Christopher Lubienski

Indiana University Bloomington | IUB · Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies

Drawing upon a long-term study of venture philanthropy and public schools in Australia, this paper focuses on Teach For Australia (TFA) as a major component of a venture philanthropic network, one that builds critical infrastructures and connections between non-government organisations and the state, creating a product pipeline into public schools....

Full Article Figures & data References Citations Metrics Reprints & Permissions Read this article ABSTRACT In recent decades, policymakers around the globe have adopted market mechanisms such as consumer-style choice, provider autonomy and competition. Such policies may improve educational equity since families can choose options outside of their a...

School vouchers have been embraced largely due to their potential to help students trapped in underperforming public schools, who would then have access to higher performing educational options. Indeed, many voucher programs are targeted at economically challenged students in under-performing urban schools who would otherwise be unable to afford tu...

This article focuses on the “where” of education policy, to understand how and why policy is made and implemented. To do this the article focuses on spatial theories and methods, that span across critical and quantitative studies, and the application in education policy research. While the article deals with ideas in quite broad ways, we hope to pr...

The increasing influence of private interests in public policy has been facilitated by a growth in sources of “alternative” information and expertise. In education, teachers and schools are often the targets of these sources. This has been associated with a new political economy where private interests advance reform agendas largely through funding...

Education policy has witnessed a series of trends in recent decades at the global level, including: efforts to expand education for all; the rise of lowcost options, often facilitated by technological innovation; and the growing influence of private corporations, NGOs, and the ‘effective philanthropy’ movement. But an overriding shift that ties man...

State-run schooling systems around the globe are witnessing the growing influence of external actors on articulations, provisions, policies, and outcomes of education. For instance, academies and charter schools, parental choice, contracting out, public-private partnerships, for-profit providers, benefit corporations, heterarchical governance, vent...

In this monthly column, Kappan authors discuss books and articles that have informed their views on education. Christopher Lubienski recommends How to Succeed in School Without Really Learning by David Labaree. Chad Aldeman recommends the 2008 Education Next article “Peaks, cliffs, and valleys: The peculiar incentives of teacher pensions.”

The growth of school choice options such as charter schools is often understood as a way to meet the needs of under-represented communities, but concerns have been raised as to the diversity of those promoting and leading such options, as well as for the voices of those whose schooling is being reformed. Garrett Wilson and Christopher Lubienski exa...

School segregation is both an enduring and growing area of research interest. School segregation is shaped by multiple and complex forces within educational ecosystems, including individual students and households, education jurisdictions, organisational (dis)incentives, policies, and larger societal characteristics and contexts. As a field of stud...

In recent decades, policymakers around the globe have adopted market mechanisms such as consumer-style choice, provider autonomy and competition. Such policies may improve educational equity since families can choose options outside of their assigned local school. Yet research from multiple countries is finding a link between greater use of such po...

We used descriptive statistics and a logistic regression to examine between-school inequalities in science and math curricular offerings in Year 12 (final year) in all schools in one Australian state (Victoria). Dataset contains variables about school contexts: school enrolment size, school socioeconomic composition, school sector, and school locat...

We used descriptive statistics and a logistic regression to examine between-school inequalities in science and math curricular offerings in Year 12 (final year) in all schools in one Australian state (Victoria). Dataset contains variables about school contexts: school enrolment size, school socioeconomic composition, school sector, and school locat...

The authors illustrate how language favoring educational choice shapes U.S. educational policy amid continued, evolving efforts by some to privatize public resources.

Background Extant literature has consistently indicated that access to charter school markets is shaped by social geography. Given interest in location shown by charter schools and parents, estimating potential spatial access to charter schools has become instrumental in understanding equal opportunities for charter school enrollment in metropolita...

A growing body of research investigates how intermediary organizations (IOs) and their networks navigate, promote, and produce evidence on social media. To date, scholars have underexplored blogs, an important milieu in which IOs produce and disseminate information. In this analysis, we broaden the emerging scholarship on evidence brokering by exam...

This study examines the factors that shape secondary schools’ offerings of academic curricula. While academic curricula provide many benefits to individuals and the larger society, inequalities in opportunities to study these subjects may exist between schools, even in comprehensive secondary education systems. We examine the Australian case as a v...

The primary justification for school voucher programs in the United States has revolved around questions of efficacy, especially relative to student achievement outcomes. More recently, however, a series of studies revealed sizable negative impacts on students enrolled in voucher programs. Collectively, these studies presented an evidentiary sea-ch...

