Showing papers in "Journal of Education Policy in 1990"
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors propose a state-level structure for improving classroom instruction and learning, based on clear and challenging standards for student learning; policy components would be tied to the standards and reinforce one another in providing guidance to schools and teachers about instruction.
Abstract: This analytic essay draws on research about the effectiveness of current education policies as well as observations about developing policy systems in a number of states. The chapter begins with several observations about policy and school-level success, examines current barriers to school improvement and proposes a design for a systemic state structure that supports school-site efforts to improve classroom instruction and learning. The structure would be based on clear and challenging standards for student learning; policy components would be tied to the standards and reinforce one another in providing guidance to schools and teachers about instruction. Within the structure of coherent state leadership, schools would have the flexibility they need to develop strategies best suited to their students. The systemic school reform strategy combines the ‘waves’ of reform into a long-term improvement effort that puts coherence and direction into state reforms and content into the restructuring movement.
734 citations
TL;DR: Halpin and Fitz as mentioned in this paper argued the case for analysis of education policy from a state-centred perspective, in combination with detailed investigation of policy implementation, and argued that the different research traditions in education policy are briefly summarized, and the factors contributing to the encouragement of pluralist approaches discussed.
Abstract: This short paper was produced in response to David Halpin and John Fitz's ‘Researching Grant Maintained Schools’, which is seen as indicative of a trend within education policy research towards the accumulation of detailed case study and the relative neglect of theoretical analysis. The different ‐ and sometimes conflicting ‐ research traditions in education policy are briefly summarized, and the factors contributing to the encouragement of pluralist approaches discussed. The paper concludes by arguing the case for analysis of education policy from within a state‐centred perspective, in combination with detailed investigation of policy implementation. 1. Fitz, J. and Halpin, D. (1990) ‘Researching Grant Maintained Schools’, Journal of Education Policy, 5 (2), pp. 167‐180
134 citations
93 citations
TL;DR: In this article, a critical re-assessment of the post-war "partnership" between LEAs, teachers and the Ministry of Education/Department of Education and Science is presented.
Abstract: This paper draws on an on‐going research project on ‘Elites in Education Policy‐making’ supported by the Open University's Research Committee. A major aim of the project is to critically evaluate the post‐war ‘partnership’ between LEAs, teachers and the Ministry of Education/Department of Education and Science. A critical re‐assessment of partnership, it is suggested, has implications for the pluralist analysis of policy‐making on which it draws. The paper critically reviews pluralist approaches, and, drawing on evidence from interviews and archive sources, outlines an approach which is historically grounded and state‐centred.
52 citations
TL;DR: The relationship between instructional policy and teaching practice is explored in this paper, where one teacher's response to the new policy is considered and she sees herself as a success for the policy: she believes that she has revolutionized her mathematics teaching and that the innovations in her teaching have been filtered through a very traditional approach to instruction.
Abstract: This chapter probes the relationship between instructional policy and teaching practice. In the mid-1980s, California State officials launched an ambitious effort to revise mathematics teaching and learning. The aim was to replace mechanical memorization with mathematical understanding. This chapter considers one teacher's response to the new policy. She sees herself as a success for the policy: she believes that she has revolutionized her mathematics teaching. But observation of her classroom reveals that the innovations in her teaching have been filtered through a very traditional approach to instruction. The result is a remarkable melange of novel and traditional material. Policy has affected practice in this case, but practice has had an even greater effect on policy.
47 citations
TL;DR: This paper analyzed curriculum reform from the perspective of hard content for all students and identified two approaches to reform, curriculum control and teacher empowerment, which has been used in the past in the service of less ambitious curriculum reforms.
