In "Evidence, Politics, and Education Policy," political scientists Lorraine M. McDonnell and M. Stephen Weatherford provide an original analysis of evidence use in education policymaking to help scholars and advocates shape policy more effectively. The book shows how multiple types of evidence are combined as elected officials and their…

Despite calls for research-based policies, other types of evidence also influence education policy, including personal experience, professional expertise, and normative values. This article focuses on the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) initiative, examining how research use varied over stages of the process and how it was integrated with other…

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)

The gap between policymaker enthusiasm for the uses of student assessment and expert caution is analyzed by examining new forms of student assessment as an education policy strategy. The study is based on interviews with 34 national and state policymakers and focuses on their differing expectations of what assessment policy can accomplish and how…

Explores the policy uses of assessment and focuses particularly on its persuasive role in encouraging higher levels of educational performance and on its accountability and regulatory functions. Policymakers continue to insist that assessments can be used for multiple purposes, in spite of past experience and expert evidence to the contrary. (SLD)

The evolution of the opportunity-to-learn (OTL) concept from a research concept to a policy instrument is examined. The origins of OTL in studies by the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement are described, and the role of OTL research in educational indicators is explored. (SLD)

Few analyses have examined what testing's political status means for how those outside the education establishment view externally mandated tests and what they expect them to accomplish. This article provides such an analysis by first elaborating on the notion that testing and accountability have become political issues. It then describes the…

Policies to change the way teachers are trained, licensed, and compensated constitute a major part of the educational reform agendas advanced by state governments over the past several years. These policies have been extremely difficult to implement, and state officials face the prospect that many of them will need substantial modification. This…

This report examines the participation of teacher unions in the education reform process. It analyzes the many roles that these organizations are playing at the national, state, and local levels through collective bargaining and political action. The focus is upon three major issues: (1) the extent to which teacher unions have attained more…

This publication builds a conceptual framework that categorizes alternative policy instruments for educational reform into actions. It defines four categories of policy instruments and hypothesizes how each will operate in addressing different policy problems in different political and organizational contexts. Subsequent research will assess…

The National Education Association (NEA) originally focused on a consensual relationship existing between classroom teachers and administrators on one hand and governing bodies of public education on the other. Both administrators and classroom teachers belonged to the same organization. During the past decade, the NEA became more militant,…

A study analyzed the role of state governments in implementing federal education and job training policies and in designing and implementing their own policies. A framework was developed for understanding policy instruments used to promote education and training objectives: mandates, inducements, capacity-building, and system-changing. Each type…