National philanthropies have recently played a prominent role in spending on U.S. urban school board elections, largely seeking to promote candidates who support charter schools. In Atlanta in 2017, 30 candidates competed for nine open school board seats. One practice has been to fund intermediary organisations (IOs) (e.g. advocacy groups, foundati...

New conceptions of public governance across nations have taken hold globally. In this article, we explore the involvement and expansion of a broad range of actors in public services delivery, beyond the remit of traditional government. While there are common features of this trend, variations reflect the significance of context-sensitive policy, wh...

This study treats Indiana (2010-2018) as a case in which to examine media-based coverage, deliberation, and ethical and empirical framings as school choice reforms were being taken up and as they evolved and accelerated. Within this timeframe, Indiana transformed into a leading state in school choice reforms. Both repetitive and shifting justificat...

Purpose Much justification for third sector involvement in education advances from the notion that attributes from business and non-profit fields could benefit state-run public schools. The purpose of this paper is to explore this issue by examining theoretical underpinnings and expectations for third sector participation in public education syste...

Neoliberalism as a concept, ideology, or theoretical lens has emerged in the last couple of decades as a monolithic presence in education research, and the social sciences more broadly. We bring two aims to this Special Issue: to critique the rigour of neoliberalism as a theoretical framework utilised within education research; and second, to explo...

This study focuses on the evolving ethical claims and empirical evidence being advanced within U.S. media relating to voucher-style programs. As such, the research seeks to better understand how and why these policies proliferate, despite scant evidence recommending them. Our specific media focus reflects the recognition that issues, problems, and...

In much of the world, policymakers, philanthropists, and experts are demanding evidence on the effectiveness of proposed approaches for addressing issues, often as an indicator of the suitability of different interventions for receiving funding and support. But in education policy in particular, there are serious questions not only about the degree...

School choice research has provided some initial understandings of how parents choose schools. Parents’ school options are bounded to differentiated choice sets—the menu of school options that parents construct when making school selections. The geographical location where families live and schools are located and families’ race and class differenc...

In this article, we map the expansion of geographic approaches in education policy scholarship in the last two decades. Our main objective is to trace key contributions, illuminating moments and turns from multiple epistemological perspectives within the scholarship of education policy and from the field of (human) geography. In doing so, we discus...

This paper reviews a number of approaches to considering how policy transfers through advocacy networks, focusing on education issues in general, and market-based policies in particular. While policymakers and private funders are demanding evidence on the effectiveness of proposed interventions in education, it is not at all clear that they themsel...

This paper suggests that synergies can be produced by using geospatial analyses as a bridge between traditional qualitative-quantitative distinctions in education research. While mapping tools have been effective for informing education policy studies, especially in terms of educational access and choice, they have also been underutilized and under...

This article provides an exploratory overview of the history of homeschooling in the United States in addition to examining some of the claims made by advocacy organizations. There are two broad categories of rationales for homeschooling: (1) empirical — claims of greater efficiency, effectiveness, or pedagogical appropriateness; and (2) ideologica...

This analysis aims to measure the impact of school choice policy on secondary school students’ enrolment patterns within the social geography of Vancouver, an increasingly polarized global city. The rationale for the study is to examine the impact of ‘education market’ reforms on the socio-economic composition of schools in a Canadian context, wher...

This discussion offers an overview of the articles and themes developed by the papers in this special issue on Chicago school reform, and also some critical comments on such scholarship. It highlights how these reforms are not organic, as they are often portrayed, but are instead a result of strategic efforts by policymakers and special interests....

This paper addresses the rise and consequences of an emerging global education industry (GEI), which represents new forms of private, for profit involvement in education across the globe. The paper explores the emergence within the GEI of new and varied, largely transnational, markets in education by focusing on three examples of the GEI at work. T...

In this article, we introduce the special issue that illuminates issues in school choice and education marketization in contemporary Canada. We begin with a discussion of the proliferation of market models across the globe and the kind of questions that have arisen as public policymakers, philanthropists, and other private interests have embraced a...

This paper examines the K-12 school choice practices and patterns of marginalized urban families whose relative living conditions have worsened in recent decades with growing income disparities. In particular, the paper draws from critical geography and the sociology of education to examine the significance of habitus, capital, field as well as sit...

