Return on investment (ROI) has become part of the policymaking toolkit, particularly pertinent for activities like school-based career guidance deemed optional by some policymakers. There are institutions supporting ideal ROI methods alongside an academic critique, but little research on how ROI has been applied in practice in a guidance setting.…

Despite increasing awareness of the importance of promoting the social responsibility of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) professionals, few intervention programs have been developed to enhance the social responsibility of college students or adults in the STEM fields. In this paper, we introduced a new instructional…

Strategic government interventions in public education have shifted and blurred the boundaries between state, market and civil society modes of governance. Within this matrix of interdependent relations, schools operate under increasingly hybrid accountability arrangements in which public accountability can both complement and compete with market…

Little information is available about autism spectrum disorder services in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. A sample of 205 parents completed an online survey about the use of autism spectrum disorder services for their children. The results revealed that on average, children began services by 3.3 years. Most parents reported utilizing non-medical…

A systematic review was conducted to synthesize the evidence related to the effectiveness of baby sign language for children with typical development. This response to a Commentary on the review stresses that the primary purpose of the review was to assist caregivers and policy makers with informed decision-making related to the benefits of the…

Evidence-based practice (EBP) represents an important approach to educating and treating individuals diagnosed with disabilities or disorders. Understanding research findings is the cornerstone of EBP. The methodology of systematic reviews, which involves carefully analyzing research findings, can result a practice guideline that recommends…

Purpose: The aim of this article is to provide an analysis of the features that have shaped the state's decision-making process in the United Nations, with regard to the humanitarian intervention in Darfur from 2003 onwards. Design/methodology/approach: The methodological approach to the study is a review of political statement papers grounded in…

In this article, we perform cost-effectiveness analysis on interventions that improve the rate of high school completion. Using the What Works Clearinghouse to select effective interventions, we calculate cost-effectiveness ratios for five youth interventions. We document wide variation in cost-effectiveness ratios between programs and between…

This article explores the initial results produced by the European Commission's "better regulation agenda", which aims to stimulate productivity and employment, on the use of evidence and its potential to enhance democratic governance. The article finds that implausible rational models of policy making dictate the ways in which the…

Policy agencies are implementing strategies to increase the use of research in policy decisions. This paper examines the evidence about the effectiveness of these strategies. We conducted an extensive search focused on population health policy and programmes. We classified 106 papers meeting study criteria into research type (conceptual,…

In this paper we outline an analytical approach to identifying points in the policy process where management intervention to adjust organizational design could enhance delivery of innovation policy over time. We illustrate this approach using an example from native vegetation policy in the state of Victoria, Australia. We then use this approach to…

The common reporting of effect sizes has been an important advance in education research in recent years. However, the benchmarks used to interpret the size of these effects--as small, medium, and large--do little to inform educational administration and policy making because they do not account for program costs. The author proposes an approach…

The study investigated the divergence in beginning reading methods between the United States (US) and England from 1998 to 2010. Researchers, policy makers, and publishers were interviewed to explore their knowledge and perceptions concerning how literacy policy was determined. The first three of twelve findings showed that despite the…

Examines development and implementation of School Drug Policy in Ontario Boards of Education, components of these policies, and composition of policy development committees. Data from 125 Boards of Education were obtained for fall 1991. Results indicate that development and implementation of school drug policy, by not often including students,…

Primary health care has a new tool with which to improve its effectiveness, its efficiency, and its decisions about national and local priorities: the accurate measurement of the chances of occurrence of a future event of health or illness. Human and other resources should go where the need is greatest, and assessment of the risk of future…