The role of the philanthropic sector in shaping the emerging education market: Lessons from the US

• In Event: The Global Education Industry (1): Corporations and philanthropies setting education agendas

Abstract

With its fragmented education governance structures, the United States has been a prime site for the growth of corporate influence on education policymaking. In recent reforms, though, further changes to the governance schemes that centralize authority have led to an even greater influence of interest groups. While for-profit corporate interests have certainly taken advantage of these opportunities to advance their agendas, in this paper we demonstrate that “non-profit” corporate groups such as philanthropic interests have been leading the way in this restructuring, and in exerting greater authority over American schools. Our analysis starts in the State if Washington, home of the Gates Foundation, to illustrate its outsized influence in advancing charter schools there (despite the stated will of the electorate), but then traces the efforts of Gates and other major philanthropies in advocating at the national and international levels for neoliberal education reforms that push back the position of democratic institutions in favor of corporate-style institutions and environments for education. Using techniques from network analyses, we highlight the growing influence and relationships of these organizations in the global education reform movement, and consider the implications for democratic access, both to schools, and to policymaking processes.

Authors

• Christopher Lubienski, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

• Wayne Au, University of Washington