The Appalachia that many metropolitans claim to know was discovered or invented between the Civil War and World War I. The idea of the Appalachians as impoverished, illiterate, and in desperate need of moral, economic, and educational uplift disseminated during those years was, in fact, a creation of the urban imagination; hence, discourse on…

In an analysis of school reform in Great Britain, this book shows how the landmark Education Reform Act of 1988 (ERA) imposed a radically new framework on British education. This framework is built on the same types of reforms that American activists have been proposing for years: school-based management (SBM), choice, and accountability.…

The Chicago experience in school governance restructuring is examined in this newsletter. The introduction distinguishes between school-based management and shared decision-making and provides an overview of Chicago's restructured school governance. Next, findings of a study that examined school governance in 12 diverse Chicago elementary schools…

Findings of a 3-year study of the policy implementation process in three western Australian secondary schools are presented in this paper, which focuses on the macro and micro aspects of implementation. To examine responses to the formation of school-based decision-making groups, methodology involved: (1) document analysis; (2) interviews with…

The impact of state-mandated testing on an urban school district in New Jersey is examined in this paper, which describes the evolution of the testing program and its shift in emphasis from individual student assessment to its use as the primary indicator of school success or failure. To meet state certification standards, 75 percent of the third,…

Testimony on federal aid to higher education in Africa is recorded in this report of a congressional hearing. Subcommittee chairman Senator Paul Simon opened by describing his hope that more U.S. aid be directed to the relatively new but now deteriorating African institutions of higher education. John Hicks, from the Bureau for Africa at the…

If the purpose of industry is the good of society or of the planet as a whole, then how does higher education meet the needs of industry, particularly in the United Kingdom? Industry needs a trained work force of high quality recruits who are both educated and morally and environmentally aware. However, in the current debate over moral training,…

This brief describes political challenges to systemic reform and explores the conditions under which coherent policymaking might occur. A focus is the role of states in achieving policy integration. The first section describes political challenges to systemic reform, which include a lack of consensus on student standards, a focus on inputs and…

Noting that some public, school, law, academic, and special libraries have adopted marketing as a management tool, this paper begins by discussing marketing principles as defined by the American Marketing Association (AMA). Librarians are advised to center their marketing activities around what is known as the "4 P's" of marketing:…

Following the Kentucky Supreme Court's 1989 ruling that declared the state's common school system unconstitutional, lawyers and educators sued the state legislature for failure to provide an efficient school system. The role of litigation and lawyers in Kentucky education reform is examined in this paper. Part 1 describes how a group of lawyers…

Indepth studies of micropolitics at the school level are presented in this book, which includes nine qualitative studies of school politics conducted by different researchers. Chapters 2 through 10 examine the formal and informal processes and structures that constitute everyday political life in the schools. The studies explore how individuals…

Educational clinics, as defined by Washington State law, are private organizations that teach basic academic skills and provide employment orientation in an individualized way to high school dropouts aged 13 to 19. The Educational Clinics Program was authorized by the state legislature in 1977, after extensive lobbying by members of a private firm…

This paper discusses: (1) the link between the conservative education policies of Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher and conservative educational thinking; (2) political, economic, and sociological conservative theories; and (3) characteristics of conservative thinking in education. The extent to which conservatives hold congruent or distinctive…

A historical overview of political events in Illinois that led to the establishment and implementation of a performance accountability system, school report cards, is presented in this report. The discussion shows that although statewide events influenced policymakers, local conditions and ethos also affected the result. The educational…

This publication provides detailed guidelines on how libraries and library associations can begin the process of lobbying in the state capital for funding or legislation. The first of three major sections covers how to use the legislative process, how to develop a government relations program, and how to select public relations tools. The second…