US Education Policy Research Articles

Preparing Catholic Educators for Flourishing in a Secularized Society: A Case Study

As culture experiences secularization, and the importance of religion and prevalence of people holding religious worldviews diminishes, the work of forming Catholics who can live out their profes­sional and Christian vocations as teachers in different types of schools becomes simultaneously more crucial and more complex. This article explores the importance of preparing Catholic teachers for em­ployment in contemporary educational settings in the United States to respond to accelerating seculari­zation. It argues that the Catholic Church’s vision for education can be implemented within the limita­tions of US education policy, especially through the careful preparation of Catholic teachers in Catholic Educator Preparation Programs (EPPs). First, it presents the unique context of US education, illustrating the setting in which such programs function and the associated challenges. Next, it shares the Church’s vision for well-prepared Catholic educators, identifying three key anthropological conflicts linked to sec­ularization and explaining how the Church’s teaching on Catholic education as presented by Archbishop Michael Miller’s “Five Essential Marks of Catholic Schools” provides needed guidance for EPPs located in Catholic universities. Next, it offers a case study presenting one EPP’s efforts to respond to secu­larization through its program redesign according to a framework that integrates Miller’s Five Marks. Finally, it explains the difficulties facing Catholic EPPs as they integrate their mission with the demands of professional preparation.

Re/Definitions of teachers and teaching work in UK and US policy discourses under Covid-19 and their implications for social justice

ABSTRACT This article is concerned with the discourses of teachers and teaching work that have circulated in UK and US education policy circles during the COVID-19 pandemic. Drawing on UK and US policy texts published in Spring and Summer 2020, we discuss how the policy discourses underpinning these texts re/define and mis/recognise teaching work. On a theoretical level, the article bears on a poststructuralist tradition calling, inter alia, for a critical deconstruction of discourses and the relationships of power they sustain, while also borrowing from critical theorists’ understandings of social justice. We argue that while some aspects of teachers’ work have attracted more visibility and recognition, these processes have been partial and coexist with the strengthening of some of the hierarchies of teaching work in place prior to the pandemic.

Soft Power, Modernization, and Security: US Educational Foreign Policy Toward Authoritarian Spain in the Cold War

AbstractCold War strategic priorities led the United States to establish an enduring military alliance with General Francisco Franco's dictatorship in Spain between 1953 and 1975. This article examines the educational diplomacy carried out by the US government during the 1960s and early 1970s to foster Spain's stable modernization through the training of national development elites and the dissemination of US educational ideas. The work surveys US educational, informational, and cultural programs aimed at shaping an educational framework conducive to the expansion and legitimization of a US-oriented socioeconomic liberalization in Spain. On the one hand, this US soft power strategy sought to attract those groups who could play an important role in the capitalist modernization of the educational and economic structures of the Iberian country. On the other hand, it sought to reduce the identification of the United States with Franco's dictatorship and to link the image of the American superpower to the hopes for progress of the Spanish people. All of this was pursued in order to preserve US defensive interests in Spain. The piece also discusses US assistance to the crucial 1970 Spanish General Education Law, which allows us to explore how the US ideology of development and education was received by Spanish educational audiences. Thus, by delving deeper into the intersection between cultural diplomacy, international development, and the history of education, we aim to contribute to the integration of education into the histories of modernization and to deepen our understanding of US educational foreign policy in the Cold War.

Philosophical Skepticism, Racial Justice, and US Education Policy

Philosophical Skepticism, Racial Justice, and US Education Policy

Student understandings of career and gainful employment: A critique of US educational policy using structurating activity theory

ABSTRACT U.S. policymakers designed the Gainful Employment Rule (GE) and College Scorecard (CS) to make college decision-making, the outcome of major choice, and long-term economic cost/benefits of student loans readily transparent. Yet, focus group d/Discourse indicate that such interventions fail to meet these ethical objectives but also undermine student educational progress and well-being. Using structurating activity theory and critical discourse analysis, we draw out discursive-material themes and contradictions to portray how students resist, shift, and comply with GE as well as U.S. educational and career philosophies and practices. We contribute to critiques of academic and vocational preparation and achievement as cultural formations or Discourses that appear to (a) offer hope for personal fulfillment, economic prosperity, and life-long career success; while they simultaneously (b) alter expectations, defer dreams, and incur unanticipated outcomes. In doing so, we contribute to policy communication research and social justice with pragmatic multi-level applications based on generative contradictions.

