In this article, we perform cost-effectiveness analysis on interventions that improve the rate of high school completion. Using the What Works Clearinghouse to select effective interventions, we calculate cost-effectiveness ratios for five youth interventions. We document wide variation in cost-effectiveness ratios between programs and between…

The common reporting of effect sizes has been an important advance in education research in recent years. However, the benchmarks used to interpret the size of these effects--as small, medium, and large--do little to inform educational administration and policy making because they do not account for program costs. The author proposes an approach…

This interview with the Director of the Institute for Educational Leadership (IEL) at George Washington University discusses: (1) what IEL is and how it functions; (2) how IEL meets the needs of educational policymakers and decision makers; and (3) other programs of IEL. (RL)

Concentrates on building a conceptual framework for policy research that would provide more useful information to policymakers. Examines four different policy instruments and specifies key relationships among them. (RB)

Discusses a framework for integrating the macroworld of the policymakers with the microworld of the individuals who implement those policies. Analyzes policy directed change. (RB)

Educator and author Laurence E. Lynn recommends the case study as a method for training policy analysts to understand the cognitive style and uniqueness of the decision makers they serve. Analysts must be interdisciplinary, politically knowledgable, yet unbiased. Policy analysis, particularly by external institutions, is spreading to Congress. (CP)

Chelimsky's five-part continuum--a model for the practice of evaluation in a political context--is reviewed. The model's conceptual framework and a question for education are discussed. By focusing on interactions between evaluators and policy actors, this model should prompt debates about unsettled issues in education policy making. (SLD)

Identifies, classifies, and describes the range of cost studies in education and how they may contribute to improved policy analysis. Presents three examples illustrating applications of cost analysis, and reflects on key issues from previous applications in educational policymaking and evaluation. (SLD)

Results of an analysis of equity in school finance in Norway and Sweden are presented and their implications for American policy are discussed. Four major types of decisions which have to be made in an equity analysis are identified. (RL)

The history of evaluation utilization in policy making and political features of program evaluation are discussed. A five-part continuum describes the evaluation process. Evaluation practice modifications contribute to real growth in evaluation use in congressional policy making as evaluation research improves the quality of information available…

This article describes the background and rationale for the Convening Process, created and evaluated by the U.S. Department of Education staff, and its relation to other efforts to increase the use of research and evaluation information. (Author/LMO)

In an interview, Professor David Cohen discusses the lack of political accountability of nonpublic institutions which influence education, such as the testing industry. Strategies for increasing citizen participation in educational policy formulation are also illustrated. (MH)

The Judicial Evaluation Method (JEM) is useful for aiding decision-making bodies to formulate policies. Broad public participation in complex issues is provided by JEM. (The conceptualization, policy formulation stages, and participant roles are identified; and the model is applied in two case studies). (MH)

An approach for involving beneficiaries in specifying program attributes for evaluators to address is discussed. Methods are outlined for sharing influence among program decision makers and beneficiaries. Application of this approach in the evaluation of a problem-based medical school curriculum is described, with evidence on the enhancement of…

Twenty case studies of state educational decision making from 1971 to 1991 are analyzed to portray the changing nature of Minnesota's education policy system and to consider whether the often cited "structural linkage" typology remains explanatory. The reformist tradition continues in Minnesota in spite of revenue problems and societal…