This analysis considers shifting conceptions of equality in education, highlighting the movement from equality of treatment, access, and educational and social opportunity to a focus on the equal right to choose a quality school. The paper examines the evolution of the idea of equality in education, and explores recent reform policies that harness...

School vouchers have been a controversial school reform, with advocates and opponents sparring over any evidence of their effectiveness. In recent years, voucher proponents have been arguing that the most rigorous research provides proof that vouchers have positive impacts on academic achievement. To consider the relative merits of such assertions,...

The argument of this paper is that new methodologies associated with the emerging field of ‘policy mobilities’ can be applied, and are in fact required, to examine and research the networked and relational, or ‘topological’, nature of globalised education policy, which cuts across the new spaces of policymaking and new modes of global educational g...

Market theory positions the consumer as a rational choice actor, making informed schooling choices on the basis of ‘hard’ evidence of relative school effectiveness. Yet there are concerns that parents simply choose schools based on socio- demographic characteristics, thus leading to greater social segregation and undercutting the potential of choic...

Recent advances in conceptualizing structures of influence in education policymaking have emphasized the role of non-governmental actors working in networks to promote their agendas. These useful insights have allowed researchers to consider the evolution from “government” to “governance” in education policymaking, broadening the analytical scope f...

The usefulness of spatial perspectives in education research is well known, particularly in fields such as school choice that are operationalised in multiple institutional, demographic, and local geographies. But the modes of spatial inquiry, even as they can potentially lend themselves to integrated research strategies, tend to be fragmented and i...

We examine how students’ perspectives of their learning environments vary between private and public schools in Australia. Previous research has shown that educational outcomes do not vary by school sector in most countries after controlling for student social background. Little is known, however, about the ways in which different students’ educati...

Voucher proponents have increasingly pursued empirical evidence on the effectiveness of vouchers as a form of education improvement, in addition to advocating for vouchers situated on moral or ethical grounds. Voucher proponents contend that randomized assignment studies of students in voucher programs have consistently confirmed the effectiveness...

Current trends indicate declining distinctions between ‘public’ and ‘private’ sectors in education. Reformers see sector barriers as unnecessary impediments to innovation, distracting attention and effort from ‘what works’. This analysis questions whether trends in education policy are simply a natural evolution away from state control of public go...

This study examines the impact of school closures on the sociospatial distribution of equitable access to schooling following the school closure policy pursued by the Chicago Public Schools in 2013. By examining access in terms of proximity between students and schools, the study estimates the changes in accessibility before and after school closin...

Policymakers often advance charter schools as an education reform model that can offer more diverse educational alternatives for families. Yet, as these schools compete for students, questions arise about how they respond to the competitive incentives in differentiating themselves through marketing distinct options for learners. The way these schoo...

The increasing involvement of philanthropists in education policy has contributed to the emergence of a dynamic sector of intermediary organizations (IOs), entities that serve a number of functions in school reform, including advocacy, consultation, policy design, alternative teacher and leadership preparation, and research. In recent years, many I...

While think tanks are a global phenomenon, their role in shaping US policy offers an instructive example of think tank influence on policymaking due to the immensity of resources directed towards those ends, with education policy serving as a prime example. Focusing on a distinct set of “incentivist” education policies, this analysis describes the...

Background/Context Parent trigger policies have become a popular option in the education reform toolbox, giving parents the potential ability to induce substantial structural changes at their local public school. This reform approach emerged in California during the Great Recession, and has since proliferated to a number of states, spurred on by po...

Presently, there is a growing force that seeks to promote the privatization of what has traditionally been understood best as a collective. Despite notions of what is best for the collective good, notions of privatization and individualization elevate the individual over the public masses. Finding roots in the economic theories of Milton Friedman,...

The efforts of many advocacy organizations to advance their preferred policies despite conflicting evidence of the effectiveness of these policies raise questions about what contributes to successful policy promotion. While many may like to think that expertise in an issue in question is an essential prerequisite for influence in public policy disc...

Locally and globally among policymakers and edupreneurs, what constitutes “good teaching and learning” is highly contested, and prototypes that seem to embody “what works” are highly valued. In the United States, many accept Teach For America (TFA) as an exemplar of “what works.” As its U.S. operations continue to grow, TFA has recalibrated and exp...

