Strange Frame Fellows: Discursive Tactics of the Anti-standardized Testing Movement

• In Event: 2484 - Section on Sociology of Education Refereed Roundtable Session
  In Refereed Roundtable 60min: Table 25. Theoretical Perspectives in Education

Abstract

How do social movement activists frame issues in order to appeal to an ideologically diverse audience? Ideology plays a central role in the formation and mobilization of social movements, creating a puzzle for movements that seek to encompass opposing ideologies. Taking the case of a social movements opposing the use of high-stakes standardized tests in public schools, I analyze how activists in the movement frames issues related to testing. The movement aims to oppose the use ofHow do social movement activists frame issues in order to appeal to an ideologically diverse audience? Ideology plays a central role in the formation and mobilization of social movements, creating a puzzle for movements that seek to encompass opposing ideologies. Taking the case of a social movement opposing the use of high-stakes standardized tests in public schools, I analyze how activists in the movement frame issues related to testing. Drawing on text data from posts to movement-aligned Facebook group pages, I find that activists engaged in three distinct discursive tactics: (1) explicitly framing the issues as non-partisan; (2) crafting "transcendent" frames that tap into broadly shared cultural values; (3) fusing together values associated with opposing ideologies into "hybrid" frames; and (4) reframing movement goals as narrow, urgent, and tactic-focused to forestall ideologically-charged debates. The case provides insights into how movements use framing when a shared ideological foundation is lacking.standardized tests by refusing to participate in the required annual administration of test in English Language Arts and Mathematics. The movement identifies itself as non-partisan and seeks to mobilize a politically diverse base. Drawing on text data from posts to movement-aligned Facebook group pages, I find that activists engaged in four distinct discursive tactics: (1) explicitly framing the issues as non-partisan; (2) crafting _transcendent_ frames that tap into broadly shared cultural values; (3) fusing together values associated with opposing ideologies into _hybrid frames_; and (4) reframing movement goals as urgent and tactic-focused to forestall ideologically infused debates. The case provides insights into how movements use framing when an shared ideological foundation is lacking.

Author

• Richard Paquin Morel, Northwestern University