2024 Theses Doctoral
School Autonomy with Accountability in Latin America (1980-2023): Politics, Institutions, and Ideas in the Diffusion of a Global Education Reform
As time goes by, different policy ideas dominate the global scene and circulate among countries rendering different policy reforms. Since the 2000s, ideas promoting standardization, outcomes-based governance, and competition have gained momentum as the dominant paradigm for educational improvement, epitomized in the global model of School Autonomy with Accountability (SAWA). SAWA promotes greater autonomy in exchange of tight-accountability measures through learning standards, large-scale assessments, and routinized inspections. Globally, Latin America has one of the longest and most intimate relationships with SAWA reforms, under the direct influence of the World Bank and OECD. From school-based management to large-scale assessments, SAWA policies have widely spread in the region, despite failing to fulfil their promise of educational improvement.This dissertation examines SAWA in Latin America from a comparative, cross-scalar, and historical perspective, analyzing its regional diffusion and its local imbrications in the cases of Argentina and Colombia. In doing so, it asks the following questions: (1) To what extent have SAWA policies disseminated in Latin America and the Caribbean since the 1980s? (2) Why have Argentina and Colombia followed a different trajectory regarding SAWA policies?
The research design combines two different strands. The first explores the dissemination of the SAWA package across Latin America since the 1980s. It empirically traces the de jure adoption of 17 policies associated with the SAWA reforms across 23 Latin American countries from 1980 until 2023. The second offers an in-depth, comparative, and historical examination of the causes and mechanisms driving divergent processes of adoption, resistance, and institutionalization of SAWA policies in Argentina and Colombia. This strand combines qualitative methods, using interviews (n=93) and policy documents as data sources, with social network analysis of documents references. This dissertation follows the three-article format, where the different papers unpack the underlying reasons driving SAWA policies’ trajectory in Argentina and Colombia.
The regional analysis demonstrates an uneven spread of SAWA policies, ruling out ideas of policy convergence across Latin America. First, it shows that policies associated with centralized control over education, such as standardized testing and national curricula, have been more widely disseminated than those link with school competition or market-like mechanisms in education.
This research demonstrates that policy change in Latin America’s education governance occurred through layering, conversion, and drift mechanisms, as seen in Colombia and Argentina. In Colombia, the gradual accumulation of accountability reforms and coalitions’ strategic use of contextual shifts have established a governance model deeply rooted in new public management principles. In Argentina, the evolution of decentralization reforms has rendered a weakened centralized authority from the national government, favoring provincial autonomy. Consequently, sub-national developments, such as the re-emergence of standardized testing, became more relevant for education governance than national ones. These findings illustrate how incremental policy adjustments can drive substantial transformations over time.
The study also reveals the role of policy coalitions in shaping the adoption and trajectory of SAWA reforms. In Colombia, a coalition aligned with SAWA’s ideals successfully navigated resistance to advance these reforms, while in Argentina, an opposing coalition successfully blocked similar initiatives. In both cases, policies that challenge established interests and power dynamics face increased resistance, often requiring broad cross-sectoral support to be adopted and institutionalized.
Ultimately, this research advances policy transfer as a dynamic cross-scalar process extending beyond initial adoption. The role of Bogotá and Buenos Aires as champions of accountability reforms exemplify this, each playing a pivotal role in shaping national and regional policy trajectories over time.
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More About This Work
- Academic Units
- Comparative and International Education
- Thesis Advisors
- Steiner-Khamsi, Gita
- Degree
- Ph.D., Columbia University
- Published Here
- January 15, 2025