EPAA/AAPE is a peer-reviewed, open-access, international, multilingual, and multidisciplinary journal designed for researchers, practitioners, policy makers, and development analysts concerned with education policies. EPAA/AAPE accepts unpublished original manuscripts in English, Spanish and Portuguese without restriction as to conceptual and methodological perspectives, time or place. EPAA/AAPE publishes issues comprised of empirical articles, commentaries, and special issues at roughly weekly intervals, all of which pertain to educational policy, with direct implications for educational policy.
Mindy L. Kornhaber is an Associate Professor in the Department of Education Policy Studies at Penn State University. Her research is guided by two questions: How do institutions and the policies surrounding them enhance or impede human development, and how can human development be advanced on a more equitable basis?
Nikolaus J. Barkauskas Penn State University
Nikolaus J. Barkauskas is a PhD candidate (ABD) in Educational Theory and Policy at Penn State University. His research interests include the philosophy of education, ethics in school reform, and philanthropy and education. His current research is studying the strategic giving practices of private philanthropic foundations in support of the Common Core State Standards.
Kelly M. Griffith Penn State University
Kelly M. Griffith is a PhD candidate (ABD) in Educational Theory and Policy at Penn State University. Her research explores how education policy affects the opportunities for college preparation, access, and transition for students from underprivileged backgrounds.
Smart money? Philanthropic and federal funding for the Common Core
Mindy L. Kornhaber, Nikolaus J. Barkauskas, Kelly M. Griffith
Abstract
The Common Core State Standards Initiative seeks to prepare all students to graduate high school without remedial needs, to improve transparency across states’ accountability systems, and to foster efficiencies in the development and distribution of educational resources. The reform was adopted in more than 40 states and has been described as state-led. We examined federal and philanthropic funding for the reform through a conceptual lens of resource dependence theory. Our document analyses surfaced eight pathways along which funding for the Common Core traveled into, through, and around the public education system. We consider clusters of pathways according to their purposes and the consequences of such clustering for the reform. We conclude by discussing benefits derived from this funding for different types of entities that grant and receive it.
Keywords
Education policy; education reform, educational philanthropy, Common Core
Kornhaber, M. L., Griffith, K. M., & Tyler, A. (2014). It’s not education by zip code anymore – but what is it? Conceptions of equity under the common core. Education Policy Analysis Archives, 22(4). http://dx.doi.org/10.14507/epaa.v22n4.2014
McDonnell, L. M., & Weatherford, S. M. (2013). Organized interests and the Common Core. Educational Researcher, 42(9), 488-497. http://dx.doi.org/10.3102/0013189X13512676
Schneider, M. (2015). Common Core dilemma: Who owns our schools? New York: Teachers College Press.
Reckhow, S., & Snyder, J.W. (2014). The expanding role of philanthropy in education politics. Educational Researcher, 43(4), 186-195. http://dx.doi.org/10.3102/0013189X14536607