Framing Democratic Proceduralism in Education Reform: No Child Left behind and Common Core State Standards

Overview & Synopsis

This study aims to frame democratic proceduralism in education reform by deconstructing elements of democracy and civil society along aspects of legitimacy, representation, the discourse of liberty and naturalization, voting, and transactional discourse. This deconstruction is accomplished by providing a literary review of these factors and organizing aspects that are particularly relevant to education reform. Democracy in education reform is then explored through the relevance of market influence and the uptake of two recent education reforms, No Child Left Behind (NCLB) and Common Core State Standards (CCSS). Using the theoretical background constructed to frame legitimate democratic proceduralism, the uptake of this reform is then explored and critiqued. Overall this study explores the issue of democratic proceduralism in education reform, generates a necessary and robust theoretical background to frame legitimate democratic proceduralism, and finally evaluates how these procedures are utilized in the uptake of education reform.