ABSTRACT

This chapter presents a case study of public-private partnership communication challenges resulting in educational policy failure based on our evaluation of a federally sponsored college access program that was implemented at several school districts in a Mid-Atlantic state. We explain that a network of public and private groups worked together to deliver college access services to underrepresented students; however, program implementation failed due to breakdowns in communication between the governmental and private, non-profit organizations. Although public-private partnerships are increasingly popular in educational policy initiatives, we suggest that public-private partnerships may not be sufficient to create schooling that can improve equity. Additionally, we argue that program evaluations are critical to monitoring program implementation and documenting the success or failure of a policy innovation. Such program evaluations require a lead stakeholder to coordinate efforts and train staff about the importance of and methods for collecting high-quality data.