The New Architects of Regulation: State Boards of Education as Policy Actors

• In Event: Critical Policy Research Meets the Politics of Education

Abstract

This paper will explore State Boards of Education (SBOE) as policy actors. Thinking about SBOEs as policy actors focuses attention not only on the power, authority and policy making functions of state boards of education, but also on their networks, their actions, and the discourses constructed through the performance(s) of their policy work. Examinations of SBOEs as policy actors, therefore, offer the opportunity to explore what governing models have existed over time and across states and with what authority, what their specific policy roles and responsibilities are within the educational policy system, how they interact with other policy actors and networks, and to what end.

Viewing SBOEs as policy actors shifts from the consideration of the SBOE as a unitary policy actor among other policy entities to viewing boards as part of a policy network (Agranoff & McGuire, 2001; Ball, 2008; Ball & Junemann, 2012; Bevir & Rhodes, 2003; Rhodes, 1997). In this paper, we examine SBOEs both in terms of their roles and level of authority as well as their participation in larger policy networks. According to NASBE (2016), there are four roles common to SBOE’s across state contexts. These include: 1) policymakers who are responsible for policies that promote educational quality, 2) advocates who are responsible for quality education for all students, 3) liaisons who seek to foster relationships and two-way communication between education and others, and 4) consensus builders who work to find common ground among the various parties that influence education policy. Our analysis focuses on 12 states that fit the first role identified in NASBE’s framework, SBOEs as policymakers who are engaged in designing policy that regulates the work of K-12 educators. Our analysis considers the nature of SBOE policy work, the individuals making up the SBOE, their broader
policy networks, and the implications of their efforts for the regulation of K-12 education in the state.

According to Ball (2008), networks are indicative of “a new ‘architecture of regulation’ based on interlocking relationships between disparate sites in and beyond the state” (p. 761). In this new architecture policy is influenced and made piecemeal in a variety of spaces by a variety of actors and then welded together based on alliances and network goals. Importantly, network goals may not be the same as those publicly and formally communicated by governmental bodies. Thus, network analysis provides a particularly powerful strategy for interrogating SBOEs as policy actors.

Authors

• Michelle D. Young, University Council for Educational Administration

• Amy L. Reynolds, University of Virginia

• Bryan A. VanGronigen, University of Virginia