Date of Award
Fall 5-28-2025
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Arts (MA)
Department
Educational Foundations and Counseling
First Advisor
Amanda Crowell
Second Advisor
Elizabeth Donahue
Academic Program Adviser
Sarah Bonner
Abstract
Funds of Knowledge (FOK) refer to the skills, assets, and resources that a learner draws from their environments and applies to their learning experiences. The FOK construct has in common with cultural capital and community cultural wealth a focus on the importance of the overlapping contexts in which learning takes place. For this qualitative study, the overlapping contexts for learners often include conflicts, adversity, and unique challenges. Participants include past and present leaders of schools and programs in New York City’s school district 79, also known as its alternative schools district. Schools and programs in district 79 are designed for overaged, undercredited learners at high risk of noncompletion of a secondary degree, including transfer high schools and schools within the justice system. Through open interviews, this study explores the way learners in adverse circumstances pull funds of knowledge from the opportunities for growth that challenges can create. These interviews explore how FOKs are closely tied to some of the major components of self-regulated learning (SRL), and the testimony of these leaders disrupts the deficit narratives often built around alternative education. This study lays the foundation for deeper investigations into alternative learning environments and the bridges they build between a learner’s overlapping academic, familial, and cultural contexts.
Recommended Citation
Stone, Sara, "Leadership Perceptions of Funds of Knowledge in Alternative Secondary Education" (2025). CUNY Academic Works.
https://academicworks.cuny.edu/hc_sas_etds/1419
This document contains in chronological order details of each step of the emergent coding process.
SStone_2025_Analysis_Summary.xlsx (1059 kB)
This spreadsheet contains tables for each iteration of coding for all six interviews and a pilot interview, as well as the development of a-priori codes.
SStone_2025_LitReview_Sources.xlsx (292 kB)
This spreadsheet details the literature review process, including development of search terms, initial search lists, and rationale for inclusion of primary sources.