Abstract: Curriculum reform is analyzed from the perspective of hard content for all students. High school mathematics and social studies are used as subject matter examples. Against these expressions of desired ends, current practice is reviewed to illustrate obstacles that reform must overcome. Two approaches to reform are identified, curriculum control and teacher empowerment. Neither of these strategies is new; each has been used in the past in the service of less ambitious curriculum reforms. Drawing on previous experience, we sketch characteristics of control and empowerment and compare their strengths and weaknesses. Four states – Florida, California, New York, and Texas – are used to illustrate where states stand relative to the goal of hard content for all students. Those same states provide illustrations of the two strategies for curriculum reform. Again, high school mathematics and social studies are used to situate the analyses. We observe important differences among states and within states between sub...
39 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors focus on the emergence emergent in several countries of a new "national curriculum" which is based on the experience of the United Kingdom and draw on the antecedents of the national curriculum and the arguments and groups through which promotion has taken place.
Abstract: This chapter focuses on the phenomenon emergent in several countries of a new ‘National Curriculum’. Primarily the chapter draws on the experience of the United Kingdom. In this case study the focus is on the antecedents of the national curriculum and the arguments and groups through which promotion has taken place; the structures, rhetorical, financial and political, which have been established or co-opted to support it; and finally the content, form, pedagogical assumption and ideological projects embedded within it.
29 citations
22 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, three well known case studies are used to explore the limits of science in policy implementation and the analysis maps significant events in the case studies and associates these with policy or non-policy influence.
Abstract: Three well known case studies are used to explore the limits of science in policy implementation. The analysis in this research maps significant events in the case studies and associates these with policy or non‐policy influence. Sources of uncertainty are described and the science of chaos introduced as a possible interpretive framework for extending policy science.
21 citations
TL;DR: The 1988 Education Reform Act allows schools to opt out of LEA control and become 'grant-maintained' by central government as discussed by the authors, which has provoked considerable controversy.
Abstract: The 1988 Education Reform Act allows schools to ‘opt out’ of LEA control and become ‘grant‐maintained’ by central government. This measure has provoked considerable controversy. Its supporters claim that it will increase parental choice and improve standards; its critics say that it will further fragment the education service and reintroduce selection. This paper examines the background to the measure and discusses five research tasks for those, like the authors, who are concerned to assess its significance and monitor and evaluate its effects. 1. This paper was first presented at an Education Reform Act Research Network Seminar held in the Faculty of Education, Bristol Polytechnic, on Thursday 30 November 1989. Parts of the paper draw on the authors’ research proposal to the Economic and Social Research Council, J. Fitz and D. Halpin (1989), and work subsequently supported by one of its grants (Award No. R0000231899). A number of colleagues, including Geoff Whitty, Len Barton, Gill Crozier, Paul Croll, I...
19 citations
TL;DR: The 1988 Education Reform Act encourages market forces in education, driven by parental choice and a currency of measured educational attainment as mentioned in this paper, and children with statements of special needs may be exempted from the national curriculum and greater flexibility and integration for them discouraged in such a competitive environment.
Abstract: For a century following the introduction and enforcement of compulsory school attendance after 1870, special education developed along increasingly categorized and segregated lines. The Warnock Report in 1978 made comprehensive recommendations redirecting and reversing these policies towards greater flexibility and integration. Such radical change required responses and political will. Like much previous legislation in special education, the 1981 Education Act was a permissive measure, open to diverse interpretations. The 1988 Education Reform Act encourages market forces in education, driven by parental choice and a currency of measured educational attainment. Children with statements of special needs may be exempted from the national curriculum and greater flexibility and integration for them discouraged in such a competitive environment.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors reviewed accountability reporting systems, operating in South Carolina, Illinois, and the UK, and demonstrated how the policy design and policy settlement operating in each case are key to understanding the outcomes which may be expected to flow from the outcomes.
