Opportunities for Equity and Reimagining Education: Reformer Discourse During the COVID-19 Crisis

• In Event: Socio-Emotional Aspects of School Choice

Abstract

This paper examines the discourse of U.S. education reformers in response to the COVID-19 pandemic beginning in the spring of 2020. We consider how education reformers, representing the tenets of various reform movements, discursively position themselves in relation to COVID-19, and how they frame the pandemic and subsequent disruption to schooling as an opportunity to further their reform objectives. We use the theory of emergency politics and thinking; social movement theory and frame analysis; and the concept of policy windows to analyze reformer rhetoric and discourse. We identify two key reform issues (standards and accountability, and privatization) and two distinct and pervasive frames used to advocate for opposing and often contradictory reforms: equity framing and reimagining framing.

Authors

• Nora Reikosky, The University of Pennsylvania

• Laura Ogburn, University of Pennsylvania