Year‐Round Schools and the Politics of Time

This ethnographic study explores the politics of time in a multitrack, “yearround” school in inner‐city Los Angeles. We analyze different types and experiences of time within the school and time collisions across institutions in this densely populated immigrant community. Viewing time as a contested commodity, we examine the politics behind the presumed impartiality of the clock and calendar. The school's year‐round schedule is especially problematic, involving multiple tracks with lengthened days and a shortened school year. We show how issues of educational equity go to the core of debates over alternative school schedules.