Abstract: The movement toward accountability reporting for elementary and secondary schools has been widespread, in the USA as well as in some other countries. This development involves use of performance information, particularly assessment of pupil achievement, to make comparisons among schools and other units. Despite its popularity, the rationale for accountability reporting is unclear. For example, it is not resolved whether performance information is to prompt action by citizens and interest groups acting politically, through oversight by superordinate governments applying mandates, rewards and sanctions, or by individual consumers through market decisions. Several accountability reporting systems, operating in South Carolina, Illinois, and the UK, are reviewed. Each system is built principally around one of the three alternative rationales. The analysis demonstrates how the policy design and policy settlement operating in each case are key to understanding the outcomes which may be expected to flow from the ...
TL;DR: In this paper, the main themes of the educational politics of the Swedish Conservative Party in the 1970s and 1980s are discussed and several parallels to West European and American Conservative education politics are pointed out.
Abstract: Against an international and historical background this article deals with the main themes of the educational politics of the Swedish Conservative Party in the 1970s and 1980s. Several parallels to West‐European and American Conservative education politics are pointed out. It is emphasized that the central components of today's Swedish conservative policy in educational matters have been recurrent themes throughout the twentieth century. First and foremost the Conservatives have strived for an early division of children for different tasks in society. However what is new is the offensive character of the modern education policy. It is stressed that, for substantial periods of time, schooling has only been of secondary importance to the Swedish Right. The reasons behind this are shortly discussed.
TL;DR: In the post-war period, education policy has attempted to strike a balance between serving the needs of two competing ideals, namely democracy and capitalism as discussed by the authors, and whenever it serves the latter, it must also seem to serve the former.
Abstract: In the post‐war period, education policy has attempted to strike a balance between serving the needs of two competing ideals, namely democracy and capitalism. Whenever it serves the latter, it must also seem to serve the former. If not, the policy will be difficult to ‘sell’ on democratic principles. This tactic seems to have been overlooked by the Scottish Education Department in its 1987 consultation paper Curriculum and Assessment in Scotland: a Policy for the 90s. In it the SED has sought to revive the managerial style of entrepreneurial capitalism, namely Taylorism. It has done so, however, hard on the heels of its previous advocacy of human relations management approaches. Only recently, teachers expected to be consulted; now they are to be told and (with the threat of legislation) cajoled. The result is that the SED has lost its legitimacy, and it may face a backlash calling for a move away from the cult of efficiency and enterprise towards a more democratic educational process.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors trace the development of testing policies in the USA and focus on the use of academic tests of aptitude and achievement, concluding that testing policy is a result of a subtle interplay of social, political, and technical factors.
Abstract: This chapter traces the development of testing policies in the USA and focuses on the use of academic tests of aptitude and achievement. The thesis of the chapter is that testing policy is a result of a subtle interplay of social, political, and technical factors. Thus, the nature of the development of testing in the USA is linked fundamentally to its democratic principles, the emergence of scientific ideas, and the social and economic reality of an immigrant and heterogeneous society. Conflicts among these factors have shaped the day to day reality of testing and its use in the US system. The chapter is organized into sections chronologically. Each attempts to provide an integrated discussion of social and political contexts and explicit motives for US test development as well as, where appropriate, technical summaries of the major features of the assessment themselves. This approach is structured to illuminate the recurring themes that have influenced or are likely to influence future US testing practic...
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors acknowledge their membership on the study group that was appointed by the National Policy Board for School Administration to draft the document discussed in this paper and acknowledge their colleagues in that endeavour: David Clark, Patrick Forsyth, James Guthrie, Wayne Hoy, Karen Seashore Lewis and Cheryl Shakeshaft.
Abstract: 1. I would like to acknowledge my membership on the study group that was appointed by the National Policy Board for School Administration to draft the document discussed herein. I would also like to acknowledge my colleagues in that endeavour: David Clark, Patrick Forsyth, James Guthrie, Wayne Hoy, Karen Seashore‐Lewis and Cheryl Shakeshaft. My comments in this paper, however, are my own and are not meant to represent the position of either members of the study or the National Policy Board.
TL;DR: A Commentary on the report of the Task Force on Amalgamations in Higher Education (TTF-HIE 1989) is given in this paper, with a discussion of the role of unions in higher education.
