Merchants of Optimism: Agenda-Setting Organizations and the Framing of Performance-Based Funding for Higher Education

Abstract

This article explores the diffusion and adoption of performance-based funding policies using framing theory. Specifically, the authors examine the role of philanthropic foundations and policy organizations in generating and exporting performance-based funding in state contexts. Findings from an analysis of policy publications suggest that the organizations analyzed advance a specific policy narrative, while hindering alternative policy options. Analysis of policy adoption in specific state contexts supports this conclusion, indicating that states readily adopt the policy frame advanced by philanthropic foundations and policy organizations and consider few, if any, policy alternatives.

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