Education Policy Issues Research Articles

Educational policy through service learning: Preparation for citizenship and civic participation

This article describes a course designed to prepare undergraduate students to participate effectively in civic life and in public decisions about education and schooling. The course includes an examination of the theoretical and conceptual basis of civic responsibility and service learning, a review of the process of educational policymaking, and an in-depth exploration of a number of current educational policy issues. The course is taught with service learning pedagogy. Experiences in a service placement yield personal knowledge that has the potential to inform students' critical analysis of theoretical, research, and policy literature and to make students more effective active classroom learners.

State Activism in Education Reform: Applying the Rasch Model to Measure Trends and Examine Policy Coherence

Given state activism in education reform during the 1980s, the central questions are whether the reform movement changed over time and how each state responded differently to education policy issues. This study not only attempts to examine empirical regularities in state education policy-making using the Rasch measurement method, but also to explain interstate variation in reform activism. Measuring 50 states and calibrating 43 policies show a change in the picture of state leadership and a generalized pattern of policy-making among the states. It sheds light on the possibility of applying item response theory to policy analysis.

Markets & Myths: Autonomy in Public & Private Schools

School choice is the most controversial education policy issue of the 1990s. John Chubb and Terry Moe's Politics, Markets and America's Schools stimulated this investigation. They concluded that teacher and administrator autonomy was the most important influence on student achievement. They assumed that the organization of private schools offered greater autonomy resulting in higher student achievement and that the bureaucracy of public schools stifles autonomy limiting student achievement. The research undertaken here elaborates, elucidates, and fills in the framework of teacher and principal autonomy in public and private secondary schools. Interviews of more than thirty teachers and administrators in six high schools, observations, field notes, and analysis of documents collected in the field form the empirical base of this work. The sites included three private, independent, nondenominational secondary schools which are college preparatory and three public secondary schools noted for high graduation rates and offering numerous advanced placement courses.The feelings expressed by both public and private school participants in this study testify to equally high degrees of autonomy. Issues that emerged from data analysis in this study which mitigate and shape autonomy include the following: conflicting and contradictory demands, shared beliefs, layers of protection, a system of laws, funding constraints and matters of size of the institution. These issues challenge oversimplified assertions that differences of any importance exist between the autonomy experienced by professionals in public and private high schools. This study reveals the complexity of the concept of autonomy and challenges the myth that teachers and principals in private schools enjoy autonomy and freedom from democratic bureaucracy that their public school counterparts do not.

Choices and consequences: Contemporary policy issues in education; and monitoring the standards of education

Choices and consequences: Contemporary policy issues in education; and monitoring the standards of education

Accentuating the positive??: An analysis of teacher verbalizations with young children

One of the primary influences on the quality of child care classrooms is teacher behavior, and a critical component of teacher behavior is verbal communication. This study examined the quality of teacher verbalizations with young children in preschool classrooms. Nineteen of the teachers were enrolled in community college courses in early childhood education and child development between pre- and posttesting and fifteen were not. Results indicated that although there was significant improvement on a measure of global classroom quality for those teachers involved in college coursework, teacher verbalizations did not become more appropriate. These findings are discussed in light of current teacher education programs and policy issues.

Choices and Consequences: Contemporary Policy Issues in Education.

Education constitutes a large sector of our economy and a central concern of our society. Over 47 million students were enrolled in elementary and secondary schools in 1992 and over 14 million in institutions of higher education, the vast majority of which were publicly funded. Over 7.5 percent of the U.S. gross domestic product in that year and almost 35 percent of all expenditures of state and local governments were directed toward education. How do we evaluate the return on that investment? To create a basis for informed policy debate, the contributors to this volume summarize their research on the choices that students, teachers, and school administrators make. Eric A. Hanushek and Richard R. Pace analyze the characteristics of teachers in American public elementary and secondary schools. They ask how we can assure an adequate flow of people into the teaching profession, how we can increase the influx of math and science teachers, and how we can maintain or improve professional quality. David H. Monk and Jennifer A. King examine the effects different sequences of teachers have on pupil performance in secondary mathematics and science, suggesting that teachers' subject matter preparation does affect student achievement. The final chapters explore the significance of choices students make for higher education. Nearly half of all first-time, first-year students attend a two-year or community college. Cecilia Elena Rouse analyzes the impact of changes in tuition levels and campus proximity on decisions to attend two-year institutions. Ronald G. Ehrenberg and Donna S. Rothstein consider historically black institutions, asking what the appropriate public policy should be toward them andhow they influence the number of black faculty members at major American colleges and universities.

