Pub Date : 2024-01-27DOI: 10.1177/08959048231218206
Mollie T. McQuillan, Benjamin A. Lebovitz, LaShanda Harbin
Since 2017, hostile anti-LGBTQ+ educational bills rapidly expanded. Using traditional and critical policy analysis across three Midwestern states, we examine (1) whether state and local policymakers ( n = 60) adopted trans-inclusive protections aligned with the 2017 federal Whitaker ruling, (2) the spread and scope of state and local educational policies concerning LGBTQ+ people, and (3) relationships between LGBTQ and critical race theory (CRT) curricular bills. We find policy erasure in states without pre- Whitaker gender-inclusive nondiscrimination laws and expanded efforts to ban LGBTQ+ students from educational opportunities, spaces, and curriculum. LGBTQ+ and CRT curricular bans overlapped. We discuss the implications of policymakers leaning into exclusion over gender reforms.
{"title":"The Disruptive Power of Policy Erasure: How State Legislators and School Boards Fail to Take up Trans-affirming Policies While Leaning into Anti-LGBTQ+ Policies","authors":"Mollie T. McQuillan, Benjamin A. Lebovitz, LaShanda Harbin","doi":"10.1177/08959048231218206","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/08959048231218206","url":null,"abstract":"Since 2017, hostile anti-LGBTQ+ educational bills rapidly expanded. Using traditional and critical policy analysis across three Midwestern states, we examine (1) whether state and local policymakers ( n = 60) adopted trans-inclusive protections aligned with the 2017 federal Whitaker ruling, (2) the spread and scope of state and local educational policies concerning LGBTQ+ people, and (3) relationships between LGBTQ and critical race theory (CRT) curricular bills. We find policy erasure in states without pre- Whitaker gender-inclusive nondiscrimination laws and expanded efforts to ban LGBTQ+ students from educational opportunities, spaces, and curriculum. LGBTQ+ and CRT curricular bans overlapped. We discuss the implications of policymakers leaning into exclusion over gender reforms.","PeriodicalId":47728,"journal":{"name":"Educational Policy","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2024-01-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139955720","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-01-27DOI: 10.1177/08959048231220024
DeMarcus A. Jenkins, Chezare A. Warren
The social movement for #PoliceFreeSchools (and the adjacent campaign on college and university campuses called #PoliceFreeCampuses) welcomes an opportunity to reimagine school discipline and safety in contradistinction to current carceral forms. Scholars have moved away from notions of “school to prison pipeline” by demonstrating the many ways schools are organized as carceral spaces (e.g., school-prison nexus). A conceptual framework of Anti-carceral leadership is put forward in this paper to underscore the need for a leadership paradigm that actively refuses the logics of the carceral state (e.g., social control). The paper underscores how the logics of antiblackness may sustain mechanisms of social control in education policy intended to undo racialized harm. The tensions of be(com)ing an anti-carceral leader and its significance for undoing technologies of punishment, confinement, and constraint that reinforce schooling as a site of Black pain and suffering are discussed.
{"title":"Towards Anti-Carceral Leadership: Remaking Public Schools to Refuse Black Students’ Surveillance, Containment, and Control","authors":"DeMarcus A. Jenkins, Chezare A. Warren","doi":"10.1177/08959048231220024","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/08959048231220024","url":null,"abstract":"The social movement for #PoliceFreeSchools (and the adjacent campaign on college and university campuses called #PoliceFreeCampuses) welcomes an opportunity to reimagine school discipline and safety in contradistinction to current carceral forms. Scholars have moved away from notions of “school to prison pipeline” by demonstrating the many ways schools are organized as carceral spaces (e.g., school-prison nexus). A conceptual framework of Anti-carceral leadership is put forward in this paper to underscore the need for a leadership paradigm that actively refuses the logics of the carceral state (e.g., social control). The paper underscores how the logics of antiblackness may sustain mechanisms of social control in education policy intended to undo racialized harm. The tensions of be(com)ing an anti-carceral leader and its significance for undoing technologies of punishment, confinement, and constraint that reinforce schooling as a site of Black pain and suffering are discussed.","PeriodicalId":47728,"journal":{"name":"Educational Policy","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2024-01-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139592357","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-01-25DOI: 10.1177/08959048231220374
Hayley Weddle, Ayesha K. Hashim, Ogechi N. Irondi
While recent research provides insights into how district and school leaders responded to the extraordinary disruptions created by the COVID-19 pandemic, less is known about the role of influential state-level education leaders during the crisis. In this paper, we draw on interviews with state leaders to examine their efforts to support students’ access to education during the pandemic. Findings reveal how state leaders engaged in local-level capacity building, advocacy, and collaboration to promote continuity of education. However, their work was complicated by limited capacity at the state level, political tensions, local control, and pervasive stress over time. The paper concludes with implications for policymakers to better prepare for future crises.