Abstract: ∗A Commentary on the Report of the Task Force on Amalgamations in Higher Education (Canberra, Australian Government Publishing Service, 1989).
TL;DR: Readiness tests and developmental screening measures can be distinguished both as to content and purpose, but in practice they are often used interchangeably as mentioned in this paper, and the content of academic readiness tests is questionable given recent research in emergent literacy and cognitive psychology.
Abstract: This policy analysis of readiness testing in local school districts has three parts: (1) a summary of research on issues comprising the policy context; (2) a review of readiness test uses and validity; and (3) an analysis of policy consequences. The apparent need for districts to judge children ready or unready for school is a phenomenon of the 1980s and follows from a constellation of interconnected changes: major (and inappropriate) shifts in the kindergarten curriculum, dramatic increases in kindergarten retention, a middleclass trend to redshirt children so that as six-year-olds they will have an advantage in kindergarten, and the promulgation of readiness checklists in the popular press. Readiness tests and developmental screening measures can be distinguished both as to content and purpose, but in practice they are often used interchangeably. The content of academic readiness tests is questionable given recent research in emergent literacy and cognitive psychology. Developmental tests are not apprec...
TL;DR: In the USA, union membership is an almost universal aspect of teachers' occupational identity and union presence is a pervasive feature of school organization, but little attention has been paid to the role unions play in teachers' professional lives as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: In the USA, union membership is an almost universal aspect of teachers' occupational identity and union presence is a pervasive feature of school organization, but little attention has been paid to the role unions play in teachers' professional lives. This paper describes how teachers' evaluation of unions is constructed by historical, organizational and social features of teachers' work and, as such, varies markedly across schools and districts. Presenting the contrasting views of teachers in two comprehensive California high schools, it considers the consequences of this evaluation on the changes in strategy many local unions are currently attempting. 1. This paper was prepared for the 16‐20 April 1990 meeting of the American Educational Research Association in Boston, Massachusetts. Research for the paper was supported by funds from the US Education Department Office of Educational Research and Improvement to the Center for Research on the Context of Secondary School Teaching, Stanford University (Gran...
TL;DR: The authors argue that the theme and topic of students with special needs should be examined from social theoretical platforms, rather than special educational frameworks, and that a social political approach based on discourse theorizing is especially useful.
Abstract: This paper argues that the theme and topic of students with special needs should be examined from social theoretical platforms, rather than special educational frameworks, and that a social political approach based on discourse theorizing is especially useful. It draws on comparative research across various educational apparatuses, and across social policy areas in late twentieth century welfare states where need is increasingly deployed. The paper suggests there are nine major, overlapping lessons from this research. It concludes that the notion of students with special needs is not the way to approach equity in educational apparatuses. ‘children with special needs’ ... in the vast majority of cases, is a euphemism for failure (Barton 1986a: 273). It is essential to recognise as Tomlinson (1985) has recently argued, that an ideology of ‘special needs’ not only obscures contradictions and conflicts, but can also serve to support various policies and practices of the wider social order. Also, the rhetoric ...
TL;DR: The first Curriculum Development Center (CDC) as mentioned in this paper was an expression of the Whitlam era, and featured reformist ideals and relatively generous budgets, and the second CDC was a more cautious and pragmatic attempt by Hawke to revisit those ideals in the 1980s, but in vastly more constrained ideological and economic circumstances.
Abstract: National curriculum development agencies have had a chequered history in Australia. Twice in the last two decades Commonwealth (federal) governments have established major agencies ostensibly devoted to the enhancement of curriculum, and twice they have been wound down. The first Curriculum Development Center (CDC) was established in the mid-1970s. It was an expression of the Whitlam era, and featured reformist ideals and relatively generous budgets. The second CDC was a more cautious and pragmatic attempt by Hawke to revisit those ideals in the 1980s, but in vastly more constrained ideological and economic circumstances. Over the last year a third attempt has been mounted; this time to establish a ministerially-sponsored private company.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors outline some of the resultant changes to the composition and functions of governing bodies which were intended to shift power away from those governors constructed by the new right and the Secretary of State for Education as producers, to those categories labelled as consumers.
