at school if such achievement enhances his or her identity. Citing James Coleman’s (1961) study of ten Illinois high schools, Akerlof and Kranton present a model in which students, * Department of Sociology, Indiana University