Education Policy Analysis Archives

The origins of Education Policy Analysis Archives in an era of early open access publishing

Gene V Glass — 2022-09-20

In conjunction with the 30^th anniversary of the open access scholarly journal, Education Policy Analysis Archives, Founder and Editor Emeritus Gene V Glass presents a brief history of the journal, including its online predecessors and offshoots, within the context of computer and information technology developments and the early open access movement in scholarly publishing.

University governance and relationships with stakeholders: The managers' view

Graziele Alano Gesser — 2022-11-01

This research aimed to identify the main stakeholders of a public university and analyze from what their main demands are identified in relation to the institution's information. This is a qualitative, descriptive study carried out through a case study. The subject of university governance is rarely addressed in scientific investigations carried out in Brazil and its concept is founded on the application of the governance approach to the university context. This investigation made it possible to identify, from the managers' perception, the main stakeholders of the public university. The results showed that the public universities have several actors, and those with the greatest control are most cited by the interviewees as the main users of information, followed by the civil servants, MEC, civil society organizations and students. Servant and student groups appear most cited by respondents both as users of information and as participants in decisions, which indicates a relevant role for these two groups in the university governance system.

Introduction to the special issue: Student experience in Latin American higher education

Maria Veronica Santelices — 2022-05-03

In this introduction, the guest editors present an overview of the 11 articles that make up the special issue on student experience in Latin American higher education. The introduction provides context about the higher education sector in Latin America, draws attention to the main features of the articles, and highlights common themes across them. The guest editors also comment on the parallels and contrasts with the student experience discussed by the literature from other geographical locations. Based on the preparation and publication of the special issue, suggestions for further research are provided.

Educational policies and equity: Introduction to the special issue

Carmen Rodríguez-Martínez — 2022-08-09

This paper presents the special issue Educational Policies and Equity, which delves into different contexts—political, management, educational and training—to identify, describe and understand policies and practices related to the promotion of equity. We understand equity as the fundamental right to education, combating vulnerability, dependency and domination, and with the reduction of inequality and discrimination. After a brief introduction of the theoretical framework from which this special issue is proposed, the articles that compose it are presented. The issues that will be addressed, from the framework of qualitative research, revolve around: the different levels of the process of formulating educational policies; privatization policies and relations between the public and the private; the digitization processes of schools; the processes of globalization and its consequences for agents and democracy; tracking and diversification policies; teacher training and its impact on equity; as well as educational programs that seek to build practices that are oriented towards inclusion and equity.

Who, how and what is investigated in a commercialized educational system? A metaanalysis of research on educational policy in post-dictatorship Chile (1990-2019)

Cristobal Villalobos — 2022-11-01

Starting from the idea that research and who carry it out affect the construction of the educational system, this article seeks to describe and understand what the main patterns of academic publication on educational policy in post-dictatorship Chile (1990–2019) are. Through a systematic review of more than 300 articles about educational policy, the paper analyzes who publish, the methods used and what has been investigated during the last three decades. The results show that research on educational policy is characterized by being a masculinized and individualized space, dominated by elite universities and characterized for a disciplinary autonomy. In addition, research in educational policy is highly descriptive and tends to use a qualitative approach as a way of approaching the phenomena it studies. Finally, it is observed that, even though most of the studies have a critical stance towards the market, in general they seek to correct it rather than remove it. This exercise allows deepening the reflection on the reconfiguration of the relationship between research and educational policy, as well as the mechanisms of influence that educational researchers develop on educational policy.

Anti-standardization and testing opt-out movements in education: Resistance, disputes and transformation

Javier Campos Martinez — 2022-09-06

Testing, scoring comparison and accountability policies have become a ubiquitous part of schooling across most countries in the 21st century. The persistence of these hyper-surveillance measures has occurred in spite of an accumulative and increasing amount of evidence that illustrates negative effects of these kinds of policies. Meanwhile, diverse school actors have grown increasingly skeptical of how tests are being used, leading various groups to mobilize and resist such trends in education. This special issue looks at these resistance movements to school accountability measures across the world, gathering experiences of resistance from movements in countries in South America, Europe, North America, and Asia. This paper provides theoretical tools for analyzing resistance and presents an overview of these movements, highlighting common trends and variations referring to their goals, political strategies and outcomes.

