A school board that initiates policies can ensure that these policies are consistent with their mission, goals, and other policies. This article supplies a 22-item checklist of questions developed by the Michigan Association of School Boards to help board members tackle the policymaking process, from origins to adoption and oversight. (MLH)

Scientific fraud is often a result of misguided attempts to attain professional success. To prevent fraud in nursing research, researchers should be socialized in an atmosphere of professional integrity, have established researchers as role models, and be rewarded for quality rather than quantity. (SK)

Praises Harold Silver's book "Education, Change, and the Policy Process" for its complex, thoughtful essays justifying the use of history to make informed educational policy. Questions Silver's strong focus on top policymakers and his failure to acknowledge policymakers' usual reliance on intuition and ordinary knowledge, not scholarly studies.…

Progress toward rural development has been hampered by flawed views of rural America; serious limitations to existing social and economic data on sparsely populated areas; treatment of rural America as a geographical entity unconnected to the larger U.S. economy and society; perceived lack of feasible political solution to rural problems; and…

Describes the economic and societal perspectives of information and its importance to society by analyzing the nature of the information sector. A new classification model of the information economy is proposed, and implications for policy decision making in an information society are suggested. (25 references) (LRW)

Although telecommunications technology is transforming almost every sector of American society, education still reflects the industrial age. We are approaching a time when a publicly financed and managed satellite-based communications network dedicated to educational purposes is in the nation's best interest. Key national educators must join the…

The paper describes rehabilitation services provided by the Royal National Institute for the Blind (United Kingdom), focusing specifically on its Employment Rehabilitation Centers. Current vocational rehabilitation policy of the Institute is described, and a study in progress to determine the Institute's role in future programs is discussed.…

Examples from Canada and the United States are used to explore social values such as individualism vs. collectivism; definition and solution of social problems; social construction of the "crisis" of aging; and public debate and moral discourse as a process for developing public policy. (SK)

Photonovels, based on empowerment education, feminist theory, and documentary photography, enable people with little money, power, or status to communicate needed changes to policymakers. Use of the process with 62 rural Chinese women shows how it contributes to changed consciousness and policy formation. (SK)

Proposes an alternative strategy to link, through health care policy initiatives, the large existing infrastructure in continuing medical education (CME) to institution- and community-based programs designed to achieve optimum patient outcomes and resource consumption. (Author)

The style of most public university governing boards is perfunctory policymaking, when it should be concerned with making dynamic improvements to create a more responsive institution. Many public university trustees are simply unaware of the sweeping nature of their governance responsibilities, and many important issues never show up on board…

Outlines the federal legislative and regulatory processes concerning student financial aid, with the objective of encouraging participation in modification of the rules by which schools, lenders, servicers, and guaranty agencies must administer Title IV (Higher Education Act) financial aid. Topics discussed include authorization/reauthorization,…

Discusses the need for library directors to have micromanagement skills and presents five scenarios of problems that need micromanagement. Topics include knowing when to intervene, the need for strong personnel policies, relationships with councils and trustees, and the need for continuing education in management skills. (LRW)

Policies affecting school technology exist at federal, state, and local governmental levels. This article describes a cyclical process to guide policy formation once goals have been formulated. Steps include collecting data, determining the guidance needed, identifying resources, setting priorities, developing policy, and evaluating the policy…

Addresses the role that research can and should play in shaping standards, by distinguishing between values and research problems, and by calibrating appropriate expectations for research. Illustrates research contributions to current debates with brief summaries of some findings that are relevant to the standards set by the National Council of…