Equal Inputs,Unequal Outputs: How Capacity Limits Policy Implementation

Abstract

As education researchers continue to investigate policies at scale and across diverse contexts, scholars must develop a better understanding of mechanisms shaping policy effects. In this study, we use the case of a federal initiative allowing high school students to use the Pell Grant for dual enrollment to investigate how institutions’ capacities shaped policy efficacy. We find that colleges’ capacities for policy implementation depended on their pre-existing resources (“foundational capacity”), the resources to execute the policy given policy-induced constraints (“execution capacity”), and the resources to provide the target population with access to the policy (“provision capacity”). We contend that institutions that may benefit the most from equitable policies also have the least capacity to implement them.

Keywords

critical theory educational policy equity social context evaluation in-depth interviewing qualitative research education policy policy implementation policy evaluation inequality organizations

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