Encouraging members of the public to get engaged in local decision-making is a key role of Extension educators. The study reported here explores whether local context influences which individuals choose to attend public meetings about the community and the environment. The study surveyed meeting attendees and non-meeting attendees in three…

Drawing on task-based and intercultural teaching approaches, this article presents an ESL classroom project at two different university settings in which students investigate aspects of their local communities through the use of ethnographic and observational research techniques. For related reasons, the instructors at each university developed…

Through the lens of place-based climate change communication, this manuscript compares results from internal and external assessments of capacity to communicate about climate change at national parks and refuges in southern Florida. The internal survey sample included agency staff, stakeholders, community partners, and concessionaires; the…

This article considers the relationship between policy and practice in the early childhood mathematics curriculum for reception-class (RC) children of five years in England. It explores what the policy requires RC teachers to do in terms of curriculum implementation; what RC teachers' views and understanding of the early childhood mathematics…

China's elaborate system of local mediation committees has piqued researchers' curiosity for decades and sparked an argument in these pages. Crucial questions--concerning how much mediation actually takes place, what kinds of disputes are mediated, who seeks mediation, and how successful it is--have gone unanswered for lack of data. This article…

In Mexico, as in many other countries, HIV/AIDS strategies are developed at the federal level and implemented at the state level. Local programs are expected to use data, in particular surveillance data, to drive their decisions on programmatic activities and prioritize populations with which the program will engage. Since the early 1980s Mexico…

The primary goal of this study was to measure public perceptions, opinions and priorities as they pertain to youth issues in Sacramento for the purposes of further developing public and private youth programming and public policy in the Sacramento region. By presenting a "statistically reliable" profile of public opinion on youth issues,…

Survey responses from 348 commercial television stations throughout the United States revealed that the broadcasting of television editorials was common practice for 214 stations (61 percent), that local topics were preferred by those that editorialized, and that most stations included station opinion in their editorials. (GT)

Reports results of a study in which city magazines were examined in terms of their potential as alternatives to newspapers in covering and commenting on public issues, their perceived roles, and their content and perceived influence on public issues. (GT)

Neither of two types of television ownership--television station multiple ownership or crossownership with a local daily newspaper--was found to have an adverse effect on the quality of local television news (defined as the level of expenditures for such programing). Increased local cable television use was associated with a slight decline in news…

Public policymaking and implementation in the United States are increasingly handled through local, consensus-seeking partnerships involving most affected stakeholders. This paper formalizes the concept of a stakeholder partnership, and proposes techniques for using interviews, surveys, and documents to measure each of six evaluation criteria.…

This report presents the results of a questionnaire sent to the daily and weekly newspaper editors in Washington to evaluate their sources of agricultural news. Responses were obtained from 16 of 21 daily newspaper editors queried and 63 of 140 weekly editors. The questionnaire was designed to check the accuracy of newspapers' mailing addresses,…

Survey data are analyzed in order to provide an overview of primary education in an area of China which is quite representative of minority nationality concentrations. Uses this information to formulate proposals for educational reform. Suggests that measures should take local realities into consideration if effective education is to be provided.…

Reports the results of a survey of high school newspaper advisers that revealed a lack of newspaper coverage of issues not directly related to the school; discusses four reasons cited for narrow coverage: lack of staff motivation, lack of time and skills, administrative censorship, and previous publication by the local newspaper. (GT)