Authors: Christopher Lubienski, T. Jameson Brewer, & Priya La Londe

Nearly ten years after Katrina and the implementation of a host of new and radical education reforms in New Orleans, there remains little evidence about whether the changes have improved school performance. Despite this lack of evidence, the New Orleans model is held up as a reform success, and is being adopted by other cities. In this article the...

Presently, there is a growing force that seeks to promote the privatization of what has traditionally been understood best as a collective. Despite notions of what is best for the collective good, notions of privatization and individualization elevate the individual over the public masses. Finding roots in the economic theories of Milton Friedman,...

Public school systems across the United States have seen unprecedented expansion of incentive-based reforms, such as teacher performance pay, school choice, new governance forms, and alternative pathways to teaching and leadership. These reforms, many of which have had mixed results in evaluations of their effectiveness, are spreading despite a lac...

This paper responds to Michael Peters’ paper in this issue, specifically the articulation of the economic in the non-economic parts of contemporary life, and the explication of neoliberalism in governnmentality inspired work. We do this by focusing on the field of New Political Economy, and suggest that education policy analysis that focuses on cul...

Recent reforms in England's education system have been justified on the grounds that other countries have pursued similar approaches to education reform. Many such policies that by-pass or otherwise diminish meso-level institutions demonstrate a commitment to the idea of devolving authority to local actors. The current reforms in England and elsewh...

This article develops a framework for investigating research use, using an “advocacy coalition framework” and the concepts of a “supply side” (mainly organizations) and “demand side” (policymakers). Drawing on interview data and documents from New Orleans about the charter school reforms that have developed there since 2005, the authors examine (a)...

Researchers have noted with concern the often weak link between research evidence and policymaking, particularly in some areas such as education. In this introductory essay-dedicated to the late Carol Weiss-we consider this issue first by reflecting on how changing historical conditions can shape institutional demands on and for research production...

An increased role for the federal government and philanthropic organizations in education over the last decade, along with a growing demand for evidence by public and private policymakers, has invigorated an already vibrant sector of intermediary organizations that seek to package and promote research on educational policies and programs for policy...

Educational policy debates are no longer occurring exclusively in academic or governmental settings. Intermediary actors are promoting research using a variety of traditional and non-traditional media to advance and oppose policy agendas. Given the current policy arena, it is useful to re-examine the research underlying current reforms, and to dete...

Researchers have noted with concern the often weak link between research evidence and policymaking, particularly in some areas such as education. In this introductory essay—dedicated to the late Carol Weiss—we consider this issue first by reflecting on how changing historical conditions can shape institutional demands on and for research production...

Recent reforms in England’s education system have been justified on the grounds that other countries have pursued similar approaches to education reform. Many such policies that by-pass or otherwise diminish meso-level institutions demonstrate a commitment to the idea of devolving authority to local actors. The current reforms in England and elsewh...

Available at http://nepc.colorado.edu/thinktank/review-pluck-and-tenacity

This paper responds to Michael Peters' paper in this issue, specifically the articulation of the economic in the non-economic parts of contemporary life, and the explication of neoliberalism in governnmentality inspired work. We do this by focusing on the field of New Political Economy, and suggest that education policy analysis that focuses on cul...

PurposeThis analysis addresses the question of how the goals motivating policies around markets for supplementary education are supported and reflected (or not) in the subsequent structures for those markets. Design/methodology/approachDrawing on policy documents and empirical research on these policies, we examine the policy contexts and market st...

The American experiment with charter schools advanced on dual impulses of increasing opportunities for disadvantaged students and unleashing market competition. While critics see these independently managed schools as a form of privatisation, proponents contend that they are public schools because of funding and accountability arrangements and pote...

The phenomenal growth of homeschooling in recent years demonstrates not only the appeal of this educational approach but also the notable policy acumen of the homeschooling movement's leading advocates. This analysis examines and critiques the empirical claims made by homeschooling proponents to justify further expansion and deregulation of the mov...

New Zealand moved two decades ago toward a self-managing model for schools, which included requiring schools to impose geographic admissions' schemes when oversubscribed. There is global interest in alternative models of decentralized school governance, and this model offers a useful case for studying how schools use autonomy in more competitive en...

The phenomenal growth of homeschooling in recent years demonstrates not only the appeal of this educational approach but also the notable policy acumen of the homeschooling movement’s leading advocates. This analysis examines and critiques the empirical claims made by homeschooling proponents to justify further expansion and deregulation of the mov...