Deconstructing Policy Implementation Imaginaries: A Comparison of School-Community Relationships Across Policy and Rural Practice

• In Event: When Rurality and Policy Collide

Abstract

The Every Child Succeeds Act of 2015 has been hailed as an improvement to its predecessor No Child Left Behind because it gives more power and flexibility to state education agencies. Taking Maine as a case study of a predominantly rural state, we compare this policy document with the lived realities of rural educators to understand the extent to which the state’s imaginary of school-community relationships aligns with educators lived experiences of supporting student learning. We find that while the state sees classroom practice as the primary site of teacher agency, teachers see rural schools as critical sites of opportunity for meeting the needs of the whole child, including addressing the effects of poverty resulting from decades of economic marginalization.

Authors

• Catharine Biddle, University of Maine

• Ian Mette, University of Maine