Rationalizing Reform: The Coalitions and Beliefs Driving North Carolina Teacher Licensure Policy Making, 2021-2022

• In Event: Navigating State Policy, Governance, and Reform

Abstract

Research has documented how new policies can emerge from the political interest of powerful coalitions rather than through democratic processes. In this study, we use Advocacy Coalition Framework and institutional logics to examine the beliefs about teaching that unite coalitions in teacher licensure policy reform and how coalitions draw on those beliefs to influence the policymaking process. Analyzing policy documents and transcripts of public meetings in North Carolina between 2021-2022, we find that coalitions relied on distinct beliefs about teacher professionalism that reflected different views of the purposes of teaching and how to support the profession. Policy elites garnered significant influence through their reliance on highly institutionalized market-based rationales. We offer considerations for realizing democratic participation in education policymaking.

Authors

• Meghan Comstock, University of Maryland

• Maya Kaul, University of Pennsylvania

• Abigail Dym, Providence College

• Youngsun Lee, University of Maryland

• Sora Kim, University of Maryland