Educational Reform Movement Research Articles

Sponsors of Policy: A Network Analysis of Wealthy Elites, Their Affiliated Philanthropies, and Charter School Reform in Washington State

Background/Context Charter school policy has evolved into a major component of the current education reform movement in the United States. As of 2012, all but nine U.S. states allowed charter schools, and in one of those nine, Washington State, charter school legislation was passed by popular vote in November 2012. There is a substantial, if contested, research base focusing on charter school effectiveness, particularly related to test score achievement, as well as an equally contested literature base on charter school enrollment selectivity, student expulsions, and increased segregation in charter school populations. Purpose The purpose of this study is to analyze the network of relations of policy actors surrounding the statewide campaign to pass the charter school Initiative 1240 in Washington State in order to better understand how wealthy individuals and their associated philanthropic organizations influence educational policy. Research Design Making use of available tax records, public election information, individual and organizational websites, and institutional and foundation databases, this study uses simple directed graphing techniques from social network analysis to analyze the complex relationships and affiliations of policy actors relative to the campaign to pass charter school Initiative 1240 in the state of Washington. Conclusions/Recommendations This study concludes that, compared to the average voter in Washington, an elite group of wealthy individuals, either directly through individual donations or indirectly through their affiliated philanthropic organizations, wielded disproportionate influence over the outcome of the charter school initiative in the state, thereby raising serious concerns about the democratic underpinnings of an education policy that impacts all of the children in Washington State. This study also concludes that elite individuals make use of local nonprofit organizations as a mechanism to advance their education policy agenda by funding those nonprofits through the philanthropic organizations affiliated with those same wealthy elites. In light of these conclusions, the authors recommend that a mechanism for more democratic accountability be developed relative to education policy campaigns, initiatives, and legislation.

International education policy transfer – borrowing both ways: the Hong Kong and England experience

This paper analyses how the impact of international student achievement studies and the recent economic crisis in Europe are influencing the development of educational policy transfer and borrowing, from East to West. This is contrasted with education reform movements in East Asia, which have long legacies of borrowing from so-called ‘progressive’ discourses in the West. England and Hong Kong are used as case studies. Since 2010, England’s coalition government has prioritised its determination to look to jurisdictions like Hong Kong to inspire and justify reforms that emphasise traditional didactic approaches to teaching and learning. In contrast, Hong Kong’s reforms have sought to implement practices related to less pressured, more student-centred lifelong learning, without losing sight of strengths derived from its Confucian heritage culture. Conclusions highlight factors that underpin English interest in Hong Kong education policy, values and practice and point to the need for further attention to be given to these multidirectional and often contradictory processes by researchers concerned with the study of policy transfer.

Labor and “Ed Deform”: The Degradation of Teachers’ Work through Standardized Testing and the New York City Evaluation System

The biggest threat to education today is the corporate education reform movement—what many of us call “Ed Deform.” It is also the biggest threat to teachers’ working conditions. Changes in education legislation are creating new government-funded markets for education entrepreneurs. Spending is being shifted away from teacher salaries, benefits, and pensions and into standardized tests, curriculum, and technology. To maximize this investment opportunity teachers must be reskilled away from deciding on content, assessing students, and tailoring education to meet diverse students’ needs and interests. This reduces the room for teachers to implement, for example, the demands of anti-racist advocates and concerned parents for “culturally relevant curriculum” or, indeed, anything that deviates from relevant test-prep skills. Standardized test scores provide a simple metric for measuring “productivity” against teacher labor costs. One example of this Taylorist dynamic is New York City’s new “Advance” Teacher Evaluation system. This article can also be found at the Monthly Review website , where most recent articles are published in full. Click here to purchase a PDF version of this article at the Monthly Review website.

School, Activism and Politics at the Movies: Educator Reactions to the Film Waiting for “Superman”