Measuring interest group agendas in regulatory proposals: a method and the case of US education policy

We introduce a new way to measure interest group agendas and demonstrate an approach to extending the CAP topic coding scheme to policy domains at lower levels of analysis. We use public comments on regulatory proposals in US education policy to examine the topics contained in policy arguments. We map the education policy space using a data set of 493 comments and 5315 hand-coded comment paragraphs. A unique measurement model accounts for group and topic diversity and allows us to validate our approach. The findings have implications for measuring topic agendas in lower-level policy domains and understanding group coalitions and competition in education policy. We contribute to text-as-data approaches tracing policy change in the study of public policy. The findings suggest the relationship between issue attention observed by scholars and larger policy reform movements.

Interconnection of polycultural and inclusive education on the example of the USA

The relevance of the research is due to the multicultural nature of the modern world, where all members of any society must have equal rights for high quality educational services, despite individual characteristics that may manifest themselves in race and gender, social status, and alternative development. Multicultural education, being a priority in the US educational policy, has stimulated the development of inclusive education in the country, thereby providing access to education for all citizens with disabilities. Thus, a comprehensive school acquired the status of the main institution for the socialization of students, regardless of their educational capabilities and needs. Consequently, the problem of the research is to identify the relationship between multicultural and inclusive education in the United States. The purpose of the research was to characterize the common features of multicultural and inclusive education on the example of the United States. In the course of the research, the following methods were used: analysis of domestic and foreign literature on the research problem, as well as methods of comparative analysis, generalization and systematization. The research results are the main features of multicultural and inclusive education in the United States have been analyzed, the main goals of multicultural and inclusive education in the United States have been correlated; the principles of multicultural education, which form the basis of inclusive education in the United States have been considered; the relationship of inclusive and multicultural education on the example of the United States has been substantiated. Key conclusions: the presented principles of multicultural education (the principle of variability, differentiation, exclusion of any kind of discrimination, humanistic orientation of the educational process) forms the basis for the organization of inclusive education in the United States. A comparative analysis of the goals of multicultural and inclusive education in the United States has shown their general focus on providing affordable and quality education to all members of society, regardless of identity.

GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS OF FUTURE THEATER PROFESSIONALS TRAINING IN THE UNITED STATES

The article analyses the main features of professional training of future theatre professionals in the context of the historical formation of organizations involved in the development of various acting and public policy and a description of the qualifications of actors. On the basis of the carried out research the basic factors which determine development of sphere of preparation of future experts of theatrical art are defined.In order to determine the main factors in the development of professional training of theatrical artists, the author made a brief retrospective analysis of the key stages of development of this process, which include: the League of Professional Theatre Training Programs, BFA and MFA, x and 70's; development of a network of permanent companies of full-time actors who perform culturally significant work and are concentrated in the region and the community; creation of the Department of Scientific and Cultural Support, which takes care of the financing of theatrical events and events.It is established that at the present stage in the United States educational policy to develop and support art institutions, institutions and organizations; at the state level the role and significance of art in general and theatrical art in particular are defined. It is determined that at the present stage an important role in the implementation of US educational policy in the training of future theatre professionals is played by the National Endowment for the Arts, whose priority is to involve young people and children in early childhood. The National Foundation for the Arts monitors the state of theatrical art in the country, conducts research in the field and develops a strategy for the further development of theatrical art.The author's special attention was focused on the qualification requirements of future theatrical specialists, which also determine the main features of future theatre professionals training in the United States. It is determined that the main criteria of qualification of the future specialist of theatrical art are good physique, kinaesthetic skill, accuracy of movements, figurative memory, structure and clarity of thinking, expressiveness of voice, with good articulation and skill in breath control, ability to respond to stimuli originating from external reality and the ability to reflect through internal feelings, etc.It is determined that the general characteristics of professional training of future theatre professionals in the United States include: public involvement, expanding the scope and influence of theatre organizations, the formation of qualification criteria for the actor's skills and the creation of financial distribution organizations in the field of theatre training and art in general.

Data disaggregation and its discontents: discourses of civil rights, efficiency and ethnic registry

ABSTRACT This paper examines recent political debates surrounding data disaggregation in education policy in one US state, and analyses the discourses taken up by supporters and opponents of these policies. Analysis suggests how discourses move across time and space, and focuses on how these discourses are contextualized and entextualized in social media, interaction, and public texts. The paper contributes to our knowledge of a major, but understudied, US education policy movement, and provides insights into how similar discourses are variably taken up by political actors for divergent ends.

