An examination of the relevant literature reveals that "policy" means different things to different people. Among the concepts that emerge when these meanings are reviewed are that policies are intentional, decision-based, goal-oriented, and conditional; they lead to results, balance facts and values, and allocate resources; and they…

Examines some evidence about public understanding of education policy, compares it to similar understandings of other public policy fields, and discusses some of the steps that may be taken to deal with the prevailing levels of understanding. (Author)

State departments of education, administrators, educational testing systems, and the media are demanding uniformity of instructional units and of performance objectives for community college English courses. Limited funds and the desire to promote a favorable public image are factors encouraging standardization of instruction. Presently, policy…

A brief discussion of the growing conflict between teachers, administrators, school board members, legislators, and citizen groups over who should have how much control over various aspects of education. (JG)

The papers in this report fall into three focus areas: (1) new goals and objectives for educational institutions, with a stress on normative analysis of public policy alternatives and a reexamination of prior assumptions on which research is based; (2) the political education of youth, with a particular examination of directions in research on…

Discusses the arguments for and against expanded public participation in educational policy making and considers examples of several forms of public participation drawn from the U.S., France, Italy, England, Sweden, the German Federal Republic, and the People's Republic of China. Also explores some of the probable consequences of expanded public…

This paper reviews and discusses political models that bear on policy-making processes. The first part of the report deals with the merits of the "elitist" versus the "pluralistic" frameworks used to analyze the exercise of power in local communities. This review of the theories serves as a basis for a subsequent discussion of…

Acceptance or rejection of school policy hinges on the role played by formal and informal groups within the community power structure. Kimbrough's research suggests that formal groups are subordinate to the informal power structure in establishing policy, though formal groups make important contributions to decision-making. Some researchers…

This study examined a school district before and after its school board changed from appointed status to elected status to determine if there were significant differences in the board's handling of constituent demands. School board minutes were examined and demands were analyzed for a six-month period under the appointed school board, then…

Underlying present Governmental and private objectives to institute local control over the schools on Indian reservations is the hope that such a policy will improve American Indians' sense of relevance of their own behavior to the outcome of their destiny. Although the connection between community control and sense of personal efficacy has never…

The major focus of this study is on altering the current structure of collective bargaining in public education to provide for adequate community participation. Concentrating on big city school systems where minorities and the poor have historically been apart from the educational policy-making process, the study finds that the scope of bargaining…

This paper reports the results of a study of the implementation of multicultural education policy initiatives in Australia. An outline of the study's methods follows brief discussions of the emergence of multicultural education as a policy issue and the context of multicultural education in Australia. To assess the impact of multicultural…

Summarizes data extracted from a national survey of Canadian provinces concerning educational policy towards arts education. Discovers greater centralized control in the more populous provinces with the remote areas ceding authority to local boards. Different provinces appear to conceive of the arts in significantly different ways. (MJP)

This book is a compilation of the edited versions of a representative selection of papers on school and community presented at a European conference involving more than twenty countries. The papers are arranged in three sections. The first section of six papers lays the framework for the discussion which follows. Section 2, comprised of six papers…

The paper presents a detailed overview of educational policymaking and discusses the need for minority groups to be involved in policy formation. The first section describes the distinguishing characteristics of the main elements of the functions of administration and policymaking process. The second section examines the following three models of…