Who's Got Their Hand in the Policy Jar?

Have you ever felt as though a policy came out of left field? And that maybe there is some mysterious ambiguity that surrounds how a policy is developed? Several questions run through one's mind - who's idea was this? Who was at the decision making table? Why now? Educational policy development and implementation is no different. To practitioners, it feels as though every day a new policy, executive order or mandate comes down from the heavens above to bestow its wisdom and guidance. As sporadic and disjointed as it can seem, there are some strategies and approaches that determine which policies actually garner attention and action.

In Jennifer Rippner's book, The American Education Policy Landscape (2016), she discusses the state of the American education system, its history, and the need for a more holistic approach in the creation of education policies. Historically marginalized students continue to be marginalized, the country's college attainment rates are the lowest they have ever been and in order to rebound, "sustained collaboration is necessary for a continuously strong education pipeline" (p.6). One underlying theme throughout the first three chapters of Rippner's book was the complex nature of how policies get created and who is involved in the development. She explains that the involvement can be internal or external depending on the educational issue and policymakers' attention. From the President to state governors and mayors, elected officials are bombarded with educational issues that seek some sort of policy decision. These issues come through multiple vessels. Whether it be the public's opinion, interest groups, or through the Legislature, education policymakers are flooded with very little time and resources to devote. At the state level these issues are filtered by GEPAs - governors' education policy assistants - who "are often asked to help craft and implement the governor's agenda, liaison between the governor's office and education stakeholders, and manage the information flow to the governor" (Rippner, 2016, p.28).

It is a long arduous process through a complex web of bureaucracy for an issue to become a policy and be implemented. Rippner (2016) explains the stages of the policy process as "agenda setting, policy definition, implementation and evaluation and decision making about the future of the policy/program" (p.34). At each of these stages a policy can move up or down the ranks or even completely fall off the radar all together which leaves the public and practitioners wondering why policies take so long and appear to come out of left field. Each sector of education is deciding on their own policies while also implementing federal and state policies that are tied to funding. Rippner (2016) details that analysts, researchers and policymakers "dive deep into their own sector but rarely rise up to see the bigger picture" (p.4). As a result policies are created and implemented in a disjointed fashion, sectors have essentially become islands, and our nation's students continue to suffer. This ultimately has an impact on the nation's qualified workforce and its ability to compete in the global market.

So how can we ensure holistic and collaborative educational policies are created with students' best interest in mind while also raising educational attainment and the nation's global position? With such a tangled web and multiple hands in the policy jar, the answer is definitely not an easy one. It takes a paradigm shift at the decision making table that includes becoming aware of the larger implications of educational policies while also remaining subject matter experts. It will require collaboration at each level. It will take not just a concerned public, but an informed and active public that holds policymakers accountable. It will require transparency. When the focus shifts from each sector's respective coil in the education pipeline to a "focus on the connection point", perhaps we will see the increases in achievement and equity (Rippner, 2016, p.8). Who's hand is in the policy jar? The answer to this question is a great place to start the paradigm shift.

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Rippner, J.A. (2016). The American education policy landscape. New York: Rutledge.