DEVELOPMENT OF ADVANCED TRAINING SYSTEM OF TEACHERS IN THE USA

The history of the formation and development of the American system for improving the qualifications of school teachers is analyzed in the article. It is stated that from the very beginning continuous education has developed in two directions: as a pedagogical concept, a paradigm and as a phenomenon of practice. It was determined that the development of the teacher training system was not equal and straightforward, but was a process full of real changes that included different stages. Among them, it is possible to conditionally distinguish three stages: from the 40s to 60s; from the 60s to 80s years of the XX century; from the 80s to the present. On the basis of the analysis of scientific sources, it was concluded that within this system there were two main forms of teacher training: training in courses (long-term or short-term) at universities and colleges and advanced training that was organized at schools, namely, at the teachers’ work place. It has also been proved that the formation of modern teacher training system was greatly facilitated by studies conducted under the auspices of the National Institute of Education. It has been established that the National Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education (USA) has developed standards that the applicants for the position of teacher must meet. It is determined that solving problems of recruitment and preservation of perspective pedagogical staff, comprehensive support of young teachers, and effective administrative and pedagogical support for their professional development are key areas of US educational policy in recent decades.

Tényekre alapozott oktatáskutatás versus a pedagógia mint kultúratudomány – egy újabb „paradigmaharc” a tudományos pedagógiában

The article describes the emergence of "evidence-based research" in the context of US education policy under the Bush administration and the criteria and program developed during this period. In addition, the international and German reception of this new paradigm of educational science will also be discussed. The reception refers to the broad spectrum of intended functions of evidence-based research, its alleged advantages in the field of educational policy and the proposals and limitations of the methodology of educational research proposed in the context of the new paradigm. Called "empirical educational research" and propagated as the new and only acceptable model of educational research in Germany, evidence-based research in Germany and abroad is the subject of fierce controversy. The paper critically examines the ambitions of this model for research, policy planning and education reform. Finally, the paradigm is refuted because of its implications for research and the problematic consequences it can have for education and the status and theory of educational sciences. Keywords: multiculturalism, decision making, legal requirements, accreditation requirements, curriculum

Public borders, private crossings: Anthropological approaches to neoliberalism in US educational policy and spaces

Educational policies across the globe reflect the ascendancy of neoliberalism. According to neoliberalism, the market represents a superior mechanism to govern ( Peters, 2012 ), and thus, the role of the state is to enable the agency of the market ( Rose, 1999 ). In the United States, the federal report A Nation at Risk (1983) formalized the direct influence of a neoliberal rationality on the formation of educational policies. No Child Left Behind (NCLB) (2001) and The Race to the Top (2010) represent successive assertions of market values on educational reform. At the same time, there is a fundamental contradiction within neoliberal logic: while the state is to refrain from interfering in the market, it must simultaneously intervene to govern schools ( Hursh, 2005 ). Based on these trends, the articles in this special issue highlight critical tensions between public versus private values, practices, and discourses that emerge from the proliferation of a neoliberal logic into the educational sphere. In different ways, each of these articles map out a unique facet of neoliberalism in education to complicate the often totalizing critiques of market-based logics in order to demonstrate the complex ways that people rearticulate and resist education policy in an era of neoliberal ascendancy.

Standardized testing and school segregation: like tinder for fire?

Recent research suggests that high-stakes standardized testing has played a negative role in the segregation of children by race and class in schools. In this article we review research on the overall effects of segregation, the positive and negative aspects of how desegregation plans were carried out following the 1954 Supreme Court decision Brown v. Board of Education, and the de facto re-segregation that followed the dismantling of many desegregation plans, along with the increase of school choice plans. We then analyze these effects in light of the ways that high-stakes standardized testing has grown in importance and intensity in US education policy and practice, especially during the most recent period of school re-segregation. Based on the evidence we argue that the intrinsic features of high-stakes testing, combined with current systems of school choice, function as mechanisms used for racial coding that facilitate segregation and compound inequalities found in schools.

New structures of power and regulation within ‘distributed’ education policy – the example of the US Common Core State Standards Initiative

This article focuses on the growing development towards new forms of ‘distributed’ governance within current large-scale educational reforms. The emphasis is on so-called ‘governance through standards’ as a transformative reform complex which manifests itself in a simultaneous process of regulative destabilisation and (global) reconstruction of policy control. This newly emerging regulative policy ‘ensemble’ is found to be directly related to the growing collaborative activity of cross-field networks between governmental, non-governmental and private actors. Empirically, this article refers to the so-called Common Core State Standards (CCSS) Initiative which has fundamentally reshaped US education policy since 2001. The initiative comprised the negotiation, implementation and controlling of supra-state core skill standards for K-12 education as the benchmark for other regulating instruments such as assessments, monitoring and teacher training. In the context of the CCSS, the aforementioned new structures of regulation can then be located within an entrepreneurial alliance around the non-profit organisation Achieve, Inc. Through its function as a core policy network manager, Achieve generated simultaneous practices of collaboration and distinction, discourse initiation and (invisible) norm stabilisation.

