Uncovering the Institutional Landscape of Adequate Yearly Progress: A Policy Sciences Approach to Education

• In Event: Roundtable Session 100
  In Roundtable Session: Creating the Accountability System

Abstract

This paper examines the role of institutions in the decisions of school principals concerning AYP designations. Education policy scholars have argued that education is being commoditized and that accountability regimes and New Public Management techniques are detrimental to the education of students. Current policy expects that school leaders operate as rational providers of that commoditized service, and so accountability has become the new common sense. Using textual analysis and interviews, structured by Ostrom’s IAD framework, the institutions operating at the school level are examined to assess the rules-in-use for school leaders regarding accountability, and specifically the AYP determination. This is an exploratory article that invites further inquiry into the intersections of policy science and education policy.

Author

• David Mandel, The University of Arizona