A review of the literature reveals that a complete model, within a political framework, for what takes place when special interest groups and mass media interact does not exist. Since media access is more successful for groups with specific goals and resources, a model for the interaction of special interest groups and the mass media focuses on…

This paper presents a broad discussion of the historical, political, and philosophical aspects of school integration as embodied in the Brown decision of 1954. Segregated education is damaging to both whites and blacks. Thus, the Brown decision was beneficial for the majority group as well as for minorities. Historically, in fact, free public…

Case studies of attempts to implement accountability and assessment programs at Northeast Missouri State University and the University of Missouri, Columbia, illustrate the benefits and impacts of such programs. The programs variously incorporated demographic data, national standardized test results, and surveys of student attitudes. The American…

The purpose of this paper is to show how child care practitioners and public policymakers can function in the seemingly disparate and often overlapping roles of professional caregiver, participating advocate, and public policymaker. Described are: (1) the recent expansion of and anticipated future need for child day care programs, focusing on…

While much has been written about state-level textbook selection and adoption, little careful, systematic data gathering has taken place. One result of this absence of formal study is that few people understand the scope and complexity of interacting persons and processes taking place whenever states make textbook decisions. This paper presents…

The conventional way of thinking about politics keeps us from studying the important work that citizens must do to achieve political efficacy. Students learn the procedures of government as if politics were a spectator sport. While everyone learns about the politics of government, there is little discussion about the politics of the public. Unless…

In an effort to deal with a single aspect of a multifaceted interaction between technical and social discourse, this essay examines the movement of scientific discourse between the realms of politics and science. The paper addresses the effects on scientific methodology wrought by the Nazi employment of science as a basis for racial politics. The…

A case study examining the conflict between the University of Wisconsin (UW)-Madison and the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction (DPI) over who has decision-making authority over the content of the teacher education program is presented. Factors leading to the exacerbated struggle between UW-Madison and DPI are examined, noting Easton's…

This paper examined policy reform and conflict management in education. Specifically, the discussion focuses on expertise and experimentation as strategies of conflict management in Sweden and the Federal Republic of Germany. The course of events during the reform eras is traced. The fate of comparable policies under different political…

This paper discusses rural education in Vermont and the forces that influence the state's rural educational research agenda. The paper presents the recent history and current conditions at the University of Vermont (UVM), current demographic observations concerning Vermont's population, and special features about the state's educational…

The six studies collected in this book analyze the day-to-day realities of life in desegregated classrooms. The sites reported on range from New York to Memphis, and from the industrial Northeast to the Midwest and Deep South. They also vary by organization (elementary, middle, and high school), by the black-white ratio among students and faculty,…

This document comprises the General Accounting Office's (GAO) report to the House Subcommittee on Intergovernmental Relations concerning the GAO's review of the contract awarding process of the National Institute of Education (NIE) for fiscal year 1983. The review focused on 39 of NIE's 52 newly negotiated procurement contracts; a sample of…

Citing as a central focus of the Chinese government since the People's Republic of China was established in 1949, this paper presents a brief sociopolitical and historical description of China in the twentieth century and suggests reasons for its lack of modern development and low educational attainment as of 1949. The importance of education as a…

This paper considers a number of vested interest political forces that influence the course of educational reform. The discussion focuses first on the world of teacher education and some reform efforts emerging in that arena. Specific criticism is directed at suggestions made in the Holmes Group Report, pointing out the political hidden agenda…

Questions of how and why early childhood education has come to rely on a psychological perspective are examined and problematic aspects of the discourse of early childhood education are explored. An overview of the history of early education discusses the replacement of idealistic by pragmatic perspectives, the influence of Darwin's use of the…