Education Stakeholders' Translation and Sense-Making of Accountability Policies

Scholars of education policy have consistently found that the capacity, beliefs, and values of local actors affect the relative success or failure of policy implementation. This article examines stakeholders' perceptions of education policy in South Carolina to consider the relationship between interpretations of education policy and attitudes of advocacy. Findings include that not only is the education system failing children, but it also sets up stakeholders, who care about education, to fail. The authors conclude that state-level education policy implementation plays an increasingly important role in shaping the message of education policy and ensuring the understandability of policy messages.