Context The documentary film about U.S. education reform, Waiting for “Superman,” was met with acclaim and controversy when released to theaters in 2010, and again when launching its grassroots “host a screening” campaign in 2011. The campaign ran concurrent with 2011 state legislative sessions, during which several states (e.g., Ohio, Indiana, New Jersey, and Wisconsin) voted on education reform bills regarding teacher merit pay, probationary teacher contracts, school vouchers, changes to the school funding formula, charter school funding, and limiting teachers’ (and public workers’) collective bargaining rights—all issues touched on in the film. Purpose To shed light on the relationship between popular media, public opinion, and social action regarding education, I examine responses to Waiting for “Superman” across different viewer demographics and relate responses to educational policy stances. The following research questions are considered: 1. Why did people watch Waiting for “Superman” ? 2. How did different education stakeholders (preservice teachers, current teachers, academics, community members, etc.) react to the film? Were some groups more likely to accept, negotiate with, or oppose the film's message? 3. What role, if any, did the film play in viewers’ stances on education reform or intention to take social action in the education reform movement? Participants Participants include 168 self-selected audience members attending free public film screenings at a midwestern university. Research Design Mixed methods research design compares audiences’ descriptive statistics alongside open-ended survey responses and interview data. Results Viewers were majority young and female. Most attended because they were interested in the topic, wanted to learn more, or came with a friend. Audience responses were complex and nuanced, i.e., 38% volunteered positive reactions to the film and 30% criticized it in some way (not mutually exclusive). Emotional reactions were common (38%). Audience members tended to respond to the film based on their direct prior experience (or lack thereof) with the U.S. public education system. The majority of current teachers in the audience chose not to participate in the study, perhaps because of the contentious political climate. Fifteen percent of audience members were “inspired” to act after viewing, and half of those were preservice teachers, but none were current teachers. Conclusions In vilifying teachers’ unions, thereby marginalizing some great teachers, the film's producers may have missed the chance to effect lasting change in the education system. While potentially polarizing, popular film may be an effective way to engage preservice teachers in complex education topics. Contextualizing discussion with a multiperspective panel afterward is recommended.

Participatory research in support of quality public education in New Orleans

In 2007, two years after Hurricane Katrina, several education and child advocacy groups began discussing the depleted conditions of the New Orleans public school district. These groups came together to discuss how to create a sustainable education reform movement post Katrina. New Orleans-based community groups and outside university researchers joined together to implement a multi-year participatory action research project to engage historically marginalized, black communities in a dialog about quality public education. We found that, in order to create a collective vision for what quality public education looks like for black children, the New Orleans community needs to resolve perceived challenges with inequitable access to quality public schools, with who has a say in governing these schools, with inconsistent quality of teachers, with inequitable distribution of resources, and with strategies for serving challenging students. The results of this pilot participatory action research project led to a sustained community engagement campaign addressing these issues.

Challenging “Waiting for Superman”

A small group of New York City teachers channeled their disgust with “Waiting for Superman” into their own film about the realities of the current education reform movement.

Using Personalized Education to Take the Place of Standardized Education

Economic model has been greatly shifted from labor demanding to innovation demanding, which requires education system has to produce creative people. This paper illustrates how traditional education model accrued and developed based on satisfying the old economic model for labor demanding but did not meet the new social requirement for innovation demanding. Also, this paper illustrates how U.S. education reform movement turns into standardization movement that has been trapped by traditional education concept, for example, this standardization movement aims to produce great test takers, but fails to produce creative people with critical thinking skill. As well as this paper discusses how personalized education has been mentioned by Dr. Yong Zhao as a new model that focuses on exploring students’ personal potential of innovation, which means personalized education is able to better adapt the modern society for innovation demanding, and it should take the place of standardized education.

Promoting school to work transition for students with emotional/behavioral disorders

The successful transition of students from high school to adult occupations, including work and independent living, has been a major focus of the educational reform movement in the United States. However, despite good intentions, students with disabilities have less favorable transition outcomes than do students in the general population and employment opportunities are even less promising for students with emotional/behavioral disorders (EBD). The purpose of this model demonstration project, funded by the US Department of Education, was to develop a program based on identified best practices to facilitate successful school to work transition for students with EBD. 47 students with EBD between the ages of 14 and 19 were participants in this project. The majority of participants in the project were white males with a generic diagnosis of a disruptive personality disorder. Five cohort groups of students participated in a four phase program; Phase 1 - School-based Learning, Phase 2 - Community Involvement, Phase 3 - Paid, Supported Work Experience, and Phase 4 - Competitive Employment and Follow-Up. At the conclusion of the project, 30% of the project participants were competitively employed. Students had the most difficulty in Phase 3, but 81% of those who successfully completed Phase 3 obtained and retained competitive employment for a least one year. Four case studies are presented to illustrate findings. The School to Work Transition Program model shows promise for providing interventions to promote successful transition for students with EBD. Further research on the effectiveness of the overall model, as well as specific components of the model, is needed.