Abstract: Legal judgements delivered in recent years have impelled the government to redefine the meaning of free education This redefinition was one of the miscellaneous measures included in the Education Reform Act In contrast to former years, much of the responsibility for ensuring that schools only charge for those activities that they are legally entitled to, now falls to school governing bodies These were, themselves, restructured and reconstituted by recent legislation In this paper, we outline some of the resultant changes to the composition and functions of governing bodies which were intended to shift power away from those governors constructed by the new right and the Secretary of State for Education as producers, to those categories labelled as consumers We then present some of our findings concerning the debate on charging for school activities which took place among the governors who are included in the sample of governing bodies which we are currently researching We conclude by suggesting that
TL;DR: In this paper, the impact of recent legislation on the role and function of local inspectorates/advisory services in relation to their role in monitoring the quality of schools and in fostering school improvement is examined.
Abstract: This paper considers the impact of recent legislation on the role and function of local inspectorates/advisory services in relation to their role in monitoring the quality of schools and in fostering school improvement. It examines both the common ground and differences in the approach taken by successive Labour and Conservative governments and explores the nature of the demands now being made on inspectors which are not consistent with the existing preferences and practice of inspectors. The paper analyses some of the tensions between accountability and school improvement in government policy and on the basis of the writer's experience as a Chief Inspector suggests ways in which the two may be combined.
TL;DR: This article studied six state school councils over a 12-month period and found that the agenda was seen as extremely important in the minds of the school council members and the theoretical works of Giddens, Bachrach and Baratz, Forester and Ricoeur have been utilized to explain the importance of the agenda in policy formulation.
Abstract: The implementation and development of school councils as a major source of policy formulation and decision making within the educational administration structure has been a major tenet of the Labor Government in Victoria. The central philosophy underpinning this government policy is embodied in Ministerial Paper 4, School Councils. In order to examine whether this policy had become a reality the Social and Administrative Studies group at Deakin University studied six state school councils over a 12‐month period. This paper looks at some of the data arising from this project. In particular perceptions of that crucial text, the agenda, which was seen as extremely important in the minds of the school council members, are closely examined. To help explain the importance of the agenda in policy formulation, the theoretical works of Giddens, Bachrach and Baratz, Forester and Ricoeur have been utilized. The research suggests that through the medium of textually mediated discourse, human beings produce, reproduce...
TL;DR: In this article, an investigation of how an officially prescribed science curriculum (OPSC) was interpreted and translated by teachers into actual classroom practice in Nigerian primary schools was carried out, and it was argued that the official view of teachers as mere implementers of policies imposed from higher quarters is both inaccurate and misleading.
Abstract: This paper is based on an investigation of how an officially prescribed science curriculum (OPSC) was interpreted and translated by teachers into actual classroom practice in Nigerian primary schools. Due to various pressures and constraints, contents of the official curriculum were not transmitted to pupils in their original forms. Mismatches between official and hidden curricula were very rampant, and these were often created by factors beyond the control of either teachers or pupils ‐ similarities were also more superficial than real. It is argued in this paper that the official view of teachers as mere ‘implementers of policies imposed from higher quarters’ is both inaccurate and misleading. On the contrary, the teacher's role in primary science is more of a ‘policy broker’ than an implementer of official programmes.
TL;DR: The authors argue that, rather than putting all of our eggs in one basket, like choice, we should experiment with various approaches, such as both curriculum controls and choice, and that progress for all of the policies depends upon strengthening the system of educational indicators, student assessments, and sophisticated data bases, as does the possibility for a major breakthrough in basic educational technology.
