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A CONTENT ANALYSIS COMPARING TEACHER ORGANIZATION REPRESENTATION OF THEIR POLICY-RELATED ACTIONS WITH PORTRAYAL OF THESE ACTIONS IN NATIONAL NEWSPAPERS By Jason Theodore Hilton B.S., Edinboro University, 2002 M.Ed., University of Pittsburgh, 2005 Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of The School of Education in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy University of Pittsburgh 2011 ii UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH SCHOOL OF EDUCATION DEPARTMENT OF ADMINISTRATION AND POLICY STUDIES This dissertation was presented by Jason Theodore Hilton It was defended on October 12, 2011 and approved by Dr. Don T. Martin, Associate Professor, Administration and Policy Studies Dr. Noreen Garman, Professor, Administration and Policy Studies Dr. Joshua Bernstein, Assistant Professor, School of Counseling Psychology, Chatham University Dr. William E. Bickel, Professor, Administration and Policy Studies, Dissertation Advisor iii Copyright by Jason Theodore Hilton 2011 iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This dissertation represents a personal journey that would not have been possible without the support of others. Three women deserve the most credit. I thank my wife, Kalley Hilton, who gave me her love, her support, and was willing to trade our time together so that I may complete this long and difficult process. I thank my mother, Beth Hilton, who helped me to sharpen my early research ideas and invested countless hours of her own time reading and suggesting grammatical edits. She also deserves credit for always pushing me to strive for more, and for always supporting me in my endeavors, wherever they took me. I thank Caroline Raboy, my grandmother, for her countless hours of reading and grammatical editing and for her ability to pass on an understanding of proper English to a know-it-all boy who was often oblivious to the point. Additionally, my dissertation committee and my friends facilitated this process, by soliciting my ideas, asking about my progress, celebrating my milestones, talking me through my struggles, suggesting improvements, and supporting my efforts. Without all of these people, this project would not have been possible. v A CONTENT ANALYSIS COMPARING TEACHER ORGANIZATION REPRESENTATION OF THEIR POLICY-RELATED ACTIONS WITH PORTRAYAL OF THESE ACTIONS IN NATIONAL NEWSPAPERS Jason T. Hilton, Ph.D. University of Pittsburgh, 2011 This study is a critical content analysis interpreting how the policy-related actions of the National Education Association and the American Federation of Teachers are portrayed in the national newspaper discourse and how these portrayals compare/contrast with the way in which the two teacher organizations would like for their policy-related actions to be portrayed, as evidenced by each organization’s news releases. This analysis concludes that the National Education Association more often receives a negative portrayal in the national newspaper discourse than the American Federation of Teachers, and links this difference to numerous advantages, demonstrated by the AFT, in communicating its policy-related actions. This study concludes that both organizations, but particularly the National Education Association, would benefit from changes to the way in which they present their policy-related actions, so that each teacher organization may more effectively counter negative media portrayals. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER 1 – INTRODUCTION…………………………………………………………………………........ 1 1.1 BACKGROUND……………………………………………………………………………………………….. 1 1.2 IMPORTANT TERMINOLOGY………………………………………………………………………….. 4 1.3 PROBLEM STATEMENT…..……………………………………………………………………………… 6 1.4 PURPOSE OF STUDY………………………………………………………………………………………. 9 1.5 RESEARCH QUESTIONS………………………………………………………………………………….. 11 1.6 THEORETICAL PARADIGM…………………………………………………………………………...... 12 1.7 ASSUMPTIONS……………………………………………………………………………………………….. 14 1.8 IMPORTANCE OF THE STUDY………………………………………………………………………… 18 1.8.1 Present an image of the NEA and AFT as primarily concerned with the betterment of the public education system…………………………………………... 18 1.8.2 Highlight the dissonance that exists between the way influential national newspapers portray the policy-related actions of the NEA and the AFT, and how these organizations wish to portray their actions……… 20 1.8.3 Argument for increased teacher input in national education policy- making……………………………………………………………………………………………….. 22 1.9 CONCLUSION…………………………………………………………………………………………………. 23 CHAPTER 2 – REVIEW OF LITERATURE……………………………………………………………...... 26 2.1 INTRODUCTION…………………………………………………………………………………………….. 26 2.2 CRITICAL THEORY…………………………………………………………………………………………. 29 2.2.1 What do critical theorists say about education?…………………………………… 29 2.2.2 What do critical theorists say about the role of teachers?…………………....... 