"A Web of Privatizers": Science of Reading Advocacy Networks in Tennessee

• In Event: Excellence in Education Research: Early Career Scholars and Their Work

Abstract

In the last five years, a wave of science of reading reforms has swept across the nation. Many states adopted literacy bills that require increased attention to foundational skills instruction in K-3 and in teacher preparation programs. The fast spread of fairly similar policies raises questions about the mechanisms that facilitated their rapid adoption. Grounded in anthropology of policy (Shore, Wright, & Pero, 2011), this study examines policy networks involved in science of reading reforms in Tennessee. Using Advocacy Coalition Framework (Sabatier & Jenkins-Smith, 1999) and Goffman's (1974) concept of theatrical frames, this project analyzes the contested nature of science of reading proposals and the legislative theatrics of their adoption. Social network analysis of policy activities shows how networks supporting science of reading approaches emerged and the role they played in promoting a reading reform in the state. The examination of interactions between legislators, policymakers, and policy advocates reveals two divergent narratives of reform: a simplified story that phonics instruction reduces poverty and decreases crime and a less common narrative of the complex nature of reading instruction. More importantly, the study demonstrates how the focus on the "science of reading" obscures the agenda of promoting instructional and testing materials designed to support the implementation of Common Core Standards. Positioned in the wider sociopolitical context of neoliberal education reforms, science of reading advocacy emerges as a site of privatizers' efforts to use literacy legislation as a mechanism for securing a market share for their products.

Author

• Elena Aydarova, University of Wisconsin - Madison