Finding Common Language around Educational Equity in a Neoliberal Context

Since 2005, New Orleans has proved fertile ground for the most extensive education reform movement in the United States. As such, the educational landscape in New Orleans is a highly contested space. Yet stakeholders across the pro/anti-charter divide lack a fully developed language that accommodates the multi-vocality of participants contributing to dialogue(s) around neoliberal reform and grappling with the fundamental ways in which public education connects to the democratic ideal. In light of this imbalance, participants in conversations have reified adversarial positions rather than engaged with the substantive issues that ultimately will determine the success of the neoliberal reform movement.

The micro-politics of parental involvement in school education in Hong Kong: ethnocentrism, utilitarianism or policy rhetoric!

The impact of parental involvement on school management has been recognized by many education professionals and policy-makers. Thus parental involvement in school education becomes one of the prime focuses in the current education reform movement in Hong Kong. Particularly, specific guidelines and policies for involving parents at various levels of children’s education have been spelled out in many governmental policy documents. This article reports on an interpretive study that explores the micro-politics of parental involvement in school education in two primary schools in Hong Kong. By analyzing the interviews with 14 parents, eight teachers and two principals, together with the field-notes of participant observations in two case study schools, three propositions of power relations between parents and teaching professionals emerge. The findings indicate that in the process of encouraging parents’ participation in school education, teaching professionals demonstrated ethnocentric attitudes towards parents; the notion of “parents as resources” were for pragmatic purposes; and the conception of “parents-as-school-governors” was of policy rhetoric in the process of implementation of home–school cooperation.

Pursuing Quality Education: The Lessons from the Education Reform in Taiwan

It has been nearly two decades since the education reform movement initiated in Taiwan in 1994. As a consequence of the lift of martial law, this wave of education reform exceeds previous reforms in terms of scale, initiatives, and impacts. Although the performance of Taiwanese students has been in the leading group of various international rankings, the call for an education system that can cater various needs of students rather than focusing on academic achievement has been recurring in the public debate in Taiwan. How to maintain the existing performance and provide opportunities for students with different talents becomes the center of education reform. This paper aims at exploring the path of education reform in Taiwan with a focus on the shifting paradigm of education since 1994. Two aspects including teacher education and curriculum are discussed. We firstly introduce the social context of the recent education reform movement and then explicate the major trends of education reform and various key initiatives. In the third part of this paper, we map out the trajectory of policies, changes, and implementations in the above-mentioned aspects during education reform with the emerging issues, challenges, and future directions. This paper offers international readers insights on how a well-performed education system attempts to improve itself within a complicated and fast-changing social and political context. We argue that unsuccessful reform attempts might provide more lessons than those successful ones. This paper is based on the discussion of two unsuccessful attempts made by the Ministry of Education to reveal the bumping reforming process in Taiwan.

Prospects of school choice

Educational reforms around the world are increasingly converging, and this is reflected in the concept of a global educational reform movement. Although several recent studies have looked at the conditions under which nation states borrow from global educational models, the political mechanisms underlying these processes are not well understood. On the basis of a case study from Switzerland, which has a system of direct democracy which appears to be particularly suitable for an analysis of political transfer processes, this article reconstructs the debate around a series of popular initiatives addressing school choice. The results of the study show that a neo-institutional approach can be useful for understanding the implementation of global educational models in a national context if it is supplemented by a theoretical analysis of the participant and takes the specific features of the local political system into account. Methodologically, the analysis of global harmonisation processes in education should consider four reference points, namely the state, the market, the general public and scientific research.

The Dalton Plan: recycling in the guise of innovation

Dalton education is the largest educational reform movement in the Netherlands. Around eighty years ago it spread throughout the world; Dalton education was found in the USA, England, Australia, Germany, the Netherlands, the Soviet Union, India, China and Japan. Today there is a revival of interest in England and Germany. We examine the origins of Dalton education by comparing the work of its founder Helen Parkhurst (1886–1973) with developments in American education towards the end of the nineteenth century. From 1870 onwards, in numerous American cities, there were experiments with alternatives for lockstep teaching, including experiments with individualised instruction, individual assignments, differentiation, self-direction, self-pacing, freedom, tutor learning and co-operation. In part, these innovations stemmed from methods that were already customary prior to the dissemination of lockstep teaching – methods which, at the onset of the twentieth century, were actually still common in rural one-room schools. The Dalton Plan proves to be not very original. Parkhurst recycled various ideas and methods which had already been developed and tried out in the preceding decades. Her pretension of having introduced something new and authentic is implausible. That raises two questions: how to explain the discrepancy between the image Parkhurst presents of her own work and the image derived from historical comparison, and how to explain the popularity of the Dalton Plan in the 1920s, given that it was not unique or particularly innovative.