Book Review: Labor Economics: Choices and Consequences: Contemporary Policy Issues in Education

Book Review: Labor Economics: Choices and Consequences: Contemporary Policy Issues in Education

Intelligence testing and judicial policy making for special education.

For a generation, at least, Black children have been scandalously overrepresented in public school classes intended for mildly retarded individuals. But identifying exactly what makes this a scandal and whom we should blame is not so obvious. Are we scandalized because the grounds for the disparate assignment of Black and White children to such classes are erroneous or because they are correct? Assuming that these disproportionate placements are erroneous, as it is generally assumed, at whom should the finger of wrongdoing be pointed: Testers? Teachers? School systems? Families? The children themselves? School boards? Legislatures? The courts? And who has the power and responsibility to right the wrong? The last question may bear the taint of hubris by suggesting a neat and quick solution in the face of a problem of biblical proportions. Three hundred years and more of race slavery and segregation cannot be wished away or even washed away with good works and good intentions. We have no right to expect problems with deep causes will have easy or complete solutions. Nevertheless, we cannot ignore public policy issues of such importance. In this paper, I look at the attempt to address this educational issue through the courts. I will focus attention on the transformation that takes place as an issue of educational and racial policy becomes a legal issue and how that transformation shapes and limits the judicial solution ordered and the educational solution provided.

Stratification in Early Childhood Social Policy and Programs in the United States: Historical and Contemporary Manifestations

This article provides a review and critical examination of ways in which the stratifications operating in U S. society have pervaded early childhood care and education and related social programs and policies. After a brief discussion of economic and social stratification, as reflected in child and family poverty rates and patterns, highlights from the history of multitiered early childhood programs in the Unites States are provided. Particular attention is given to African American education issues, child care in the early 20th century, and Head Start, in the context of renewed national attention and recent reports. Related social and educational policy issues are discussed, emphasizing future directions of child and family advocacy.

Is Educational Psychology Alive and Well in the New South Africa?

Educational psychology in South Africa has been defined in the past as an interventional and helping profession, mainly focused on the alleviation of educational problems such as learning disability or emotional issues that interfere with the educational process. Educational psychologists, apparently by predeliction, have had little to do with the general processes of learning and schooling, nor have they been concerned with educational policy issues. This may be partly to do with the fact that the training of educational psychologists in South Africa is generally light in the theory of cognitive development, instructional psychology and school psychology. This article invites discussion about the nature of the future roles for educational psychologists in the new South Africa, suggesting that their involvement in ordinary processes of schooling, and in assisting in the planning of educational systems will be primary. Appropriate changes in the nature of the training of educational psychologists require broad consultation. The need for change follows from the facts that: (1) paucity of future financial resources will necessitate the work of professional psychologists becoming more advisory, instructional and research oriented, rather than being individually focused; (2) the nature of the problems to be faced in social reconstruction will demand a more research-oriented approach than in the past; and (3) the present disarray of educational services requires the re-thinking of the most basic principles on which the formal education of children rests.

Health promotion in schools: policies and practices in Stockholm county, 1990.

A survey was undertaken of the policies and practices concerning organisation and implementation of health education and health promotion in schools in 151 of the total 213 Local Educational Areas (LEAs) in Stockholm county in 1990. Health education was included in the workplan of 49% of the responding LEAs, while 39% of respondents had a local action programme or guidelines for health education. Topic areas taught to all pupils and considered most important included alcohol, drug abuse, smoking, sex education, bullying, nutrition and physical exercise. Most senior level schools (55-83%) had written policies concerning pupils using alcohol, drugs or smoking in school, and 68% of LEAs had restrictions on staff smoking in school. Continuing health education was desired by 87% of the respondents. A written programme/plan regarding health education was identified as an important indicator of interest and commitment in health education and health policy issues by the local school.

Seeds of Crisis: Public Schooling in Milwaukee since 1920

Beset by such controversies as whether they have the right to search students lockers for guns and drugs, big city schools are making adjustments unimaginable in earlier eras, when detention was still sufficient for keeping order. Milwaukee, Wisconsin, is one city trying to cope with the educational challenges of the twentieth century. Seeds of Crisis examines the ways in which these challenges have affected the politics of education, the curriculum, the work of teachers and principals, and the everyday lives of students in Milwaukee. Since the problems facing urban schools are similar from city to city, a close and careful look at the historical roots and origins of the situation in Milwaukee can serve as a model for those working on solutions in other places. The contributors touch on topics from curriculum to desegregation in the Milwaukee public schools, setting the schools histories within a broader context of the changing urban scene and educational policy issues. Taken together, these essays offer an unusual perspective on the development of a major urban school system as it prepares to face the future.

