This report of the NAVE (National Assessment of Vocational Education) Independent Advisory Panel fulfills an important obligation under the 1998 Carl D. Perkins Vocational and Technical Education Act (Perkins III). Perkins III directed the Secretary of Education to complete an "independent evaluation and assessment of vocational and technical…

This guidebook presents strategic interventions for community change. It is designed to build an understanding of six strategic interventions and create the capacity to deploy them. It helps local education funds (LEF) engage their communities, organize parents and other residents, advocate for sound policy, and work with districts and teachers.…

This discussion paper addresses two policy questions: (1) Can Canada afford to maintain its income security programs and social services, given the higher costs expected with an aging population? and (2) Do generous social programs discourage family responsibility or reinforce expectations of assistance within and between generations? The paper…

Because of elementary school overcrowding, federal "class size reduction" funding has not been used to reduce class sizes, but instead has been used to hire extra teachers to work with classroom teachers for some portion of the school day. These teachers are called "floating" teachers in most schools, but in some schools they…

This book is about how the process of deciding about education, or education policymaking, can be informed by research-based knowledge. Part 1 offers three chapters that attempt to clarify the central issues caught up in the problem of knowledge utilization--why there is so little utilization of research in educational policymaking, how research…

Research suggests that policy change can best be understood as the product of competition among advocacy coalitions within the constraints of a policy subsystem (Sabatier and Jenkins-Smith, 1993). This paper presents findings of a study that examined the rhetoric of policy change in Texas utilizing the voucher and charter-schools movements as an…

This paper provides a picture of early childhood education and care (ECEC) in the countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), primarily Europe and North America. The paper's main objective is to present an overview of the major policies and programs in these countries, and to classify them by their most salient…

This report analyzes developments in Canadian child care policy in the 1990s at the federal, provincial (Ontario), and municipal (Toronto and Peel) levels, highlighting problems that are associated with a male model of citizenship. The report discusses the child care policy process as one in which state bodies are challenged by the diverse and…

This document contains the full results of a public-opinion survey of Virginia residents on education issues. The survey was conducted by telephone, using a randomly selected sample of adults. The sample for this poll was 804 respondents, which represents a cooperation rate of 49 percent. Respondents answered questions on the following topics: (1)…

Educational planners and policymakers are rarely able to base their decision-making on sound information and research, according to this book. Because the situation is even more difficult in developing countries, educational policy often is based on research conducted in others parts of the world. This book provides a practical framework that can…

Several states are helping families leave or avoid welfare by developing innovative responses to critical "employment enablers": transportation, health care coverage, and child care. This report: (1) examines why lack of transportation, health insurance, and child care are barriers to work; (2) identifies how funding sources can be…

Massachusetts currently maintains several charter schools in its K-12 educational system. This paper applies the charter school idea to public institutions of higher education. Charter colleges are publicly owned institutions managed independent of most controls imposed by state bureaucracies and higher education systems. Charter schools are more…

Presents interviews with scientists and policy analysts about reasons for scientific disagreement on climate change and whether action is needed immediately. (Contains 19 references.) (DDR)

Defines and broadly traces the history of educational planning in both developing and industrialized capitalist nations. Discusses general approaches to educational planning (technical versus political planning, top-down versus bottom-up planning, and various theoretical bases); the contingency view of planning; case examples of planned,…

Applying item response theory, and the Rasch model in particular, to measure trends and examine policy coherence in state education reform shows a change in the picture of state leadership and a generalized pattern of policy making among the states. Using item response theory in policy analysis is explored. (SLD)