Education Policy in the Cultural Realm: Do standards, testing and accountability change the way we think about education?

Eileen Coppola

Do policy systems shape how parents, students, teachers and administrators conceive the purpose and means of education? Is it possible that the current, nationwide move towards academic standards, testing, and accountability will affect the way our society defines what it means to be educated, and the role of schools in the process? Will these policies affect the values, norms, and theories that underlie our educational system? And if so, how? Most scholars in the field now study responses to education policy without considering whether such policies may shift the cultural frame of education: our society’s sense of education’s purpose for individuals and communities, and our collective definition of academic “success.” I will study this issue using ethnographic methodology and a framework of cultural analysis to explore how participants in the educational system think about education and schooling. The state of Texas has a particularly developed and longstanding set of policies around standards, testing, and accountability. Observing and speaking with parents, students, teachers, and administrators who have spent their lives “inside” the Texas system, and contrasting them with participants who have only just entered, will provide qualitative data for exploring possible connections between a strong, visible education policy and how people understand the goals and means of children’s education. This research will develop concepts to deepen our understanding of how a long-term shift in the policy environment may affect how our society conceptualizes education, while contributing specifically to knowledge about the effects of testing and accountability systems. The possibility that such policies might produce long-term change in American society is unexplored, but critically important terrain in policy studies.

About Eileen Coppola

Eileen Coppola’s work centers on improving the quality of public education. Her research focuses on developing the knowledge and ideas we need to create leadership for high quality schooling and powerful learning. She began her educational career as a teacher in New York City, and subsequently chose graduate school as a means to influence the educational systems that define the conditions of classroom teaching. Through the Urban Superintendents Program at the Harvard University Graduate School of Education, Dr. Coppola certified as a principal and superintendent and studied the politics and leadership of urban schools. Her doctoral dissertation examines how school and district organizational culture affect teachers’ learning new instructional practice, specifically the use of computers for constructivist teaching. For the past several years, she has been studying the culture of school reform in Houston. From school and district experience in New York, Philadelphia, Boston, and now Houston, she brings a range of perspectives on education, and seeks to use research to develop deeper understanding of problems encountered in educational practice. Coppola now lectures in the Department of Education and conducts research at the Center for Education at Rice University.