Higher Education Policy: An International Comparative Perspective

Higher education policy in international perspective: an overview (L. Goedegebuure, F. Kaiser, P. Maassen, E. de Weert). Higher education policy in Australia (L. Meek). Higher education policy in Califomia (W. Fox). Higher education policy in Denmark (P. Bache, P. Maassen). Higher education policy in France (F. Kaiser, G. Neave). Higher education policy in Germany (E. Frackman, E. de Weert). Higher education policy in Japan (A. Arimoto, E. de Weert). Higher education policy in the Netherlands (L. Goedegebuure, F. Kaiser, P. Maassen, E. de Weert). Higher educational policy in Ontario (G. Jones). Higher education policy in Sweden (G. Svanfeldt). Higher education policy in Switzerland (K. Weber). Higher education policy in the United Kingdom (J. Brennan, T. Shah). International perspectives on trends and issues in higher education policy (L. Goedegebuurre, F. Kaiser, P. Maassen, L. Meek, F. Van Vught, E. de Weert).

Case Studies of the Application of Categorical and Noncategorical Special Education

The purposes of this article are (a) to present the results of a federally funded study conducted by the Research Triangle Institute concerning the application of categor- ical and noncategorical special education in both state and local education agencies and (b) to illustrate how the case study as a rigorous research strategy (Yin, 1989, 1994) was applied to this policy issue in special education. These purposes are complementary, one focusing on the primary quaiitative methods and procedures of the study, the other focusing on the findings and conclusions relative to a current issue in the delivery of special education and related services. Thus, although the format of this article follows that of the traditional research study, we discuss not only the findings relevant to the implementation of categorical and noncategorical special education, but also the advantages and limitations of case study methodology, which increasingly is being used to study policy issues in special education.

America's future work force: a health and education policy issues handbook

Illustrations Preface Acknowledgments The U.S. Labor Force: Present and Projected Economic, Social, and Fiscal Contexts General Deterrents to Future Labor Force Employability of American Youth Deterrents to Adequate Health Care Public-Private Policy Options for Restructuring the U.S. Health Care System Deterrents to Adequate Education Policy Issues and Alternatives for Restructuring The U.S. Public Education System Public and Private Sector Roles in Preparing America's Future Work Force Appendixes Bibliographical Essay Index

Costs of Education in China: Issues of Resource Mobilization, Equality, Equity and Efficiency

This paper is a survey of the costs of education in one Asian country, China. It focuses on three areas of education costs: (1) national expenditures on education; (2) unit costs of education; and (3) educational cost functions. It relates the analysis of education costs to four enduring policy issues in education in China: resource mobilization, inequality, inequity and inefficiency. The analysis is based on primary and secondary data sources and on existing studies in both the Chinese and English literatures. Whenever appropriate, comparative discussion is made by drawing on cost studies on other (mostly Asian) countries. The paper is aimed at providing a review of the current state of knowledge, and identifying knowledge gaps and areas for future research on education costs in China.

Legal and Policy Issues in Higher Education

Each generation of Americans appears to be challenged anew to confront the problems of defining equal access and equal opportunity. The 40 years since the Supreme Court's ruling in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas (1954) have taught us that while a great deal has changed, much remains the same. Many still wonder whether African Americans will ever benefit fully from the principles enunciated in Brown. While Brown addressed segregation in elementary and secondary public schooling, several other cases have challenged the issue in higher education (Stefkovich & Leas, 1994). Accordingly, this article raises questions regarding the influence of the law and the courts on policies, programs, and practices specific to higher education. It identifies policy issues that continue to compel the attention of educational decision makers, and concludes with perspectives regarding the outlook for historically Black institutions vis-a-vis the desegregation of higher education in the United States.LAW AND LITIGATIONThe constitutional and legal bases for pursuing equality of educational opportunity are firm and indisputable, as the following section of the 14th Amendment makes clear:No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without the due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the law.Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 reinforces this position:No person in the United States shall, on the grounds of race, color, or national origin, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance. (Section 602)Simply put, U.S. citizens may not be denied equal protection under the law, nor may they be subjected to exclusion or discriminatory practices in programs receiving federal funds. Nonetheless, citizens seeking equality have repeatedly had to put these high-sounding constitutional ideals to the test to determine whether they were rhetoric or reality. In 1892, for example, Homer Messy, a African American shoemaker in New Orleans, sought to determine whether the Constitution protected people of his race (Medley, 1994). Plessy purchased a first-class railway ticket, boarded a train, and, ignoring the Colored Only sign, took a seat in the section reserved for Whites. An account of this event appeared in the local newspaper:On Tuesday evening, a Negro named [Homer] Plessy was arrested and locked up for violating Section II of Act 111 of 1890, relative to separate coaches....He waived examination yesterday before Recorder Monlin and was sent before the criminal court under $5.00 bond. (quoted in Medley, 1994, p. 105)In his effort to test the constitutionality of separate and unequal commercial practices, Plessy found that the Constitution fell short of extending the same protection to African Americans that it extended to Whites. Moreover, in Plessy v. Ferguson (1896), the Supreme Court set forth its odious separate-but-equal doctrine.Race-based segregation was challenged again in 1954, but with a different outcome. In its ruling in Brown, the Supreme Court overturned the constitutionality of segregated facilities in public education. The Brown decision moved the nation to acknowledge that separate was inherently unequal, and that public institutions had an obligation to eliminate all barriers separating the races (Russo, Harris, & Sandidge, 1994; Tushnet & Lezin, 1991).Although school systems from kindergarten through higher education have had 40 years to comply with Brown, the question of the duty of the state to eliminate vestiges of segregation in higher education seems still to mystify state officials. Some say the duty imposed in Green v. New Kent County School Board (1968) to take whatever steps might be necessary to convert to a unitary system in which racial discrimination would be eliminated root and branch should rule (pp. …

