Using policy network analysis to understand ideological convergence and change in educational subsystems

In recent years, education policy scholars have begun to utilize social network concepts and methods to describe contemporary policy changes across P-16 levels. While many insights have emerged from this growing literature base, we argue that a more formal network approach rooted in policy network a...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Education policy analysis archives Vol. 28; no. 118; pp. 118 - 145
Main Authors: Galey-Horn, Sarah, Ferrare, Joseph J.
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: Colleges of Education at Arizona State University and the University of South Florida 17.08.2020
Arizona State University
Subjects:
Charter Schools
Common Core State Standards
Educational Change
Educational Policy
Governance
ideological politics
Ideology
market-based policies
Neoliberalism
Network Analysis
Philanthropic Foundations
policy change
Policy Formation
policy network analysis
Social Networks
ISSN:1068-2341, 1068-2341
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:In recent years, education policy scholars have begun to utilize social network concepts and methods to describe contemporary policy changes across P-16 levels. While many insights have emerged from this growing literature base, we argue that a more formal network approach rooted in policy network analysis (PNA) is needed to fulfill its conceptual and analytical ambitions. Policy network analysis integrates concepts from social network analysis with theoretical assumptions developed in the field of political science. Toward this end, we first argue that a more rigorous treatment of policy beliefs is needed to analyze the impact of ideas on the policy agenda. Existing literature on the ideological dimensions of market-based reform movements tends to define them largely within the bounds of neo-liberalism and thus far has failed to systematically explain how policy beliefs emerge and converge in this context. Second, we contend that previous work has generally lacked theoretical grounding in formal policy network analysis (PNA). Although there are clear links between the concepts and findings in traditional PNA literature and educational research – particularly the use of networked governance as a concept for understanding the interconnectedness of educational reform networks – a more diligent application of PNA theory and methods would enable educational policy scholars to gain deeper insights into the explanatory processes of policy change. We pay particular attention to the usefulness of these approaches for examining two-mode network data and for modeling ideological policy change.
ISSN:1068-2341
1068-2341
DOI:10.14507/epaa.28.4508