This document contains six essays examining the history and impact of the social security program on America's economic and social development. "Social Security: The Cornerstone of American Social Welfare Policy," by Malcolm H. Morrison, presents brief background information on the system and discusses the basic principles of social…

This report describes a technique for establishing relative priorities among policy issues that have been systematically identified in and extracted from written documents. The method involves assigning values to five factors that affect an issue's priority. These factors are: uncertainty, or the degree to which information is lacking; imminence,…

The report examines chronic illness in children and considers issues and recommendations for change in public policies and programs affecting chronically ill children and their families. The background chapter notes the significance of the problem, reviews 11 diseases that are representative of the severe chronic illnesses of childhood: juvenile…

In response to the growing dropout problem, most of the northeastern states (and islands) and many of their local districts have implemented policies and programs designed to reduce the number of students leaving school. This paper presents some observations, culled from various reports, for policymakers' consideration. Section I offers a set of…

A citizens' agenda for the President concerning the establishment of national priorities, proposed of increased federal spending, and the reduction of the federal deficit through budget cuts or increased revenues was developed by the Roosevelt Center for American Policy studies through their sponsorship of a series of Presidential Agenda Forums at…

This paper examines the need for telecommunications and international trade policies in the Information Age and presents a model for developing such policies. The first of seven sections discusses the need for an Information Age Model, and the technological changes that are giving rise to increasingly integrated Information Age networks are…

This report is one of a series by the General Accounting Office that summarizes major policy, management, and program issues facing agency heads in the Bush administration. Many concerns have been identified, some new, others long-standing. This report on the Department of Agriculture describes concerns about the following six issues: (1)…

This paper explores philosophical and procedural policy issues surrounding the introduction and development of a job enlargement form of career ladder. Acceptance, meaningful work, meaningful compensation, and job security without institutionalization comprise the philosophical issues that the school board and community, building level and central…

Classical liberalism shapes white Americans' attitudes toward government policies concerning blacks. Classical liberalism views society as competitive; government serves as a guarantor of fair competition. The rules of fairness in a competitive marketplace require no arbitrary exclusion from competition and no arbitrary denial of the fruits of…

This paper explores how basic principles of child development can be used to guide the formation and evaluation of educational policies. Child development principles are those beliefs that, predicated on empirical research, have developed over time. They are generally accepted by child development specialists as the minimum elements necessary for…

Three citizen advisory boards, designed to advise elected officials on how federal money should be spent locally, were examined. The Comprehensive Employment and Training Act (CETA) Planning Council, the Citizen's Task Force on Community Development Block Grants (two groups mandated by federal legislation), and the Human Services Commission (a…

Both the Family Impact Analysis and the Family Protection Act are perceived by governmental decision makers as pseudo-agenda items; thus, neither issue is being actively or seriously considered. The Family Impact Analysis and the concept of a Family Impact Statement (inspired but not modeled after the environmental impact statement) received an…

In the game-like world of competitive tournament debating, fiat power is simply another rule of the game, a way of saying "hypothetically" or "for the sake of argument let us assume this affirmative plan to be implemented." While fiat power is just a way of saying "let's pretend," there are limits to the pretense. For…

Investigates the relationship of teaching styles, the faculty's perception of college goals, satisfaction, influence over policy issues, and organizational characteristics, and the teaching effectiveness of community college divisions. (Editor/PG)

It is essential that testing personnel devise methods to communicate understandable and usable information about the effects of schooling to the public. (Author)