Chapter 8: The Media Got it Wrong!: A Critical Discourse Analysis of Changes to the Educational Policymaking Arena

The arena for educational policymaking has changed dramatically in recent years. A diverse array of policy proposals is now debated and developed by and increasingly diverse array of high-powered, high-level political actors (Buras, 2011; McDonnell, 2009; McGuinn, 2012a). New to state-level policymaking, a loosely-federated group of nonprofit advocacy organizations have enjoyed remarkable success in recent years (McGuinn, 2012a; Sawchuk, 2012a, 2012b, 2012c). Meanwhile, for better or worse, entrenched political actors, like teachers’ unions, now face credible threats to their longstanding hold on political power (Avlon, 2012; Carey, 2012; Sawchuk, 2012d). As political dynamics have changed, so have the policies themselves. Fueled, in part, by incentives in President Obama’s Race to the Top competitive grant program, states have embraced a wide variety of reforms that are commonly considered part of the “neoliberal” agenda for school improvement (McGuinn, 2012a), which aims to make public education function more like private business.