A Critical Discourse Analysis of a U.S. Newspaper's Framing of Merit Pay for Teachers

• In Event: Moscone Center West Roundtable Session 14
  In Roundtable Session: Critical Discourse Analyses of Market-Based Education Reforms

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine newspaper reporting about a controversial education policy issue: merit pay for teachers. In particular, the study examined a single newspaper’s treatment of the issue in the state of Colorado, focusing on the way the Denver Post, the newspaper with the largest circulation in the state, has framed the ongoing controversy over the course of three decades. Whereas the newspaper’s framing of merit pay proponents emphasized their trailblazing spirit, openness to change and innovation, and the logical reasoning behind their support, it depicted opponents (chiefly teachers and their unions) as fearful, often indecisive, irrationally committed to an old system of pay, and given to emotional reactions to policy proposals.

Author

• Michael Ian Cohen, University of Northern Colorado