Article
Committees and Controversy Consultants in the Construction of Education Policy
Educational Policy
(2015)
Abstract
The increasingly common practice of engaging consulting firms to assist states with educational policy agendas requires an analysis of the role these consultants play in what is positioned as a democratic decision-making process. In this study, we examine the discourse of a state-level advisory committee formed to develop a new teacher evaluation policy under Race to the Top. We used discourse analysis methods to analyze audio recordings of 11 meetings of this committee. We identified two patterns of consultant talk as it related to committee decision making: making decisions through validation and deferring and redirecting decisions, and we describe their implications.
Keywords
- Educational Policy,
- Consultants,
- Advisory Committees,
- State Policy,
- Discourse Analysis,
- Meetings,
- Video Technology,
- Decision Making,
- Policy Formation,
- Educational Change,
- Qualitative Research,
- Participative Decision Making,
- Behavior Patterns,
- Administrative Principles,
- Emergent Literacy,
- Elementary School Students,
- Reading Tests,
- Reading Fluency
Disciplines
Publication Date
November 1, 2015
DOI
10.1177/0895904814531650
Citation Information
Rachael Gabriel and Trena M. Paulus. "Committees and Controversy Consultants in the Construction of Education Policy" Educational Policy Vol. 29 Iss. 7 (2015) p. 984 - 1011 ISSN: 0895-9048 Available at: http://works.bepress.com/trena_paulus/49/