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- Title
Vested Interests and the Diffusion of Education Reform across the States.
- Authors
Finger, Leslie K.
- Abstract
Abstract: How do interest groups shape the diffusion of policies they oppose across the states? This study explores this question using the case of teachers' unions and education reform policies. Using a novel dataset on charter, voucher, and performance pay policies spanning 1992–2013, I find evidence that strength of the teachers' unions decreases the likelihood of performance pay and that additional strength is less impactful with more Democratic control of the legislature. Teachers' unions are weakly related to a lack of charter laws and do not impact voucher laws. The latter two policies are more strongly associated with policymaker learning and education reform advocacy groups, respectively. These findings suggest that vested interests most strongly impact the policies that most fundamentally threaten their organizational strength and that this effect is conditioned on the party in power; increases in interest group strength are not necessary when policymakers are already sympathetic.
- Subjects
UNITED States; POLICY diffusion; EDUCATIONAL change; TEACHERS' unions; CHARTER schools; EDUCATIONAL voucher laws; PAY for performance; U.S. state legislatures; PRESSURE groups; HISTORY; HISTORY of educational change; HISTORY of education
- Publication
Policy Studies Journal, 2018, Vol 46, Issue 2, p378
- ISSN
0190-292X
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1111/psj.12238