Author ORCID Identifier
https://orcid.org/0009-0003-1469-2650
Defense Date
2026
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy
Department
Education
First Advisor
Joan Rhodes
Second Advisor
Valerie Robnolt
Third Advisor
Kurt Stemhagen
Fourth Advisor
Sheri Vasinda
Abstract
This dissertation consists of three linking projects that study the intersection of neoliberal ideology, American education policymaking, and the Science of Reading (SOR). I sought to understand how neoliberal mechanisms like standardization and accountability have shaped past and current education policies in the United States. In the first project, I take an historical approach to conceptualize neoliberal ideology to explain how it is manifested in Standards-Based Accountability (SBA) reform and demonstrate how its implications have progressed over time. In the second project, I focus on one state's SOR policy–the Virginia Literacy Act (VLA)– to conduct a discourse analysis of documents surrounding the VLA policy. Findings indicate that SOR policies leverage SOR research in ways that advance the neoliberal agenda of the private sector that seek curricular decision-making and wealth accumulation. In the third paper, I conduct a case study analysis of three educators implementing the VLA policy to capture their lived experience. The literature on SBA policy, which includes the VLA, have revealed that this approach to policy is often viewed dichotomously–as either the solution for educational inequality or its cure. Using pragmatic case study methodology, findings show how this group of teachers align with the literature by viewing their SOR policy through a dualistic and narrowed lens. The teachers engaged in philosophical tenets of non-dualistic thought to transcend their narrowed perceptive and offered pragmatic policy solutions that diverged from neoliberal mechanisms used in traditional education policy.
Rights
© Candace Bechtold
Is Part Of
VCU University Archives
Is Part Of
VCU Theses and Dissertations
Date of Submission
4-28-2026