Education and History Professor Tracy Steffes, Chair of the Department of Education, is working on a new book project titled Education Inc: For-Profit Businesses in the History of Public Education. This will follow her book Structuring Inequality: How Schooling, Housing, and Tax Policies Shaped Metropolitan Development and Education, published earlier this year.

“This book project explores the history of for-profit industries around K-12 education, from the rise of textbook publishing in the mid-19th century to the rise of ‘ed tech’ in the early twenty-first century. It asks questions about the causes and consequences of these for-profit activities for educational policy and practice, including the meaning and development of public education itself,” Professor Steffes said.

This summer, Professor Steffes worked with two undergraduate research assistants through the UTRA program. Bilena Dabalan ‘25 and Morgan Isabell ‘26 helped Professor Steffes research specific sections of the book project.

“One of the overall goals of this project is to outline the story of for-profit businesses in education and the public sector given that there are relatively few histories about this specific topic and its relevance in understanding public education today,” Bilena said. “My focus is on finding sources that will help Professor Steffes in putting this story together.”

Bilena, an involved member of the Brown student group, Students for Educational Equity, began working with Professor Steffes in the fall of 2023. Her research this summer focused on the textbook industry, noting how perceptions have generally remained predominately unchanged and favorable toward textbook companies.

“Most of my research has concentrated on trying to find out how people within the textbook industry, like top executives or representatives, were discussing textbook adoption policies,” Bilena said. “I’ve been finding lots of sources from the Progressive Era and the 50s and 60s which detail interactions between textbook companies and educators or the public, showing how textbook companies were trying to craft their public image.”

Morgan, an Education Studies concentrator, spent this summer researching for-profit companies affecting education, with a focus on the standardized testing movement in the late 20th century. She paid particular attention to Houghton Mifflin’s transformation from a publishing house to a provider of education materials.

“Many 'different' educational products are actually owned by the same parent company, leaving an illusion of competition between subsidiaries,” Morgan said. “Traditional textbook companies also often lose money when creating new textbooks for schools, making it a less lucrative business than it may appear.”

While the student researchers worked independently from each other, both worked with Professor Steffes throughout the summer and collaborated on a visit to the Harvard archives. They felt that working on this UTRA project provided them with strong research skills they hope to take into future projects.

“Professor Steffes has been very supportive throughout the project, helping to guide my research into more productive routes,” Morgan said. “She has been very helpful by providing me with resources and suggestions for areas of inquiry while still allowing me to determine where I focus my energy.”

“I think the research skills and experience I have learned from this project will really stick with me,” Bilena said. “This experience and the skills I’ve learned have really provided me with not both an understanding of what historical research looks like and how the process works.”