This article presents topological genealogy (TG) as a methodology to research transnational digital governance, and particularly how digital infrastructures are implicated in enacting such forms of governance. Inspired by the field of social topology, TG is centrally interested in investigating the conjoined production of digital infrastructures…

This paper builds on previous research (Ball, 2012, Ball & Junemann, 2012) to explore some aspects of the embodiment of policy. The author draws on Larner and Laurie's (2010) work on technocratic expertise and how, as she puts it, "privatisation ideas and practices are transferred in embodied forms," and in particular her argument…

While it is generally acknowledged that being "historically informed" lies at the heart of critical accounts of education policy-making, the use of historically focused retrospective research methods within the field is rare. This paper makes the case for retrospective research at a time when some of the most significant episodes of…

This article elaborates one approach to conceptualizing and investigating international processes of education policy formation (IPEPF), which are dynamic, multi-level and processual in nature. This contribution is important because, although research is increasingly conducted on phenomena with such characteristics, extended discussions of how…

Scholarly analysis in the sociology of education has burgeoned in recent decades. "Frontiers in Sociology of Education" aims to provide a roadmap for sociologists and other social scientists as they set bold new directions for future research on schools. In Part 1 of this forward-looking volume, the authors present cutting-edge research…

Using an evaluation of the Teacher Corps as a case study, discusses the value of ethnographic studies in policy research and the types of policy statements that emerge from such studies. (ST)

This paper is concerned with the relationships between educational research, policymaking, and educational change. It takes its title from the prevailing stereotype of educational research as a mirror seeking to reflect the realities of the task of teaching. (Author/KC)

Argues that a greatly expanded attention given to futurism in educational institutions and an intensive, systematic use of futures research applied to educational policy making can go a long way toward meeting criticisms that education is backwards looking and resistant to change, and that education tends to develop an in-capacity for future…

Questions the case for the use of futurism in education made in the Lonsdale paper; notes that futurism involves political as well as technological dimensions; and discusses both possibilities for doctoral dissertation research and the amount of concern actually shown by local school district officials for any kind of futures research. (JM)

This report on the SCALE Institutions of Higher Education (IHE) Case Studies line of work provides preliminary findings about SCALE activities at the University of Wisconsin-Madison (UW-Madison). This study focuses on the structural and behavioral dynamics influencing the implementation of the four core SCALE strategies for effecting change in…

It is difficult to base evaluations on concepts irrelevant to state policy making. Evaluation of a multiproject program requires both time and differentiation of method. Data from the California Early Childhood Program illustrate process variables for program component analysis, and research questions for intraprogram comparison. (CP)

This executive summary of a research project explores the general question of how school districts change their domains through the management of major proposals ("issues"). The study, which focused on case studies of three suburban superintendents' management of five to seven major issues, used raw data consisting of interviews with…

The objectives of an ongoing 3-year study are to examine and document the immediate history of PL 95-561, Title XI; the development of its regulations, policies, and procedures; and its actual implementation. Research during the first year focused on the history, intent, regulations, and emerging policy of the law, especially Part A. Data were…

Topics chosen for these eight seminar papers divide basically into three categories: discussions on processes and methods for planning for the future of adult education; attempts to project into the future such worldwide problems as urbanism, conflict, the population explosion, and specific adult education trends; and discussion of the current…

This speech highlights some of the problems of translating research findings, regardless of the research methodology used, into educational policy at the national level. The author discusses the problems of (1) the division of responsibility for education among Federal, State, and local governments; (2) the lack of consensus about educational…