Conditional Nature of Policy as a Stabilizing Force: Erin’s Law and Teacher Child Abuse Reporting Practices

Abstract

This article uses Erin’s Law, a law establishing consistent teacher reporting practices for child abuse, to test the multiple streams framework (MSF) implementation hypothesis in a policy area where inconsistent state-level policies have been the norm. Findings indicate that Erin’s Law has a conditional impact on teacher reporting that are dependent on problems and politics streams. While the conditional relationship between the streams in affecting implementer behavior is consistent with previous tests of the MSF implementation hypothesis, findings indicate that this conditional relationship manifests differently when the intended goals of new policies are to establish a consistent norm for administrative behavior.