Uses Cobb and Elder's theory of agenda setting in public policy arena to assess the politics and effects of school finance during the 1970s and 1980s. Four triggering mechanisms catapult issues to the formal policy agenda: unanticipated events, technological changes, ecological changes, and biases in resource distribution. Four categories of…

All local education authorities (school districts) should have a policy for management development. All staff who manage the work of other adults in school should receive the appropriate training as an entitlement; for many of the teachers involved the training should be school-based. Evaluation of training is also important and deserves greater…

Urges construction of a new analytical framework for communications policy researchers which explicitly weighs quantifiable economic efficiency criteria alongside nonquantifiable social values. Discusses market economics versus social value, the economics of idea production and distribution, an expanded policy framework, the role of the first…

Examines New Jersey school boards and investigates what factors affect whether boards operate according to a professional or political model and whether professional and political boards differ in their governance role. The majority of school boards adopt the professional orientation. However, board influence depends primarily on board acceptance…

Used Edwards-Nunnally method to investigate change rates from cohort of older adult outpatients (n=92). Cohort improvement rate was 51%, and deterioration rate was 5%. However, improvement rates for clients with major depression and adjustment disorders were greater than 70%. Change rates of student/staff therapists and of clients treated in…

Computer is exemplar of algorithmic knowledge, whose goal is control and total automation of human functions. Technicist thinking, belief in myth of technological progress, is blind to nature of knowledge and connections between knowledge and power. Computers promulgate technicist thinking by projecting controlled universe and reinforcing…

A review essay is presented of two curricular documents that establish guidelines for the planning and teaching of languages other than English, French, or Aboriginal in Ontario secondary schools. Some problems and inconsistencies are noted, but the guides are considered to be helpful. (13 references) (Author/LB)

Examination of the relationship between environmentalists and scientists concludes that environmentalism has had little impact on science. Topics discussed include the degree to which scientific research has become more applied; efforts to integrate and coordinate research projects; the synthesis of scientific information for policy purposes; and…

Changes in sizes and types of residential facilities for persons with mental retardation over the past two decades are discussed and interstate variability (as of June 1988) in residential services examined. Progress, though unevenly realized, is noted in numbers of small, community-based residential opportunities. Standards for federal policy are…

Several policy frameworks for managing hazardous waste import/export are examined with respect to economic issues, environmental sustainability, and administrative feasibility and effectiveness. Several recommendations for improving the present instrument and implementing process are offered. (Author/CW)

Three problems affecting the use of a modified scree test in analyzing Delphi survey data are discussed: (1) the adequacy of the criterion; (2) the complexity of decision making; and (3) the nature of the Delphi panel. Using the modified scree test with these considerations in mind is suggested. (SLD)

Because many key decisions affecting education's future will be made in the political arena, principals must become more politically involved and acquire the necessary skills to influence policy outcomes. To prepare for the public debate, principals must recognize that the present political culture favors open market competition, articulate a…

Concepts of identity and ethnicity, and their applicability to Europe through language, religious and cultural criteria are reviewed. It is noted that thoughts of an integrated Europe must acknowledge both behavioral and ethnographic approaches to difference and particularly the contrasts between dominance and difference theories. A European…

Presents the energy and environmental policymaking strategies of the European Community to regulate the consumption of energy. Strategies include the stabilization of carbon dioxide emissions, the creation of the European Environmental Agency, the implementation of the European Energy Charter, the SAVE Program, and economic and fiscal instruments…

In contrast to other East Asian countries, in Papua New Guinea the economy is stagnating due to high labor costs, overvalued currency, stagnant productivity, high government consumption, and barriers to external and internal investment and exports. (SK)