{"title":"How State Education Leaders Supported Students’ Access to Education Amidst the COVID-19 Crisis: Lessons for Policy","authors":"Hayley Weddle, Ayesha K. Hashim, Ogechi N. Irondi","doi":"10.1177/08959048231220374","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/08959048231220374","url":null,"abstract":"While recent research provides insights into how district and school leaders responded to the extraordinary disruptions created by the COVID-19 pandemic, less is known about the role of influential state-level education leaders during the crisis. In this paper, we draw on interviews with state leaders to examine their efforts to support students’ access to education during the pandemic. Findings reveal how state leaders engaged in local-level capacity building, advocacy, and collaboration to promote continuity of education. However, their work was complicated by limited capacity at the state level, political tensions, local control, and pervasive stress over time. The paper concludes with implications for policymakers to better prepare for future crises.","PeriodicalId":47728,"journal":{"name":"Educational Policy","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2024-01-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139596214","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-01-07DOI: 10.1177/08959048231220059
Cory T. Brown
Teacher education is at a critical crossroads as colleges and schools of education contend with decreased student enrollment, legislative strategizing to limit what is taught, and general pushback regarding what teachers should learn about teaching and their students. As such, the field of teacher education must examine how to collectively rebuff the current movement by policy makers and elected officials who have formalized their desire to maintain the status quo in education. They continue to lobby against social justice in education, critical race theory, multicultural perspectives in teaching, and culturally responsive and relevant pedagogical approaches to classroom instruction, among others. This paper examines the current moment in educational history and highlights opportunities that may transform teacher education policy to become more justice centered.
{"title":"Status Quo or Innovation? Transforming Teacher Education in Hostile Times","authors":"Cory T. Brown","doi":"10.1177/08959048231220059","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/08959048231220059","url":null,"abstract":"Teacher education is at a critical crossroads as colleges and schools of education contend with decreased student enrollment, legislative strategizing to limit what is taught, and general pushback regarding what teachers should learn about teaching and their students. As such, the field of teacher education must examine how to collectively rebuff the current movement by policy makers and elected officials who have formalized their desire to maintain the status quo in education. They continue to lobby against social justice in education, critical race theory, multicultural perspectives in teaching, and culturally responsive and relevant pedagogical approaches to classroom instruction, among others. This paper examines the current moment in educational history and highlights opportunities that may transform teacher education policy to become more justice centered.","PeriodicalId":47728,"journal":{"name":"Educational Policy","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2024-01-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139448940","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-01-05DOI: 10.1177/08959048231220038
J. E. Trinidad
The success and failure of education reform policies often depend on the strategies of reformers. This article suggests a framework to understand the positionality of reformers, as they vary in their strategy (i.e., technical vs. relational) and focus for change (i.e., process- vs. outcomes-focused). Using the case of individuals who initiated new data systems in Chicago, Philadelphia, and New York City, the study discusses four groups of reformers: Engineers privilege efficient technical fixes that may be resisted by people on the ground. Capacity-builders focus on empowering schools but may lead to variable successes. Framers research and disseminate ideas to reframe policy and political discourses. Table-setters leverage their social networks and financial resources but may challenge democratic decision-making. As schools continue to be sites of political debates and challenges, the concept of positionality can clarify how reformers promote particular changes and can suggest possibilities for positions to constructively complement each other.
