In the 2010s, teacher education witnessed the rise of accountability regimes. Studies examining efforts to introduce teacher preparation accountability focused predominantly on federal or state actors, leaving the involvement of intermediary organizations in the construction of these regimes largely underexplored. To address this gap, I analyze…

A sociology of conventions perspective is used in this paper to examine how non-profit organizations make sense of their educational action in the field of training for employment. Both critiques of education that such organizations voiced and compromises that they had to establish at the turn of the 21st century are revisited here in view of the…

This longitudinal historical study examines the evolution of instructional delivery models in not-for-profit four-year higher education institutions over two decades, focusing on understanding the adaptations made in response to changing student demands. Utilizing data from publicly available resources and a study of both public and private…

The systemic changes in the education policy landscape in England under the academies reform movement have nurtured a growing prevalence of educational organisations such as Multi-Academy Trusts (MATs) operating as meso-level institutional actors that shape the implementation of policies and mediate between social structures and individual…

Accreditation is a major barrier to higher education reform. Constitutional or not, accreditors are an administrative anomaly: private nonprofit agencies that nonetheless possess life-and-death power over higher education. To maintain federal funding, universities must satisfy the administrative requirements and whims of these unelected entities.…

In recent years, a wave of science of reading (SOR) reforms have swept across the nation. Although advocates argue that these are based on science-based research, SOR remains a contested and ambiguous notion. In this essay, Elena Aydarova uses an anthropology of policy approach to analyze advocacy efforts that promoted SOR reforms and legislative…

Context: This critical narrative study analyzes the discursive means by which the educational nonprofit AVID acculturates teacher educators and teacher preparation programs to its ideological network. Through scenes reconstructed from Cornell notes taken at an AVID Summer Institute, the author examines his double identity as an AVID for Higher…

Sazani Associates, a not-for-profit based in Wales (UK) and Zanzibar, supports the development of core competencies and behaviors that enable educators and learners to engage in the world and to contribute to a more just and sustainable society. By adapting the Northern construct of global learning, combined with the just pedagogies of global…

(IOs) are influential policy actors in higher education. Yet, little is known regarding the role of philanthropic foundations in sponsoring IOs for policy promotion. By relying on longitudinal analysis of grants, semi-structured interviews, and social network analysis, this study examined the most central IOs within foundation-sponsored networks,…

The COVID-19 pandemic has led all role players in the Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) sector in South Africa, including the particular non-profit organisation (NPO) under investigation, into unchartered territory. The organisation, which is involved in training and mentoring community-based Early Childhood Development centres in…

Contrary to educational policy and research assumptions about an immanent 'twenty-first century' future, this article uses the concept of 'sociotechnical imaginaries' to trace how nonprofit actors in California invented and materialized distinctive visions of educational progress. Drawing on interview and ethnographic fieldnote data, I illustrate…

This article presents findings from a representative case study of a typical childcare centre in Singapore that achieved an emerging level of quality certification despite being under-resourced as a non-profit centre. Like other centres, it was navigating a climate of early childhood care and education (ECCE) policy reforms and teacher shortage.…

Achieve is corporate America's direct connection to national education policy. Mainstream business leaders seem to trust it, and their foundations give it money. Whether Achieve actually achieves its mission is open to debate. Over two decades, it has grown substantially and spun off several other organizations that extend its reach. Has Achieve…

This study seeks to understand the relationship between observable characteristics of schools operated by education management organizations (EMOs) and their organizational attributes. Most of the prior research on the relationship between EMO-operated schools and neighborhood and school sociodemographic characteristics considers the effect of…

They show up shouting at school board meetings with endless complaints. The press interviews them as though they are "regular moms" looking out for their children, but they are not. They are a well-funded façade for the Koch, Walton, and DeVos families to disrupt and destroy public education. In our new report, author and academician…