Doctoral Dissertation Research: National and Local Policies in Public Education

Indiana University, Bloomington IN

Investigators

Abstract

SES#: 1003130 PI: Pamela B. Walters Co-PI: Emily A. Bowman Indiana University This project examines why a nation that embraces education as a core value does not have a more centralized system of public education. To address this issue, this study investigates key points in US history when policies designed to use federal funds in the provision of public education were seriously considered, but largely thwarted. Using a comparative-historical research design and conducting textual analyses of both secondary and primary sources of data (including the Congressional Record, newspaper articles, and archival materials), three specific cases are examined: the Blair bills of the post-Civil War era, the Harrison bills of the New Deal era, and the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) of the War on Poverty era. The research investigates how extant elite domination, downtrodden mobilization, state-centered, institutional politics, policy legacy, and political culture explanations can or cannot be usefully applied to explain the lack of a strong federal role in US public education. The findings will aid policymakers. BROADER IMPACTS: Those who are considering contemporary school reforms such as school funding equalization and school vouchers as well as standing legislation such as the No Child Left Behind Act can benefit from knowing how and why previously proposed federal-level redistributive educational reform efforts have failed. Knowledge of the factors that influence the trajectory of reform can better equip policymakers to overcome obstacles to policies that hold out the promise of improving the lives of future generations.