AbstractsEducation Research & Administration

Race to the Top in Georgia: examining the role of local communities in the early implementation of the federal Race to the Top grant in Georgia, 2009-2013

by David Francis Hugh Goldie




Institution: University of Georgia
Department: Educational Administration and Policy
Degree: PhD
Year: 2014
Keywords: Federal education policy, Local community involvement, Policy implementation process, Policy actors, Public deliberation and debate
Record ID: 2054454
Full text PDF: http://purl.galileo.usg.edu/uga_etd/goldie_david_f_201405_phd


Abstract

For any public educational policy, which has a critical influence on how K-12 education is reformed, there should be some framework for public deliberation and debate that allows all stakeholders to have a voice. Race to The Top (RT3) is a federal educational policy that has had, and continues to have, major influences on the US educational system and on our children’s experiences at school. Georgia’s successful proposal for federal RT3 grants, and hence the adoption of these federal policies, originated at the state education department level, primarily from the governor’s office and only involved some local school boards. This inquiry utilizes a case study methodology to examine the educational policy implementation process from the federal level, through state and district levels, down to the local community, as it relates to RT3 Georgia, and to identify the voice of local communities in that process. In particular, it focuses on how RT3 is translated into a locally implemented educational reform policy, the stages of that process, the policy actors at each stage, the decision making process, and the opportunities and level of involvement of local communities. Data collection included interviews with Georgia state education officials participating in the reform initiative, in addition to document analysis and employed three theoretical lenses – implementation regime framework, advocacy coalition framework, and policy cycles and institutional trends. This examination of the implementation of RT3 in Georgia has resulted in four primary findings: 1) Race to the Top in Georgia presents as a very clear example of the top-down model of policy implementation. 2) The framework and characteristics of this particular reform initiative have, currently, produced high levels of fidelity between policy design and policy implementation in Georgia. 3) Significant barriers to public participation and debate included key aspects such as time constraints, major political activities, the existing state education organizational structure, the established norms within existing state educational agencies, and the absence of motivational factors that may have encouraged greater public debate. 4) Three of the four areas of reform are currently impacting instruction at the classroom level and are likely to develop into institutional trends.