California ended 40 years of reliance on categorical funding for schools when Governor Jerry Brown signed the Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) into law on July 1, 2013. LCFF intends to enhance services for high-needs students through new flexibility, targeted student funding, and local accountability. Two years into LCFF implementation,…

This paper examines the key aspects of stakeholder engagement that can strengthen the design, implementation and sustainability of outcomes-based funding policies. We seek to help policymakers understand the prevailing starting-point attitudes of institutional stakeholders, primarily college and university administrators, faculty and staff, and…

Polytechnic education in Ghana is an offshoot of technical and vocational education and training, which makes internship a sine qua non for its students. The implementation of internships in the departments of hotel catering and institutional management in Ghanaian polytechnics is examined in this study. The perceptions of the stakeholders suggest…

This is a case study of the implementation of state STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) policy over the period of the first 18 months of building a regional STEM partnership. Fullan's change theory is the framework used to determine progress and associated challenges with building a regional STEM educational partnership and…

The design of the national qualifications framework (NQF) in Lithuania started in 2006. The NQF was officially approved by the government decree in May 2010. This article explores the influence of the processes of institutional change on the reform of the national system of qualifications in Lithuania through the implementation of the NQF, looking…

Previous research in the area of resistance has inadequately described opposition to change within-school reform initiatives with a social justice orientation. A lack of attention to, and agreement on, the nature and causes of resistance may explain why so many equity-minded educational reforms fail to be sustained. This article highlights various…

Within a system, change affects stakeholders differently. Consequently, when making changes in the mental health system, mental health agencies should expect varied reactions from staff, community members, consumers, and families. Since misunderstandings can stymie efforts to implement evidence-based and promising practices, it is important to…

This report builds on and extends Public Agenda's ongoing research on the attitudes of various stakeholder groups toward higher education reform. It explores the purpose and promise of more effective engagement of those stakeholders who--at first blush, at least--appear to express the deepest resistance to the productivity agenda: faculty. The…

This executive summary presents the broadest look yet at a growing trend in America's cities: the emergence of city-led efforts to build comprehensive afterschool and out-of-school time (OST) systems that meet the needs of children and youth in their communities. Mayors and other municipal officials who have demonstrated leadership in this area…

This policy brief reviews the recent experience of the San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD) with the development and approval of Proposition A. Proposition A (also known as the Quality Teacher and Education Act, or QTEA) included a parcel tax mainly dedicated to increasing teachers' salaries, along with a variety of measures introducing…

This research was commissioned by AONTAS-the National Adult Learning Organisation, in partnership with Irish Aid, the Irish Government's programme of assistance to developing countries. To date, a strategic focus on the integration of development education into adult learning has been missing at both State level and across the development…

This dissertation explores organizational narratives of engagement initiatives involving two comprehensive universities and the larger regional communities they serve. The purpose of this study is to develop a holistic description of engagement initiatives, reflecting data collected through interviews, documents and other artifacts from…

In 2003, with funding from The Wallace Foundation, a national team of researchers organized by Stanford University and The Finance Project set out to find and examine a set of exemplary pre- and in-service professional development programs for principals, along with the policy contexts in which they operate. The purpose of the study was to…

The aim of this research project has been to map the range of perceptions of a sample of people concerning business in partnership with education. From the range of perceptions held by the participants in this dissertation, we can conclude that partnering is not a simple matter of two parties agreeing to some workable union between them for mutual…