A Smart ALEC Threatens Public Education

Underwood, Julie; Mead, Julie F.

doi:10.1177/003172171209300612

Cited by 23 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 2 publications

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“…Charter schools emerge not from popular referenda, which typically fail, but from legislative efforts, with many states adopting model legislation from ALEC--an organisation that matches lawmakers with corporate sponsors, and which receives substantial funding from the foundations mentioned above (Underwood & Mead, 2012). As the federal government has put pressure on states to grow the charter sector, advocacy groups like Stand for Children provide guidance, advice, and even legislative language to states.…”

Section: Privatising Policymakingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Privatising form or function? Equity, outcomes and influence in American charter schools

Lubienski

2013

Oxford Review of Education

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The American experiment with charter schools advanced on dual impulses of increasing opportunities for disadvantaged students and unleashing market competition. While critics see these independently managed schools as a form of privatisation, proponents contend that they are public schools because of funding and accountability arrangements and potential benefits, and believe that the economic logic around these schools will produce equitable educational opportunities. This analysis considers how charters are or are not instances of privatisation in education, showing that the marketised environment they are intended to nurture serves as a route for profit-seeking strategies. In reviewing the research on charter school organisational behaviour and outcomes in marketised environments, I find evidence of de facto privatisation in function if not in form. As charter schools often act like profit-seeking entities, but fail to achieve expected academic and equity outcomes, the concluding discussion considers how these schools are placed between conflicting goals, and serve as entry points for private organisations seeking to penetrate the publicly funded education sector. I conclude that perhaps their most important role is in serving as a vehicle for privatising public policy--diminishing the public while enhancing the position and influence of private interests and organisations in education policymaking.

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Section: Privatising Policymakingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Privatising form or function? Equity, outcomes and influence in American charter schools

Lubienski

2013

Oxford Review of Education

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“…Since 1986, an interesting phenomenon has been the introduction of essentially the same legislation in multiple states, and a group known as the American Legislative Exchange Council (Shelton, 2010) has been credited with this feat (Underwood & Mead, 2012). According to the ALEC website, for over 30 years this group, which describes itself as “a nonpartisan membership association for conservative state lawmakers who shared a common belief in limited government, free markets, federalism, and individual liberty,” has been developing policy “covering virtually every responsibility of state government” (http://www.alec.org/about-alec/history/).…”

Section: Elements Of Complexity For University Program Changementioning

confidence: 99%

The Complexity of Leveraging University Program Change

Crow

Arnold

Reed

et al. 2012

Journal of Research on Leadership Education

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This article identifies four elements of complexity that influence how university educational leadership programs can leverage program change: faculty reward systems, faculty governance, institutional resources, and state-level influence on leadership preparation. Following the discussion of the elements of complexity, the article provides a vignette of a university program change in educational leadership to further highlight the complexity and to provide examples of the opportunities for program change. The article ends with a discussion of implications for change.

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“…Policy ideas can be disseminated to legislators through mechanisms such as the American Legislative Exchange Committee (ALEC), a corporate-funded effort that all but explicitly brings private business interests into state-level policymaking and which produces legislative templates for policies such as charter schools (Underwood and Mead, 2012).…”

Section: Privatization Of Public Policymakingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Policy proposals are often introduced or legitimized through research outfits, whether think tanks like AEI, the Manhattan Institute, or state-level organizations, such as those associated with the State Policy Network, or increasingly, university-affiliated entities such as the Program on Education Policy and Governance (PEPG) at Harvard or the Department of Education Reform at the University of Arkansas (Glass, 2014). Policy ideas can be disseminated to legislators through mechanisms such as the American Legislative Exchange Committee (ALEC), a corporate-funded effort that all but explicitly brings private business interests into state-level policymaking and which produces legislative templates for policies such as charter schools (Underwood and Mead, 2012).…”

Section: Privatization Of Public Policymakingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sector distinctions and the privatization of public education policymaking

Lubienski

2016

Theory and Research in Education

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Current trends indicate declining distinctions between 'public' and 'private' sectors in education. Reformers see sector barriers as unnecessary impediments to innovation, distracting attention and effort from 'what works'. This analysis questions whether trends in education policy are simply a natural evolution away from state control of public goods, noting the agency involved in blurring the boundaries between sectors. While the weakening of public and private distinctions is real and substantial, there are reasons for researchers and policymakers to rely on these distinctions in understanding education policy and policymaking, not so much as principles that should guide policymaking, but as means for analyzing competing interests, agendas, and beneficiaries of policies. In that respect, education policymaking itself is being privatized through a significant shift toward private interests in the making of public policy for public education. The analysis focuses on the central role that some private philanthropies play in shaping hybridized private-public policy networks in education policymaking.

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A Smart ALEC Threatens Public Education

Cited by 23 publications

References 2 publications

Privatising form or function? Equity, outcomes and influence in American charter schools

Privatising form or function? Equity, outcomes and influence in American charter schools

The Complexity of Leveraging University Program Change

Sector distinctions and the privatization of public education policymaking

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