This paper examines notions of power in relation to evidence-informed policy making and explores four key areas. First, I outline contemporary conceptualisations of how power operates in society; second, I spotlight the implications of power inequalities for how evidence is used by policy makers (and present the policy "agora"; a…

Many studies on evidence-based policy are still clinging to a linear model. Instead, we propose to understand expertise and evidence as "socially embedded" in authority relations and cultural contexts. Policy-relevant facts are the result of an intensive and complex struggle for political and epistemic authority. This is especially true…

In this article we proffer a theoretical model for analyzing power in language policy processes and incorporate ethnographic data to illustrate the usefulness of the model. Grounded in an ethnographic project in the US state of Washington, we examine how nominally identical school district-level programs, which are funded under the same…

Because policymakers have a direct impact on schools, teachers, and therefore students, this study examined the discourse of policymakers in relation to their views on "quality" teaching. Findings from the study conclude the cultural models and discourses widely varied among policymakers. Their views were based on an idiosyncratic…

Although theorists and policy makers agree that schooling should be democratic, what this exactly means often varies. This article establishes a conceptual model for analyzing education policy in democratic societies, based on the key concepts of equality, diversity, participation, choice, and cohesion. The model facilitates the design,…

Carleton's new governance experiment to bring together all elements in the college community in a combination of localized decision-making and coordination. (Editor/IR)

The relative newness of educational politics as a research field means that, aside from possibly systems analysis, much theory-building has yet to be done. In this regard, power analysis has both limitations and potentialities. Some people contend that power is evident only in those situations involving government agencies utilizing negative…

This working paper focuses on the educational planner as a bureaucratic actor. To explain planner influence or lack of influence in the policymaking process, practitioners need to explore the micropolitics of organizations and understand individual, organizational, and situational forces demanding their engagement. Planners need an engaged…

Deals with some problems in the operation of a school in a white middle-class Chicago community and the attempt by a segment of the community to influence the direction of their school. (Author/JM)

This paper attempts to develop a greater understanding of and suggest some methods for defining day-to-day changes in policy and predicting the operation of power and status affecting educational decisions. Physical and cognitive territoriality have meaning in the study and exercise of power and status, and are essential elements in understanding,…

Before citizen participation in administrative decision-making can be evaluated in a way that is both rigorous and relevant to policy development, there must be some minimal consensus among evaluators and policy-makers concerning the types of questions that should be asked and the methodologies that should be used. This document consists of edited…

This paper attempts to provide a broad theoretical framework for understanding planning in organizations and other social systems; and it identifies the key conditions, processes, and structures of social systems in the planning concept. While other frameworks exist that detail singular aspects of planning as it actually occurs and describe…

Multiculturalism has become a major framework for analyzing intergroup relations in the United States, but the meanings of the term have become less and less clear. The 26 essays in this collection map the terrain of multiculturalism in its varied dimensions and discuss its future. The scholars represented, link the complex cultural questions of…

This monograph describes and compares the membership, organization, and policy-making responsibilities of state boards of education in the 49 states that have them. First, board members' characteristics, their civic activities, and their reasons for serving are discussed. Second, a total of 10 distinct governance models are identified, although 3…

Objective B of the Regional Project Statement for Project S-120 is "to determine perceptions toward development in activities, agency representatives, and clientele affected by organizational and agency activities". This paper addresses Objective B and presents a perspective which "suggests an answer to the inevitable 'so what' question when…