Education for citizenship in for-profit charter schools?

Most Americans and many residents of other democratic countries hold public schools to the social and political goal of preparing children to be good citizens. This goal is being challenged by some new forms of schooling promoted through popular education reform movements, especially in the US. This article reveals potentially insurmountable conflicts between the beliefs and practices of one of those forms of schools, for-profit charter schools, and their public task of educating for citizenship. This study begins by exploring the public nature and purposes of public schools, especially their role in creating particular types of citizens. This understanding of public schooling and good citizenship, then, becomes the theoretical lens for analysing the practices of for-profit charter schools. A critical discourse analysis was conducted of school materials such as websites, curricula, investor relation materials, proposals for new charter schools, and interviews with charter school founders. That analysis was used to indicate aspects of support for and incompatibility with quality citizenship education and to assess the overall likelihood that for-profit schools can educate citizens well.

Letter from the Editorial Board

Letter from the Editorial Board Dede Addy As a nation, we continue to hold fast to a collective belief in education as one of the primary avenues to a more democratic and prosperous future. However, there are too many people struggling to get ahead and stay ahead, especially in the midst of a faltering economy. For over a decade, politicians and presidents have professed a renewed desire to turn around failing schools. The latest legislation calls us to "leave no child behind" and to "race to the top" of educational rankings worldwide; nevertheless, these nationwide policies have yet to ease our educational woes. Opportunity gaps persist between more privileged students and those who have historically been underserved, particularly low-income students and students of color. Two-thirds of eighth-graders cannot read at levels deemed proficient (National Center for Education Statistics, 2011), for example, and students in most industrialized nations outperform U.S. students in math, science, and reading (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, 2010). It is easy to lose hope in light of these circumstances, particularly for educators who work tirelessly with students every day. Despite the difficulties, educational reform movements continue. Some small-scale reform efforts include The Eagle Rock School, a residential high school in Colorado that provides tuition-free education to students who have otherwise given up on graduating from traditional schools. Public schools like Gregorio Luperón High School in New York City adopt additive approaches to bilingualism and biculturalism, drawing on the cultural assets of its students (Michael, Andrade, & Bartlett, 2007). Non-profit organizations like Student U in Durham, North Carolina, are aimed at increasing college access for lower-income middle and high school students. Academic and activist Jeff Duncan-Andrade aims to scale up his program of support, called Roses in Concrete, through "looping" and community involvement to create a sustainable model for urban education (see Duncan-Andrade, 2009). Similarly, Geoffrey Canada's Harlem Children's Zone offers a model for community-based education with wrap-around services such as health care and family support. Many of these local efforts offer potential models for other educational programs around the nation. At The High School Journal, we welcome empirical studies and theoretical scholarship that examines new and continuing reform efforts. Changes in curriculum and new schooling models offer many possibilities for research. In particular, are there public school projects in which hope is instantiated in the daily work of students and teachers? What does hope in public schools look like, and how is it sustained amidst continued opportunity gaps and other problems facing students and teachers in U.S. schools? In what ways are high schools adapting to funding gaps due to sequestration and tight budgets? We know that there is a politics and rhetoric of problems that drench them in accusation and despair. We also know that there are real problems and real people working creatively and compassionately to bring vibrant learning experiences to students and to open their lives to possibility. We want to hear from them. Such research [End Page 265] might help us all maintain a sense of the critical hope (West, 2008) needed in order to continue our collective struggle for justice and equity. References Duncan-Andrade, J. M. R. (2009). Note to educators: Hope required when growing roses in concrete. Harvard Educational Review, 79, 181-194. Google Scholar Michael, A., Andrade, N., & Bartlett, L. (2007). Finding "success" in a bilingual high school. Urban Review, 39, 167-189. Google Scholar National Center for Education Statistics (2011). The nation's report card: Reading 2011. Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education, Washington, DC. Google Scholar Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (2010). Programme for international student assessment 2009 results: Executive summary. Paris, France: OECD Publishing. Google Scholar West, C. (2008). Hope on a tightrope. New York, NY: Smiley Books. [End Page 266] Google Scholar Copyright © 2013 The University of North Carolina Press

