No Child Left Behind, the Every Child Achieves Act, and the Partnership Metaphor

• In Event: Roundtable Session 38
  In Roundtable Session: New Developments in School-University Collaborative Research

Abstract

This is a preliminary paper considering how inter-institutional relationships and professional learning collaborations between PK12 schools and universities might be (re)conceptualized as communities and/or networks. In 2002, No Child Left Behind (NCLB), the signature education legislation of the Bush administration, made school-university partnership a policy cornerstone. However, the Every Child Achieves Act (ECAA) approved by the U.S. House of Representatives on July 16, 2015, almost excluded university “partners.” One obvious implication of ECAA is further erosion of universities’ influence as they compete with multiple professional learning providers. Fifty-four cases (2004-2010) were compared to describe how partnerships were structured and how they worked as communities and/or networks. Findings suggest that the new metaphors shaped project sustainability and enhanced collaboration.

Author

• Dianne C. Renn, Illinois State University