This article presents a theoretical framework for classifying policy decision in education. The framework is a taxonomy for systematic exploration of regularities in the policy system and for explaining the processes by which state education policies emerge or shape school performance. (Author/CB)

Centers on importance of ideological thought systems in shaping political and organizational actions in educational governance. Argues that the ideological factor (1) links (or fails to link) school board members to their constituencies, (2) defines problems and processes for policymaking, and (3) communicates a mandate for action to school…

Examines the state of educational policy analysis, discussing the field's history, conceptual approaches to policy, areas of policy that have been studied, and methodological issues. Concludes with speculation on the future of policy research. (MCG)

Describes four stages of policy formulation (issue definition, deliberation on policy options, authoritative allocation, and performance oversight) and four types of policy-relevant social research (descriptive, explanatory, critical, and forecasting). Proposes a model showing the linkages among research types, policy-making stages, and policy…

Key policy actors in six states (Arizona, California, Illinois, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Wisconsin) indicate a strong national consensus about seven basic policy mechanisms. While school finance dominated policy making, personnel, testing, and program definition policies had importance, followed by school governance, curriculum materials,…

This study reviews research on the defeat of incumbent school board members and presents new election data on 104 southern California school districts. The findings confirm that incumbent defeat is episodic, but they challenge previous research regarding its nature and origins. (Author)

Reviews the meaning of "political ideology" in political science, reviews findings from the literature on local school districts, discusses implicit assumptions about political ideology made by these studies, and presents findings from a study of political ideologies among a sample of school board members, lay citizens, and professional educators.…

Focusing on whether and how research actually contributes to the formation of public policy, this paper explores the critical problems in the linkage between science production and the systems that formulate educational policy. The authors suggest that the utilization of social research is limited more by problems of integrating research into the…

This chapter examines, from four perspectives, the ways in which educational research, development, and evaluation activities in the United States are organized, controlled, and supported, and considers whether research can be properly used to shape educational policy and practice. First, the size and historical development of the research and…

This policy brief is based on prior class size research and address the following issues of concern to policy makers: (1) the extent and reliability of class size impact on student achievement; (2) the mechanisms by which class size changes turn into student learning effects; and (3) the economic consequences of the reduction of class size. This…

In this paper, social science utilization is studied as an aspect of legislative decision making. The purposes of the paper are to provide a review of political science literature on state legislatures, offer a theoretical framework for interpreting utilization of social science research, apply the framework to interview data, and generate a…

This research report describes an analysis of the ways state legislative policy makers in Arizona, California, and Oregon engage in the process of turning political interests and pressures into public policies. The purpose is to provide insights into the overall processes of social science utilization within state legislatures, using a behavioral…

While initiative in educational policy formation has shifted increasingly away from local and federal to state-level policy systems, policy problems continue to be compounded by intellectual problems related to weak conceptualization and inadequate analysis. Policy debates of the 20th Century have focused successively on education efficiency,…

This report, by reviewing the contents of specific state statutes and regulations, extends the discussion of actions by state legislatures and education agencies to reduce class size. Data are drawn from primary sources and from email or telephone interviews with state department of education officials. Following the design used in the original…

The structure and function of the California Educational Research Cooperative (CERC), a collaborative action research organization designed to link research to educational practice, is described in this paper. A brief history of school-university partnerships and a review of the status of these partnerships is provided, followed by a description…