School Rankings in Canada: Think Tanks, News Media, and Neoliberal Frames

• In Event: Roundtable Session 83
  In Roundtable Session: Framing the Issue: Discussion of Data and School Profiles

Abstract

This paper considers a Canadian think tank’s annual publication of its Report Cards on school performance. A critical discourse analysis of the Fraser Institute’s 2008 video produced in defense of its school rankings shows how the Fraser Institute frames educational issues related to school quality and the role of public and private schools by constructing particular identities and identity relations (Fairclough, 1992). This analysis identifies the Fraser Institute’s use of symbolic resources of meaning-making (Chouliaraki, 2008) to frame educational issues within the context of news media’s uptake of the think tank’s publications.

Author

• Rodney Handelsman, McGill University