A CONTENT ANALYSIS of NEWS FRAMING SINCE NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND a Thesis Presented to the Faculty of Th
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PUBLIC SCHOOLS IN CRISIS: A CONTENT ANALYSIS OF NEWS FRAMING SINCE NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND A Thesis presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School University of Missouri In Partial Fulfillment Of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Arts by LAURIE HOGAN Dr. Esther Thorson, Thesis Supervisor MAY 2013 The undersigned, appointed by the Dean of the Graduate School, have examined the thesis entitled PUBLIC SCHOOLS IN CRISIS: A CONTENT ANALYSIS OF NEWS FRAMING SINCE NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND Presented by Laurie Hogan A candidate for the degree of Master of Arts And hereby certify that in their opinion it is worthy of acceptance. ___________________________________________________ Professor Esther Thorson ___________________________________________________ Professor Shelly Rodgers ___________________________________________________ Professor Cynthia Frisby ___________________________________________________ Professor James Endersby DEDICATION This thesis is the culmination of three years of work leading up to my master’s degree. It included long nights, juggling schedules and pushing myself to keep researching, writing and analyzing even when my brain was already exhausted from a long day at work. My fortitude in this endeavor would not have been possible without the support of the following people. To my husband, Andrew Hogan, thank you for your loving encouragement from the time I decided to pursue this degree through the last minutes of writing this paper. Your educational interests may be much different than mine, but thank you for sharing my interest in learning. It has been much easier to push forward knowing you are completing your own graduate studies right beside me. To my parents, Michael and Jane Beck, thank you for instilling the importance of education in me at a young age and for dedicating yourselves over and over again to making sure I have had the best opportunities to learn and grow in my talents and interests. Thank you particularly for the support you have provided for this graduate degree and encouraging me to believe I would actually get it all done in time. To my coworkers at Guilford County Schools, thank you for your kind and encouraging words and for listening to me talk about my classes and research throughout the past three years. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank my thesis committee members for their assistance and guidance throughout this research project: Dr. Esther Thorson, Dr. Shelly Rodgers, Dr. Cynthia Frisby and Dr. James Endersby. Their knowledge and experience is greatly respected and appreciated. I also would like to thank my instructors in the master’s program: Eleanor Farnen, Maria Garcia, Margaret Duffy, Ebony Reed, Kevin Wise and Renee Martin Kratzer. The expertise they shared in each of their classes was invaluable. It has left a mark on how I think about communication and will continue to have an impact throughout my career. A special thanks also goes to Sarah Smith-Frigerio for her continued support throughout my three years in the master’s program and her dedication to working with students long-distance to help them attain their academic goals even while working full time. Finally, much of the inspiration for this research must be credited to the educators and students of Guilford County Schools and the news media of the Piedmont-Triad area of North Carolina. Daily interaction with these groups in my public relations position for the school district led to my curiosity about this topic. Thank you for encouraging me to take a closer look at the public dialogue about education to see how we can learn from it as a society. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS……………………………………………………………………….ii LIST OF FIGURES……………………………………………………………………………….v LIST OF TABLES………………………………………………………………………………..vi ABSTRACT……………………………………………………………………………………..vii Chapter 1. INTRODUCTION…………………………………………………………………………..1 2. LITERATURE REVIEW…………………………………………………………………...8 Framing as a Theoretical Approach………………………………………………………...9 A Unified Theory or Diverse Research Paradigm?..............................................................13 Generic Frames……………………………………………………………………………17 News Framing of Crises…………………………………………………………………...19 News Coverage of Education……………………………………………………………...22 News Framing of Public Education……………………………………………………….26 3. METHODS...........................................................................................................................34 Sample..................................................................................................................................34 Frame Explication................................................................................................................36 Coding..................................................................................................................................41 Data Analysis.......................................................................................................................43 4. RESULTS.............................................................................................................................45 Hypothesis 1.........................................................................................................................45 Hypothesis 2.........................................................................................................................46 iii Hypothesis 3.........................................................................................................................47 Hypothesis 4.........................................................................................................................48 Hypothesis 5.........................................................................................................................48 Hypothesis 6.........................................................................................................................50 Research Question 1.............................................................................................................51 Additional Results................................................................................................................54 5. DISCUSSION.......................................................................................................................58 Limitations...........................................................................................................................66 Implications..........................................................................................................................68 Future Research....................................................................................................................69 Conclusion............................................................................................................................71 APPENDIX....................................................................................................................................74 A. Code Sheet...........................................................................................................................74 B. Code Book............................................................................................................................76 REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................79 iv LIST OF FIGURES Figure Page 1 Frequency of Generic Frames............................................................................................46 2 Episodic vs. Thematic Frames...........................................................................................47 3 Word Cloud of Other Words Identified in Failing Schools Theme...................................50 4 Tone...................................................................................................................................51 v LIST OF TABLES Table Page 1 Intercoder Reliability Results............................................................................................43 2 Attribution of Responsibility/Blame * Episodic/Thematic Crosstabulation.....................48 3 Frames * Newspapers Crosstabulation..............................................................................52 4 Episodic/Thematic * Newspaper Crosstabulation.............................................................53 5 Tone * Newspaper Crosstabulation...................................................................................54 6 Sources...............................................................................................................................55 7 Person or Group Responsible/Blamed...............................................................................56 8 Article Type * Newspaper Crosstabulation.......................................................................57 vi PUBLIC SCHOOLS IN CRISIS: A CONTENT ANALYSIS OF NEWS FRAMING SINCE NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND Laurie Hogan Dr. Esther Thorson, Thesis Supervisor ABSTRACT Public confidence in the U.S. education system has steadily eroded as a prevailing narrative has formed in the news media claiming that public schools are failing and in crisis. Yet, student academic performance has increased in the past decades despite schools facing the challenges of more economic and cultural diversity and increased accountability. In response, this study seeks to examine how the news media frame public education, particularly since the adoption of the federal