Strategies for becoming involved in policy: What was learned when faculty opposed a stand-alone course in phonics

Brenner, Devon. (2007). Strategies for becoming involved in policy: What was learned when faculty opposed a stand-alone course in phonics. Journal of Literacy Research, 39(2), 163-171.

One could either view Brenner and her colleagues as collaborators or sell-outs. With policy becoming such a driving force in literacy instruction and in teacher education, one is tempted to say we must take a proactive stance and get involved even if we find interactions with policy-makers distasteful, or we will find that they have taken over and gone ahead without us to make changes we don’t agree with. One also might say that when you make a deal with the devil, you risk losing your soul. I find that my younger colleagues are much more willing to work within mandates (one might call them pragmatic) then they are to overthrow (or try to overthrow) unjust mandates as we 60’s children are inclined to want to do.

Two things about this article disturbed me, though overall I found it enlightening: 1) that an entrepreneur with big bucks could come so close to single-handedly pushing his own agenda in Mississippi, and 2) that a young researcher would abandon a research agenda to pursue topics that reinforce state definitions of literacy.