With Policy in Mind: Contributions of Psychology to Education Policy Research and Practice

Abstract

Despite long-standing consequential ties between psychological research and education policy, scholars and practitioners of education policy are not often exposed to psychological perspectives. Understanding the role of psychology in every aspect of education policy is critical to crafting thoughtful agendas for education reform. This chapter introduces education policy scholars to the contributions of psychological perspectives in four acts in order to cover the diverse ways in which understanding psychological research is important for education policy: (a) the role of psychology in education policymaking through a look at political resistance to race-conscious policy; (b) psychological perspectives on policy implementation, as in teacher evaluation policy; (c) the use and misuse of psychometrics in policy evaluation and standardized testing; and (d) the attention to nonacademic outcomes, such as mental health, that psychology can emphasize. Altogether, these vignettes offer to education policy scholars and practitioners a comprehensive picture of how psychological understanding is critical to advancing quality education for all.

Keywords: psychology; politics; implementation; psychometrics; mental health