The Discourse of Teacher Policy Reform: An Analysis of Policy Narratives Surrounding Tenure Elimination, Performance Pay, and Performance-Based Evaluation in Three States

This study examines the policy narratives constructed by actors in three states - Florida, Louisiana, and North Carolina - as they debated the adoption of key teacher policy reforms: tenure elimination, performance pay, and performance-based evaluation. Through analysis of video and audio records capturing numerous committee meetings and floor debates, as well as policy actors' discourse in the print media, it describes the narratives that policy actors constructed around these contentious issues, explores the differences and similarities in narratives between state contexts, and unpacks the underlying assertions about teaching, learning, and the role of schooling that actors' policy "stories" construct.Doctor of Philosoph