Mission, money, and membership: An institutional perspective on teacher preparation at new graduate schools of education

Marilyn Cochran-Smith — 2022-11-29

This article explores how teacher education operates within market-organized environments. We argue that the forces of the market have acted against institutional isomorphism in teacher education, as evidenced by the emergence of new graduate schools of education (nGSEs), which are a new population of teacher preparation providers. We suggest that nGSEs are animated by logics based on highly-specialized missions, alternative funding models, and membership in powerful networks that set this population apart from others within the organizational field of teacher education. We also argue that there is remarkable variation and diversification among nGSEs, which has resulted in highly specialized teacher preparation niches that distinguish each nGSE from other members within the same population through mission-specific branding, publicity, and funding, which in turn prompts increased demand for specialized programs. Finally, we suggest that although nGSEs have been shaped in many ways by the forces of the market, most of them are not completely dominated by market logics. Rather, most combine elements of the logic of markets with elements of other powerful logics, forming hybrids that create tensions, some of which are highly productive, prompting rapid organizational evolution, including name changes, reorganizations, and new partnerships.

“Tell them local control is important”: A case study of democratic, community-centered school boards

Daniella Hall Sutherland — 2022-12-13

Democratically elected school boards in the United States play a crucial role in school governance because they enable community voice in educational practices and programs. Research on locally controlled boards finds they can be undemocratic and unproductive. However, little research has been conducted in rural or small towns, where local control persists through formal and informal means. This qualitative case study examines two rural, locally controlled school boards to understand how they engage in community-centered democratic governance, and the extent that they influence the technical core of schooling. The process of developing and approving school district budgets is used as illustrative examples of the enactment of local control. The findings from this study explain how small, locally controlled school boards employ elements of democratic governance, and that their community governance influences the technical core of schooling. The study provides a rural counter-narrative to previous research on local control, demonstrating that local control enacted by school boards can be an effective democratic practice that shapes teaching and learning in public schools. The article concludes with recommended practices non-rural school boards and communities can employ to expand democratic participation in their schools, as well as future directions for research.

Exploring state department of education grading guidance during COVID-19: A model for future emergency remote learning

Matt Townsley — 2022-11-08

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many United States brick-and-mortar schools in Spring 2020 rapidly transitioned to emergency remote learning. School leaders grappled with how grades ought to fit within the many unknowns of K-12 remote education. In some cases, schools modified their grading scales to give students greater flexibility to pass courses, and in other situations, schools offered incomplete grades in lieu of failures. During this time, state departments of education (DOEs) provided a variety of guidance documents to their school districts. The purpose of this study was to explore the components of state DOE grading guidance during the Spring 2020 school shutdown, along with the patterns of guidance across states. The researchers applied a grounded theory approach to systematically explore the equivalent of 1,444 pages of documents from 48 state DOE guidelines. The document analysis resulted in three primary categories that influenced state DOE grading guidance: guiding principles, student advancement, and determining grades. The researchers conclude by presenting and discussing a three-category model for emergency remote learning grading guidelines for K-12 schools. In the event of another pandemic temporarily affecting the delivery of education to students, policymakers may use this model as a starting point for future recommendations.

Core conceptual features of successful blended learning in higher education: Policy implications

Teklu Abate Bekele — 2022-10-25

COVID-19 has “taught” universities worldwide that using digital technologies to support purely online or blended learning is a survival strategy. This lesson plus the inclusion of technology in continental, national, and university policies and strategic plans implicate significant technology integration, especially blended learning, in higher education in the post-pandemic era. However, there lacks sound theoretical frameworks to adequately explain success indicators and success factors in blended learning. Existing frameworks provided particulars about the impacts of blended learning within certain contexts; none provided a comprehensive analysis of the significant factors that transcend specific application contexts. Moreover, the frameworks did not offer clear conceptions of knowledge, teaching, learning, and technology and its role in learning. To better inform successful blended learning adoption, this study problematizes success indicators and success factors based on a configurative review of existing frameworks and emerging theoretical perspectives in higher education. A holistic conceptual framework that transcends context specificity is proposed to better inform policy making, instructional design, and teaching and learning. Conceptions of adaptive policy, policy as learning design, and policy as practice are found relevant for blended learning policy making and analysis in higher education.