{"pk":63256,"title":"The Ballot Initiative and Other Modern Threats to Public Engagement in Educational Policymaking","subtitle":null,"abstract":"This paper situates recent changes in educational policymaking, especially the increased use of the ballot initiative, within larger historical trends related to democratic engagement in policy development. I conduct an integrative literature review that combines conceptual analyses with findings from empirical investigations into new policymaking tactics and their influence on policy development. Specifically, I explore (a) the discourses justifying policy priorities over time, and (b) the role of democratic engagement in dominant modes of policymaking. I demonstrate that various sources combine to tell a troubling story about the longstanding exclusion of the public from policymaking regarding its public schools. Further, I argue that, perhaps paradoxically, the increased use of the ballot initiative only exacerbates this trend. Ultimately, I use results from the reviewed research to ask if there is a better way to make policy, one that aspires to higher democratic ideals.","language":"en","license":null,"keywords":[{"word":"Education Policy"},{"word":"Literature Review"},{"word":"Discourse Analysis"},{"word":"Democratic Engagement"}],"section":"Articles","is_remote":true,"remote_url":"https://escholarship.org/uc/item/7c2346tq","frozenauthors":[{"first_name":"Peter","middle_name":"","last_name":"Piazza","name_suffix":"","institution":"Boston College \nLynch School of Education","department":""}],"date_submitted":"2015-11-23T00:34:03Z","date_accepted":"2015-11-23T00:34:03Z","date_published":"2017-05-09T02:50:30Z","render_galley":null,"galleys":[{"label":"","type":"pdf","path":"https://journalpub.escholarship.org/bre/article/63256/galley/48799/download/"}]}