{"title":"Positionality in the Politics of Education: Mapping the Strategies and Constraints of Education Reformers","authors":"J. E. Trinidad","doi":"10.1177/08959048231220038","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/08959048231220038","url":null,"abstract":"The success and failure of education reform policies often depend on the strategies of reformers. This article suggests a framework to understand the positionality of reformers, as they vary in their strategy (i.e., technical vs. relational) and focus for change (i.e., process- vs. outcomes-focused). Using the case of individuals who initiated new data systems in Chicago, Philadelphia, and New York City, the study discusses four groups of reformers: Engineers privilege efficient technical fixes that may be resisted by people on the ground. Capacity-builders focus on empowering schools but may lead to variable successes. Framers research and disseminate ideas to reframe policy and political discourses. Table-setters leverage their social networks and financial resources but may challenge democratic decision-making. As schools continue to be sites of political debates and challenges, the concept of positionality can clarify how reformers promote particular changes and can suggest possibilities for positions to constructively complement each other.","PeriodicalId":47728,"journal":{"name":"Educational Policy","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2024-01-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139381051","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
As the COVID-19 crisis disrupted schooling, recovery efforts in California included the adoption of Senate Bill (SB) 98, which mandated local educational agencies to complete Learning Continuity and Attendance Plans (LCPs). These plans act as critical snapshots of sensemaking and local policy implementation during crisis; however, their details have yet to be explored statewide. Through a multiphase, mixed methods approach, this study examines the legislative requirements of a state-level policy that orchestrated large-scale local planning. Results reveal that SB-98 recombined prior educational routines to fit the pandemic context. Moreover, district plans generally adhered to policy guidance and described a range of resources to support students. However, the limited details contained in most plans—particularly about the actions and services for students that may need additional supports—proffer suggestive evidence of local capacity and will during the global pandemic and the implications for those seeking to implement similar policy measures.
{"title":"Ensuring Educational Continuity in the Midst of Crisis: Policy and Planning During the COVID-19 Pandemic","authors":"Alexandria Hurtt, Sherrie Reed, Kramer Dykeman, Justin Luu","doi":"10.1177/08959048231215488","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/08959048231215488","url":null,"abstract":"As the COVID-19 crisis disrupted schooling, recovery efforts in California included the adoption of Senate Bill (SB) 98, which mandated local educational agencies to complete Learning Continuity and Attendance Plans (LCPs). These plans act as critical snapshots of sensemaking and local policy implementation during crisis; however, their details have yet to be explored statewide. Through a multiphase, mixed methods approach, this study examines the legislative requirements of a state-level policy that orchestrated large-scale local planning. Results reveal that SB-98 recombined prior educational routines to fit the pandemic context. Moreover, district plans generally adhered to policy guidance and described a range of resources to support students. However, the limited details contained in most plans—particularly about the actions and services for students that may need additional supports—proffer suggestive evidence of local capacity and will during the global pandemic and the implications for those seeking to implement similar policy measures.","PeriodicalId":47728,"journal":{"name":"Educational Policy","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2023-12-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138981156","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-12-03DOI: 10.1177/08959048231215487
Erin J. Heys
For decades, policymakers in the U.S. have leveraged accountability policy as a governing tool to lift school performance and close the achievement gap. Accountability become so widespread that it arguably became a “policy paradigm” with the passage of the federal No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act in 2002. Yet after just 13 years of implementation, policymakers replaced NCLB with the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), which gave states more control over the policy tools and mechanisms to regulate school improvement. This qualitative project captured the evolution of the accountability paradigm by studying the policy ideas and moral narratives of policy elites in California and Tennessee during the transition period between NCLB and ESSA. The study finds that interview participants legitimized the core design features of ESSA, but attached their underlying worldviews and beliefs to the flexible design features, which created unique accountability models with different institutional arrangements.