Abstract: This chapter is about how to approach educational policy in a situation of uncertainty about policy effectiveness. It argues that, rather than putting all of our eggs in one basket, like choice, we should experiment with various approaches, such as both curriculum controls and choice. The chapter thus rejects recent claims of choice as a ‘panacea’ (Chubb and Moe 1990b), not because they are necessarily untrue, but rather because they are untested. Maintaining a diversified strategy is especially important because of the potential value of combinations of policies (e.g., enlightened instructional guidance enhancing the impact of decentralized policies of both choice and school restructuring; school restructuring providing models for the supply side in choice systems). Progress for all of the policies depends upon strengthening the system of educational indicators, student assessments, and sophisticated data bases, as does the possibility for a major breakthrough in basic educational technology (such as gre...
TL;DR: For example, state governments have become especially active in two domains, curriculum and accountability (Elmore et al. 1990, McDonnell and Fuhrman 1986), and nearly all states adopted policies to generate and disseminate more detailed assessments of student performance.
Abstract: Throughout the past two decades, state governments have assumed a more expansive, aggressive, and prescriptive role in many domains of education policy (Mitchell 1988). Since the mid 1980s, state governments have become especially active in two domains, curriculum and accountability (Elmore et al. 1990, McDonnell and Fuhrman 1986). In this fairly brief time period, nearly all states enacted policies to inspire or require more rigor in the academic component of the school program and nearly all states adopted policies to generate and disseminate more detailed assessments of student performance (Blank, this volume).
TL;DR: In this paper, a comparative case-study of cover arrangements in a local education authority and a district health authority is presented to identify several major factors which affect the organization of supply workers.
Abstract: Supply teachers are playing a growing role in many schools in England and Wales as a result of staff shortages and the demands of in‐service training. However, little research has been conducted into this section of the teaching force. This paper uses data gained from a comparative case‐study of cover arrangements in a local education authority and a district health authority to identify several major factors which affect the organization of supply workers. A comparative approach helps identify problems which are specific to education, and those shared by at least one other local sector of the welfare state. It also aids an examination of the degree to which LEAs can control the organization and supply of cover staff. The paper concludes by arguing that the present government's commitment to the Local Management of Schools will make it more difficult for LEAs to provide schools with numerical, functional or financial flexibility through the employment of supply teachers.
TL;DR: In this paper, a 50-state comparative analysis of state education policy reforms and curriculum in mathematics and science education is presented, focusing on the effects of state policy reforms on curriculum in elementary and secondary education.
Abstract: Many of the education policy initiatives of state legislatures and state boards of education in the 1980s were aimed at improving the quality of elementary and secondary education through upgrading state standards. Researchers are analyzing the effects of the reforms on education in elementary and secondary schools. Many states have expanded their systems for assessing, monitoring, and reporting on schools, teachers, and students. Using data collected from state departments of education, this chapter presents findings from a 50-state comparative analysis of state education policy reforms and curriculum in mathematics and science. Two issues are analyzed: the effects of state policy reforms on curriculum in math and science education, and the strengths and limitations of currently available 50-state indicators of curriculum in math and science. State-by-state data are analyzed on secondary course enrollment in science and mathematics and on the relationship of state curriculum frameworks and statewide asse...
TL;DR: This article explored the interplay between curriculum policies designed at the local level and those developed at the state level by examining the policy environments in two districts each in Florida, Michigan, and California.
Abstract: Curriculum guidelines are initiated at both state and district levels. This chapter explores the interplay between curriculum policies designed at the local level and those developed at the state level by examining the policy environments in two districts each in Florida, Michigan, and California. The authors suggest that two types of interactive models define the state-district relationship: (a) district accommodation/compromise; and (b) district compliance/augmentation. Districts that adopt the district accommodation/compromise model have sufficient resources and commitment to design their own independent curriculum guidelines focusing on local needs and priorities. In contrast, districts that use the compliance/augmentation model generally implement state-level policies, yet sometimes go beyond these recommendations with district-devised initiatives.