The Quality Issue in German Higher Education Policy

At first sight, there seems to be no explicit policy of quality assurance in German higher education today. The very word (Qualitdtssicherung) is just beginning to be used in German higher education policy debates, whereas it is well known in industry and commerce. Higher education researchers use the term in their circles, but it has hardly permeated into faculty meetings or academic senates. In state ministries of higher education and in higher education committees of state legislatures the q-word is more likely to be used in connection with worries about the efficiency and effectiveness of higher education. Considering the elaborate theories, methods, and schemes of quality assurance in higher education systems and the degree of its institutionalisation as well as the wealth of research and practical experience in some Western countries, German activities in this field are unremarkable and not highly visible. The German higher education community, however, is increasingly concerned about the negative effects of overcrowding, underfunding and understaffing on the quality of higher education in Germany. Outside higher education research groups, the wealth of international experience, methodology, knowledge and criticism on evaluating and assuring quality in higher education, published in innumerable books, articles and reports and discussed at many conferences and meetings, has hardly registered among higher education policy makers and leaders in Germany. On the whole, it is therefore not surprising that a recent comparative study of higher education policies indicates that in comparison to some other countries, there is no real policy of quality assurance in German higher education yet (Frackmann & de Weert, 1993). This is also noted in a joint pilot study on economics in Germany, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom: With not much more than appropriate exaggeration it can be said that the comparative quality issue does not exist in higher education in Germany (Brennan, 1992). That was published in 1992 and is based on data from 1991. Since then, the quality debate in German higher education policy has been gaining momentum. In some German states, policies of evaluating or assessing the quality of what higher education institutions produce are emerging. But it is a long way from assessing quality and being concerned about it to an active policy of really improving it. Where that way has to be paved with structural reforms and additional funding, the thin layer of consensus about what should be done may not be a sufficient foundation for implementing a policy of quality assurance. That, I suggest, is the situation in the old West German states of the Federal Republic in early 1994, as characterised by concerned voices inside and outside the higher education community [1]. 201

Reviews: From Idea to Building. Issues in Architecture, Statistics in the Environmental and Earth Sciences, Time in Geographic Information Systems, Architectural Education: Issues in Educational Practice and Policy, Land and the City: Patterns and Processes of Urban Change

Reviews: From Idea to Building. Issues in Architecture, Statistics in the Environmental and Earth Sciences, Time in Geographic Information Systems, Architectural Education: Issues in Educational Practice and Policy, Land and the City: Patterns and Processes of Urban Change

Toward shared responsibility: the Teacher Education Council, Ontario

In 1989 the Ontario Government established the Teacher Education Council, Ontario, with the dual mandate of promoting collaboration in the area of teacher education and advising two Ministers on all aspects of teacher certification and teacher education. The Council was composed of four members from each of the major stakeholder groups ‐ school boards, teachers’ federations, universities, and government. During its first 3 years the Council addressed such topics as the teacher education continuum (admissions, pre‐service, induction, and in‐service), the review and approval of teacher education programmes, requirements for teachers of the future, and integrating teachers from all over the world into the Ontario system. This article provides an overview of the Council's activities and focuses on the collaborative decision‐making process used to address policy issues in teacher education in Ontario.