{"title":"The accountability paradigm post-NCLB: Policy Ideas and Moral Narratives","authors":"Erin J. Heys","doi":"10.1177/08959048231215487","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/08959048231215487","url":null,"abstract":"For decades, policymakers in the U.S. have leveraged accountability policy as a governing tool to lift school performance and close the achievement gap. Accountability become so widespread that it arguably became a “policy paradigm” with the passage of the federal No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act in 2002. Yet after just 13 years of implementation, policymakers replaced NCLB with the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), which gave states more control over the policy tools and mechanisms to regulate school improvement. This qualitative project captured the evolution of the accountability paradigm by studying the policy ideas and moral narratives of policy elites in California and Tennessee during the transition period between NCLB and ESSA. The study finds that interview participants legitimized the core design features of ESSA, but attached their underlying worldviews and beliefs to the flexible design features, which created unique accountability models with different institutional arrangements.","PeriodicalId":47728,"journal":{"name":"Educational Policy","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2023-12-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138605348","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-11-28DOI: 10.1177/08959048231215485
Allan Barsky, D. Groton, Christine Spadola
This study explores the impact of Florida House Bill 233 on teaching and learning in Florida’s State University System. This bill purports to promote intellectual freedom and viewpoint diversity by permitting students to record classes and by creating a cause of action for faculty violating these principles. Faculty were invited to share qualitative feedback about the specific impacts of the two provisions. The vast majority of faculty expressed negative views of these provisions, suggesting they would inhibit intellectual freedom and viewpoint diversity by deterring student participation in classes, discouraging faculty from engaging students in discussions of certain topics, and creating an atmosphere of mistrust between faculty and students. Faculty with positive views of the recording provision suggested that these provisions promote intellectual freedom and viewpoint diversity by discouraging faculty from imposing their views and giving students a remedy if they feel that faculty are violating their rights.
{"title":"Impacts of Viewpoint Diversity Law on Teaching and Learning in Florida’s State Universities","authors":"Allan Barsky, D. Groton, Christine Spadola","doi":"10.1177/08959048231215485","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/08959048231215485","url":null,"abstract":"This study explores the impact of Florida House Bill 233 on teaching and learning in Florida’s State University System. This bill purports to promote intellectual freedom and viewpoint diversity by permitting students to record classes and by creating a cause of action for faculty violating these principles. Faculty were invited to share qualitative feedback about the specific impacts of the two provisions. The vast majority of faculty expressed negative views of these provisions, suggesting they would inhibit intellectual freedom and viewpoint diversity by deterring student participation in classes, discouraging faculty from engaging students in discussions of certain topics, and creating an atmosphere of mistrust between faculty and students. Faculty with positive views of the recording provision suggested that these provisions promote intellectual freedom and viewpoint diversity by discouraging faculty from imposing their views and giving students a remedy if they feel that faculty are violating their rights.","PeriodicalId":47728,"journal":{"name":"Educational Policy","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2023-11-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139222457","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-11-13DOI: 10.1177/08959048231204338
Raquel M. Rall, Demetri L. Morgan, Felecia Commodore, Daniel A. Collier, Dan Fitzpatrick
In an era where many states’ postsecondary education governance dynamics are evolving, we set out to understand whether state-level governing boards with centralized governance functions affected institutions’ decisions to engage in in-person instruction during the fall of 2020, the first fall of the Covid-19 pandemic. We examined sociopolitical features related to the strength of governance functions of centralized state boards. The data alluded to linkages between Republican control and lower bachelor’s degree attainment linking (β = −.45) with weaker centralized governance. We also found a negative effect from increased centralized governance functions (β = −.12) to in-person instruction at public 4-year institutions for fall 2020. This paper gives a real-time opportunity to see if the characteristics of governing boards influence return to campus.
{"title":"State Postsecondary Boards as Policy Influencers During the Early Stages of COVID-19","authors":"Raquel M. Rall, Demetri L. Morgan, Felecia Commodore, Daniel A. Collier, Dan Fitzpatrick","doi":"10.1177/08959048231204338","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/08959048231204338","url":null,"abstract":"In an era where many states’ postsecondary education governance dynamics are evolving, we set out to understand whether state-level governing boards with centralized governance functions affected institutions’ decisions to engage in in-person instruction during the fall of 2020, the first fall of the Covid-19 pandemic. We examined sociopolitical features related to the strength of governance functions of centralized state boards. The data alluded to linkages between Republican control and lower bachelor’s degree attainment linking (β = −.45) with weaker centralized governance. We also found a negative effect from increased centralized governance functions (β = −.12) to in-person instruction at public 4-year institutions for fall 2020. This paper gives a real-time opportunity to see if the characteristics of governing boards influence return to campus.","PeriodicalId":47728,"journal":{"name":"Educational Policy","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-11-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"136351556","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}