Institutional Choice as a Theoretical Framework for Research on Educational Policy

This article presents a theory, or theoretical framework, called “institutional choice” ( Gormley, 1987 ) and argues that the theory has two advantages for research on educational policy: It predicts and clarifies significant issues in educational policy, including issues growing out of the recent wave of state reforms; and it suggests significant issues for future research. The opening section presents the theory; the second section, “Institutional Choice and Recent State Reforms,” discusses supportive data from an investigation of recent state reforms by the Center for Policy Research in Education (CPRE); the final section discusses some directions for future research.