Think Tanks and the Media: How the Conservative Movement Gained Entry Into the Education Policy Arena

This research examines how the conservative movement has used both conservative think tanks and the media to gain entry into the field of education policy. The study examines how the conservative movement has attempted to use think tanks as legitimating organizations to enter the education policy arena by (a) measuring the historical growth in the number of conservative think tanks focused on education policy, (b) situating that growth within the larger context of efforts on the part of the conservative movement to bring free market ideas to education, and (c) analyzing and comparing conservative think tank media presence to that of centrist and progressive think tanks and university-based education-policy centers. Findings indicate that conservative think tanks produced the largest number of education media citations, followed by centrist think tanks. Liberal/progressive think tanks and university-based education-policy centers had little to no media presence.