A rising tide meets a perfect storm: new accountabilities in teaching and teacher education in Ireland

This paper examines the emergence of new accountabilities in teaching and teacher education in Ireland in the 15 years period 1997–2012. Framing accountability in terms of the three main approaches to it globally in education systems, that is, compliance with regulations, adherence to professional norms and attainment of results/outcomes, we identify significant changes, particularly, in compliance- and results-driven accountability. A ‘rising tide’ of accountability, due to the interrelated influences of the European higher education space, education legislation and professional self-regulation policies (i.e. Teaching Council), is evident since the late 1990s. This was punctuated by a ‘perfect storm’ in 2010 comprising ‘bad news’ from PISA 2009, the economic bailout and strategic leadership at a system level. The cumulative impact of the ‘rising tide’ and ‘perfect storm’ is evident in how they reframed both ‘to whom’ and ‘for what’ accountability in teacher education relates. Significantly, the new accountabilities in teaching and teacher education reflect a move towards the dominant global education reform movement (Sahlberg 2007) with its emphasis on standardisation, narrow focus on literacy and numeracy and higher stakes accountability.

Cultural Flashpoint: The Politics of Teacher Education Reform in Ireland

The publication of the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2009 (Cosgrove et al., 2010; Perkins et al., 2010) reading literacy results heralded a crisis of confidence in educational standards in Ireland. This article examines the national and international context of teacher education reform and the politics of the policy response to the perceived crisis. In essence, this response represents a system shift toward the global education reform movement (GERM) characterized by standardisation, narrowed curriculum focus, and stricter accountability.

‘Doing’ Social Justice in Early Childhood: The Potential of Leadership

Early childhood education has long been connected with objectives related to social justice. Australian early childhood education and care (ECEC) has its roots in philanthropic and educational reform movements prevalent at the turn of the twentieth century. More recently, with the introduction of the National Early Childhood Reform Agenda, early childhood education has once more been linked to the achievement of aims associated with redressing inequality and disadvantage. The authors argue that educational leaders have an obligation to promote equity as they articulate the needs of marginalised students who are traditionally disadvantaged while they also work towards challenging the social order that affords this circumstance of inequity to exist. Drawing on extant literature, including data from two previously reported Australian studies in which leadership emerged as having a transformational impact on service delivery, this article examines the potential of early childhood leadership to generate ‘socially just’ educational communities. With reference to critical theory, the authors argue that critically informed, intentional and strategic organisational leadership can play a pivotal role in creating changed circumstances and opportunities for children and families. Such leadership includes positional and distributed elements, articulation of values and beliefs, and collective action that is mindful and informed.

Принципи освітньої політики Фінляндії щодо забезпечення якості загальної середньої освіти

Статтю присвячено розгляду принципів (узгодженості, справедливості, тривалості, гнучкої стандартизації, комплементарності) освітньої політики Фінляндії, які визначають розвиток системи забезпечення якості загальної середньої освіти цієї країни. Автор аналізує принципи освітньої політики Фінляндії у зіставленні з принципами глобального руху реформування освіти, який домінував у освітній політиці більшості країн світу останні два десятиліття. Статья посвящена рассмотрению принципов (согласованности, справедливости, продолжительности, гибкой стандартизации, комплементарности и т.п.) образовательной деятельности Финляндии, которые определяют развитие системы обеспечения качества общего среднего образования в этой стране. Автор анализирует принципы образовательной политики Финляндии в сравнении с принципами глобального движения реформирования образования, котор ое доминировал о в образовательной политике большинства стран мира в последние два десятилетия. The article is dedicated to the principles of Finnish educational policy (consistency , fairness , duration, flexib i l ity standardization, complementarity, etc .) , which determine the development of the system ensuring the quality of secondary education in this country. The author analyzes the principles of Finnish educational policy, while comparing them to the principles of the Global Educational Reform Movement dominating in educational policies of the most countries during the last two decades.

An initial investigation of preservice teachers in the United States and possible applications to Ukraine: perceived knowledge of response to intervention

Ukraine and the United States are engaged in education reform movements to improve quality of future teachers. Reform in the United States focuses on the use of evidence-based practices and data-based decision making. Reform in Ukraine focuses on democratic, learner-centered education. Using one university in the United States, this research investigates the degree to which preservice teacher candidates in different teacher training programs (early childhood, elementary, secondary, special education) perceive knowledge of components from the Response to Intervention model, a major focus of school reform. Application of the study to Ukraine is discussed.