Demystifying Goliath: An Examination of the Political Compass of Education Reform

ABSTRACT

There are competing popular beliefs about whether education reform is a fundamentally bipartisan or conservative movement. Yet, despite the popularity of these prevariling depictions, there has been minimal effort expended toward systematically observing the political beliefs of the key players in the education reform movement. I gauge the political compass of education reform by administering anonymous political surveys to individuals affiliated with the two largest educational philanthropies and the nation’s largest convening of education policy scholars. Overall, I observe that, contrary to both popular competing characterizations of education reform, education reformers-those who receive philanthropic support to execute reform and those who produce education research to guide reform – overwhelmingly align with the Democratic Party and progressive political positions. The revealed political homogeneity of education reform indicates that it might be fertile terrain for groupthink to flourish. Implications and potential remedies are discussed.

KEYWORDS:

• Education reform
• education philanthropy
• groupthink
• politics of education

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. I use conservative in the standard American parlance, which is deference to traditionalism and often (though not exclusively) political alignment with the Republican Party.

2. Greene & Hess found that 92% of political donations made by grantees of the Gates and Walton Foundations were made to Democratic candidates; 96% of donations from AEFP presenters were to Democratic candidates.

3. Other conferences such as those hosted by the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management (APPAM) and the American Educational Research Association (AERA) also attract many education policy scholars. However, APPAM and AERA are wider in scope than AEFP and feature a substantially larger share of education practitioners or researchers not specifically engaged in education studies.

4. Overwhelming support for progressive causes arguably amounts to concern that conservative respondents might conceal their responses for fear of retribution. While that scenario might change the responses to policy questions, it would reinforce that education reform is not the politically conservative enterprise that some portray.