Curriculum counter-strokes and strokes: Swimming in non-existent epistemological rivers

In this article, we examine how Boaventura de Sousa Santos' Epistemologies of the South speaks to a needed dialogue on US educational and curriculum policy in which capitalism and colonialism produce youth and teachers as nonbeings -- another insidious form of nonexistence. We analyze (a) the construction of the dichotomy of Western and non-Western in the context of abyssal thinking and educational policy; (b) the complexities of epistemicides and coloniality in US schools as related to educational reform movements. This analysis reflects the need to struggle for social and cognitive justice and to use the democratic imagination to engage in a praxis for a world of social equality and justice.

Orchestrating policy ideas: philanthropies and think tanks in US education policy advocacy networks

While think tanks are a global phenomenon, their role in shaping US policy offers an instructive example of think tank influence on policymaking due to the immensity of resources directed towards those ends, with education policy serving as a prime example. Focusing on a distinct set of “incentivist” education policies, this analysis describes the think tank-philanthropy linkage in US education policymaking. We offer examples of how philanthropists provide financial, empirical and political resources to advance think tanks’ policy ideas through advocacy networks; describe the multiple functions performed through advocacy networks of intermediary organisations, noting the diffusion of form and function around tasks such as knowledge production, political and media support; and we highlight the ways in which US venture philanthropists and think tanks connect around “idea orchestration” in order to advance ideas in policy processes. We suggest that, especially in the realm of incentivist policies, think tanks do not appear to produce or incubate but rather promote ideas, and actually often only a single idea. The concluding discussion considers advantages evident in idea orchestration and the implications of private control of public policymaking.

New think tank will focus on US education policy

New think tank will focus on US education policy

Policy temporality and marked bodies: feminist praxis amongst the ruins

This article introduces the challenges of temporality into policy studies utilizing US education policy and young mothers as a working example. Situating the need for attention to temporality amidst the ruins of inquiry and ruins of education outcomes for young mothers, the author builds on recent ‘spatial policy sociology’ and turns to queer theory/queer time as a way to infuse policy studies with embodied inquiry toward reimagined futurities. This move raises questions about doing policy studies and inquiry as a post-studies scholar. Pillow approaches these questions through her experiences thinking through data with a group of policy administrators, practitioners, and young mothers. Queer theory and queer time offer ways of looking at inquiry, data and policy subjects, not as a solution, but as re-imaginary methodology through a post-feminist queer praxis of working the ruins.

Rethinking Schools: enacting a vision for social justice within US education

Founded and edited by K-12 classroom teachers, for over 25 years the nonprofit journal and publishing house Rethinking Schools has provided critical analyses of US educational policy and offered models of teaching for social justice grounded in classroom practice. Rethinking Schools has become a focal point for teachers interested in challenging inequality in their classrooms, schools, and communities; an organizational tool for activists and members of the media seeking a trusted, critical perspective on education in the United States; and an educational tool for teacher educators hoping to shape the practices of future teachers. Taking up a politics of equality and social justice vis-à-vis education analysis and curriculum, Rethinking Schools has been a beacon of hope within, and signal of resistance to, the forces of inequality that lay at the heart of neoliberal globalization. In this article, Levine and Au discuss the history, mission, and impact of Rethinking Schools in the United States. This analysis includes a broad perspective on where Rethinking Schools fits within the context of educational activism in the United States as well as more fine-grained discussions of specific campaigns in which Rethinking Schools has taken leadership in challenging neoliberalism.

School administration in a changing education sector: the US experience

PurposeResearch, spanning half a century, points to the critical role of school administration and to the successful implementation of US government policies and programs. In part these findings reflect the times and a US educational governance system characterized by local control, a constitutionally‐constrained federal government, resource‐poor state governments, and an overall system of segment arrangements for governing education. However, the US education policy environment has changed dramatically over the past several decades, with standards and high stakes accountability becoming commonplace. The purpose of this paper is to examine the entailments of shifts in the policy environment for school administrative practice, focusing on how school leaders manage in the middle between this shifting external policy environment and classroom teachers.Design/methodology/approachThe paper's focus is on how school administration manages the dual organizational imperatives of legitimacy and integrity in a changing institutional environment. This paper is an essay in which the authors reflect on the entailments of shifts in the education sector for school administration over the past quarter century in the USA.FindingsWhile considerable change for school administrative practice is suggested, the authors argue that organizational legitimacy and organizational integrity are still central concerns for school leaders.Originality/valueAlthough the paper's account is based entirely on the US education sector, several aspects of the framing may be relevant in other countries.