Marketing,Information, and Parental Choice: A Comparative Case Study of Third-Party,Federally Funded Out-of-School-Time Services

Information and promotional marketing play central but complex roles in market-based educational programs. This in-depth qualitative study examines these complexities using the case of Supplemental Educational Services, a parental choice program providing federally funded tutoring to low-income students in K–12 public schools. Examining the creation, dissemination, and use of information and promotional marketing is necessary in order to understand how aspects of market theory play out in reality. This kind of inquiry is especially important given that the theory of consumer action behind market-based programs is that parents¹Throughout this paper, “parent” refers to parents and guardians. We use the term parent for simplicity, but the concept of parental choice, as well as the sample of participants in our study, includes nonparent guardians as well. will make the best decisions for their children's education, if they have sufficient information on which to base those decisions. Our data and analysis suggest three findings: first, public management of provider marketing can ensure that consumers receive marketing materials legally and appropriately; it can also help to level the playing field among providers with different marketing resources. Second, promotional materials infrequently focus on specific academic components. Third, districts are largely underutilizing their options in terms of sharing information on provider quality with parents. Together, these findings suggest that moderate regulation of marketing and an increased focus on provider academic quality are likely to improve consumer access to useful data.     

Research-informed practice improvements: exploring linkages between school district use of research evidence and educational outcomes over time

The field of education is progressively building capacity and tools for producing rigorous research evidence to use in improving educational practice and outcomes. The knowledge base is lacking, however, in explicating the dynamics of research-based decision making and exploring connections between the work of research–practice partnerships and changes in educational outcomes. Drawing on experiences and data collected over a decade in mixed-methods research, we describe a case example of how research evidence developed in a multidistrict collaboration was used by one district partner to inform ongoing improvements in publicly funded tutoring programs. We employ both qualitative and quantitative analysis in exploring probable linkages between research-based changes made by the district partner and academic outcomes over time.     

A Seat at the Table: How the Work of Teaching Impacts Teachers as Policy Agents

Policy reflects and shapes society's beliefs about schools, teachers, children, learning, and society, as well as the power structures embedded in our communities and decision-making processes. Although teachers may be central to the implementation of education policy, they are marginal to the design of policy agendas and text, especially around issues of teaching and learning. Their absence in the policymaking process creates a disconnect between the goals and design of education policy and the actual lived challenges of implementation. In examining the dynamics in this critical disconnect, we address the following research questions: How do institutional norms and routines affect teachers' agency in the policymaking process? Following this research question is our action question: How do we support conditions that support teachers as policy agents? We draw on qualitative data from two sites (West Virginia and Wisconsin) where K–12 teachers partnered with university researchers in a range of capacity-building efforts. Analysis illustrates how teachers interact with certain institutional norms that make it hard to engage in policy design. Based on our findings, we discuss how a teacher–university partnership can better support the conditions that facilitate greater teacher agency in thinking, talking, and acting on policy.