"Supply Chain Education" and New Policy Actors: The Role of Market-Driven Policy Reform

• In Event: 18.035 - Changing Education Through Rethinking Governance

Abstract

This analysis investigates the Greater Houston Partnership (GHP) as an emergent form of educational policymaking, in which regional business coalitions engage public and private spheres to shape educational policy in response to labor market needs. We employ discourse and document analysis to examine GHP’s structure as a new policy actor and narrative of workforce-driven education. We demonstrate how GHP exerts a business-oriented mission onto the regional public education sphere through promotion of tailored community college training programs. This vision of education as a workforce “supply chain” defines the public education sector as an engine to respond to short-term needs of the market. Our analysis contributes to research on new modalities of governance and their promotion of market-driven educational policy reform.

Authors

• Bailey B. Smolarek, University of Wisconsin - Madison

• Lee Scrivener, The University of Wisconsin - Madison