It started with a cup of coffee. In the wake of an intense contract negotiation, and against the backdrop of a district bankruptcy, multiple teacher strikes, and a wave of mistrust that veterans of the era still refer to as "rock bottom," the San José superintendent and the San José Teachers Association president decided to chart a…

In the wake of an intense contract negotiation, and against the backdrop of a district bankruptcy, multiple teacher strikes, and a wave of mistrust that veterans of the era still refer to as "rock bottom," the San José superintendent and the San José Teachers Association president decided to chart a different path forward. This report is…

In the wake of the financial crisis, trustees of many endowed nonprofit institutions realized that their portfolio was riskier than they thought and their own ability to tolerate loss wasn't as strong as they imagined. What can board and investment committee members do to improve their ability to assess their--and their institution's--capacity for…

This article analyzes the use of research evidence in school-board deliberations in three school districts in Wisconsin. In these settings, the circulation, meaning, and function of research depended importantly on the interests and backgrounds of advocates, the composition of audiences, and the values and contexts of decision-making. Board…

This paper considers the "policy work" of teacher actors in schools. It focuses on the "problem of meaning" and offers a typology of roles and positions through which teachers engage with policy and with which policies get "enacted". It argues that "policy work" is made up of a set of complex and…

This paper explores two different ontological positions from which policy in schools and teachers can be viewed. On the one hand, it explores the ways in which policies make up and make possible particular sorts of teacher subjects--as producers and consumers of policy, as readers and writers of policy. On the other, it begins to conceptualise the…

Following a brief presentation of Harold Lasswell's model of the social process, the authors discuss problems of policy formation and meaning determination, describe the "decision seminar" proposed by Lasswell as a technique for facilitating collective problem-solving, and provide illustrations of the seminar's successful application to…

Pedagogical and scholarly representations of collaborative writing and knowledge construction in technical communication have traditionally recognized consensus as the logical outcome of collaborative work, even as scholars and teachers have acknowledged the value of conflict and "dissensus" in the process of collaborative knowledge…

In this study, the importance of decision rule (consensus vs majority) and decision consequences (high vs low) are examined in terms of the sex composition of group membership. The results showed male-female differences not accounted for by decision rule, decision consequence, or post-test change. (Author/WI)

A policy system design that can benefit from the dynamics of small group behavior without suffering from the adverse effects associated with group thinking, in which the members of small groups acquire a concurrence seeking tendency, is comprised of three subsystem functions: (1) a sub-system normative function which requires that small groups be…

Based on analysis of data on 432 decision-makers from around the world, this study examines the decision-making phenomenon that individuals tend to move toward riskier decisions after group discussion. Findings of the analysis contradicted earlier studies, showing a consistent shift toward greater risk avoidance. Available from Elsevier Scientific…

Presents a case for and poses a procedure including techniques for a systematic approach to planning in education as a means of improving efficiency and effectiveness. Available from: Australian College of Education, 916 Swanston Street, Carlton, Victoria 3053, Australia, $2.50 single copy. (Author/MLF)

Three decision-making models that have applications for college presidents and administrators are reviewed. While both individual and group decision-making are addressed, emphasis is placed on the importance of group decisions on institutional policy planning. The model of Edmund M. Burke (1979) presents specific decision-making strategies in…

Issues-oriented public policy education should (1) address audiences at three levels (individuals and families, agencies and businesses, and government); (2) help communities move through the policy-making process to achieve resolution; and (3) provide a combination of technical information and help with the process (leadership, group dynamics,…

To explore group maturation in an educational setting, the policy board of a teacher center consortium was studied over a year, using ethnographic research methods. The group proceeded through various development stages, but not according to the predicted pattern, and failed to reach maturity. Maturation was disrupted by the director's dominating…