The challenge of producing the systemic changes that are needed to boost educational attainment and economic competitiveness across the country falls heavily on entities that coordinate public postsecondary institutions. Coordination of postsecondary education, whether of a single system of institutions or across an entire state, requires…

Quality improvement centers were created by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Children's Bureau beginning in 2001 to promote knowledge development through an innovative approach to applied collaborative research in child welfare. The National Quality Improvement Center on the Privatization of Child Welfare Services was funded to…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to describe how, from 2004-2006, a New Zealand research team experimented with the "change laboratory" learning process to create a new method of government policy development and implementation, referred to as "practice-making". The apple industry in Hawke's Bay was chosen because of the…

Environmental problems are complex and attempts to solve these require expertise from many areas. Authors describe strategies evolved to solicit cooperation from fifteen departments in a university, city government, and a regional planning agency for solving environmental problems. (PS)

Collected in this document are reports of the National Institutes of Health's 1989 accomplishments in research on the problem of infant mortality. Reports are provided by the: (1) National Institute of Child Health and Human Development; (2) National Cancer Institute; (3) National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute; (4) National Institute of…

This directory was prepared to foster the mutually supportive relationships among the Productivity and Quality of Working Life Centers in the United States. It was also designed to be of value to innovative managers in the public and private sectors by making readily available sources of information on the various aspects of productivity and…

Examines the challenges and opportunities faced by the University of Washington's Institute for Public Policy and Management, a university-based applied-research institute that has grown through intellectual entrepreneurship into an organization that shapes policy for the state of Washington and the Northwest. The institute and its specialized…

A group of 12 federally funded community mental health centers which make effective use of paraprofessionals is described. The purpose is to make mental health policy makers and service agency staff members aware of the wide range of innovative service models in existence in which paraprofessionals play diverse and crucial roles. A case study for…

Concerns regarding the regulation of family day home care led to a National Conference on Family Day Homes, the proceedings of which appear in this document. Co-sponsored by Texas and the Association for Regulatory Administration, the conference was intended to enable the exchange of ideas and information, identify research issues, and develop…

The public service research program at the University of California, Davis, a model linking university resources with those of public agencies in the interest of public service, is described. Collaborative research is seen as an effective form of public service, profitable to both university and government. (MLW)

A discussion of language policy in Australia chronicles the history and context of policy formation and looks at the role of the National Languages and Literacy Institute. The paper first examines the phases and processes of both explicit and unofficial policy-making on language issues in Australia, highlighting the role that language…

A project was developed to design policies and procedures for competency-based recertification for occupational therapists and occupational therapy assistants. Project activities included the exploration and appraisal of various methods of recertification, e.g., continuing education requirements, audit/record review requirements, written…

The Australian Tertiary Education Commission (TEC) report, which describes a politically preferred version of the higher education system, is put into historical, economic, and political perspective and criticized for its style and content. The workings of the public agencies concerned with higher education are outlined. (MSE)

In this policy briefing, the technological developments of recent years are linked to the erosion of individuals' informational privacy under the press of bureaucratic efficiency and the ever-growing needs of executive agencies for more information. It is noted that privacy protection within federal agencies may entail costs, and therefore, may be…