35 vii 2.2.3 What do critical theorists say about the media?…………………………………… 39 2.3 THE MEDIA……………………………………………………………………………………………………. 46 2.3.1 What influences can the media have on public opinion?…………………......... 46 2.3.2 How has the media’s influence changed over time?…………………................... 51 2.3.3 How are teachers commonly portrayed in popular media?…………………… 54 2.4 NATIONAL EDUCATION POLICY…………………………………………………………………...... 62 2.4.1 Who currently influences the creation of national education policy?.......... 62 2.4.2 What images of teachers do current national education policies project? 70 2.5 THE NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION AND THE AMERICAN FEDERATION OF TEACHERS…………………………………………………………………………………………………. 75 2.5.1 From the year 1945 to the year 2000, how have the National Education Association and the American Federation of Teachers influenced education policy?................................................................................................................. 75 2.5.2 How do the National Education Association and the American Federation of Teachers currently influence national education policy?....................................................................................................................................... 83 2.5.3 What are the public thoughts of the National Education Association and American Federation of Teachers on current national education policy?.. 87 2.5.4 How have the organizational behaviors of the National Education Association and American Federation of Teachers changed over time?..... 92 2.5.5 What suggestions for change have resulted from previous research into the nexus of public opinion and the organizational behavior of teachers? 97 2.6 CONCLUSION………………………………………………………………………………………………… 102 CHAPTER 3 – METHODOLOGY……………………………………………………………………………… 111 3.1 INTRODUCTION…………………………………………………………………………………………….. 111 3.2 RESEARCH GENRE: CONTENT ANALYSIS………………………………………………………... 112 viii 3.2.1 Historical Roots………………………………………………………………………………….. 112 3.2.2 Key Components of a Content Analysis………………………………………………… 114 3.2.3 Operationalization of Knowledge………………………………………………………… 117 3.2.4 Strengths of Using a Content Analysis Methodology……………………………... 118 3.3 RESEARCH QUESTIONS………………………………………………………………………………….. 120 3.4 RESEARCH DESIGN………………………………………………………………………………………... 120 3.4.1 Unitizing…………………………………………………………………………………………….. 120 3.4.2 Sampling……………………………………………………………………………………………. 122 3.4.3 Recording…………………………………………………………………………………………… 125 3.4.4 Reducing……………………………………………………………………………………………. 128 3.4.5 Inferring…………………………………………………………………………………………….. 129 3.4.6 Narrating……………………………………………………………………………………………. 130 3.5 CONCLUSION…………………………………………………………………………………………………. 130 CHAPTER 4 - ANALYSIS………………………………………………………………………………………… 134 4.1 INTRODUCTION…………………………………………………………………………………………….. 134 4.2 DATA GATHERING PROCESS………………………………………………………………………….. 136 4.2.1 National Newspaper Data…………………………………………………………………… 136 4.2.2 Teacher Organization News Release Data……………………………………………. 137 4.3 FINDINGS: NATIONAL NEWSPAPERS……………………………………………………………... 140 4.3.1 The New York Times……………………………………………………………………………. 140 4.3.2 The Wall Street Journal………………………………………………………………………... 156 4.3.3 The Washington Post…………………………………………………………………………… 169 ix 4.3.4 Los Angeles Times……………………………………………………………………………….. 180 4.4 FINDINGS: NEA AND AFT NEWS RELEASES……………………………………………………. 188 4.4.1 American Federation of Teachers………………………………………………………... 188 4.4.2 National Education Association…………………………………………………………… 202 4.5 ANALYSIS………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 216 4.5.1 Combined Analysis: National Newspapers…………………………………………… 216 4.5.2 Combined Analysis: National Education Association and the American Federation of Teachers……………………………………………………………………….. 224 4.6 COMPARISON………………………………………………………………………………………………… 229 4.7 CONCLUSION…………………………………………………………………………………………………. 234 CHAPTER 5 - CONCLUSION……………………………………………………………………………………. 237 5.1 INTRODUCTION…………………………………………………………………………………………….. 237 5.2 SUMMARY OF PROBLEM………………………………………………………………………………... 237 5.3 SUMMARY OF METHOD…………………………………………………………………………………. 238 5.4 SUMMARY OF RESULTS…………………………………………………………………………………. 239 5.5 DISCUSSION…………………………………………………………………………………………………... 243 5.6 RECOMMENDATIONS FOR IMPROVEMENT…………………………………………………….. 251 5.7 LIMITATIONS OF THIS STUDY………………………………………………………………………... 256 5.8 SUGGESTIONS FOR FUTURE RESEARCH…………………………………………………………. 258 5.9 PERSONAL STANCE……………………………………………………………………………………….. 260 5.10 CONCLUSION………………………………………………………………………………………………. 261 x APPENDIX A: CONTENT ANALYSIS RECORDING FORM……………………………………………. 264 BIBLIOGRAPHY……………………………………………………………………………………………………… 265 xi LIST OF TABLES Table 2.1 Key Terms Used in Search for Applicable Literature………………………………. 27 Table 2.2 Review of Literature

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