Policy Coalitions of the Every Student Succeeds Act at 2016–2018 Congressional Hearings: A Discourse Network Analysis

• In Event: 35.077 - MTCC Roundtable Session 13
  In Roundtable Session: 35.077-5 - Understanding Education Politics and Policy Networks With Social Network Analysis

Abstract

Purpose
This study investigates the policy coalitions of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) since the passage of ESSA in 2015. As states and local education agencies are translating ESSA into state and local education policies and practices, this study applies discourse network analysis—an emerging, alternative analytical approach built on content analysis and network analysis—to uncover policy coalitions of ESSA implementation. Specifically, this study seeks to answer two research questions: (1) Which policy actors have forged coalitions? and (2) What specific policy preferences in the discourse have been driving the coalition formation?

Conceptual Framework
This study is grounded in the Advocacy Coalition Framework that posits advocacy coalitions are forged by the policy actors who have similar policy preferences (Sabatier & Weible, 2007). Similar policy preferences function as the “glue” holding coalitions together. Differences in policy preferences are manifested in the discourse that serve to defend or propose coherent arguments as justifications for policy preferences (Hajer, 1995). Policy actors make public statements about a policy in order to signal their policy preferences to potential allies and convince other actors to adopt their policy preferences. As a result, policy discourse, in which policy actors articulate their policy preferences, can be structured around competing coalitions: the clusters of policy actors holding similar policy preferences and presenting similar arguments.

Methods
Data for this study consist of all 27 testimonies from eight hearings in the House (11) and Senate (16) on ESSA implementation during the 114th and 115th sessions of the U.S. Congress from the passage of ESSA to the present. The transcripts of these testimonies and statements were retrieved from the U.S. Government Publishing Office website and were analyzed using discourse network analysis (Leifeld, 2017).

Results
The actor coalition network centers around the role of the U.S. Department of Education and the tension between equity and accountability (see Figure 1 at the end of this proposal). The discourse coalition network clusters around five themes: (1) equity (e.g., disaggregation of student achievement data and English language learners), (2) the Department of Education’s role, (3) statewide assessment, (4) accountability, and (5) identifying and assisting chronically underperforming schools (Figure 2).

Significance
The findings of this study have salient policy and methodological implications. On the policy front, the findings on the policy actor coalitions and the discourse coalitions provide timely insights on the current process of translating ESSA into state and local education policies and practices. With states having more control under ESSA, it is important to advance our understanding of the policy coalitions in ESSA implementation. On the methodological front, the analytical techniques of discourse network analysis employed in this study add to the repertoire of analyzing policy discourse.
 

Author

• Yinying Wang, Georgia State University