This article features two documents which can serve as a starting point for a lesson on public service while students debate the amount of pay that public servants should receive. These are: (1) the printed draft of the Constitution showing George Washington's handwritten corrections that eliminated state payments and included the phrase "to be…

Offers an interpretive chronology of the wavering 1934 to 1975 Chicago "Tribune" commitment to spelling simplification; lists the words involved in the spelling experiment and notes public reaction to the experiment. (GT)

The driving force in federal licensing has been the combined political interests of legislators desirous of obtaining valuable prerogatives over the assignment of frequencies; incumbent broadcasters, ever vigilant in restricting new entry into broadcasting; and "public interest" lobbyists, whose self-interests lay in politicizing the…

The 1879 Post Office Act created the four categories of mailable matter used today and, in part, signalled the emergence of the modern mass circulated magazine. Between 1863 and 1879, Congress liberalized the terms on which regular periodicals could use the mails and put newspapers and magazines on the same footing. Requiring payment of postage at…

In this account of the drafting of the Evaluation Research Society (ERS) Standards, the author notes that the committee was concerned not only with a broad range of evaluation applications, but also with different forms of evaluation. The absence of specificity in the standards reflects the committee's steering between opposing views. (Author/LC)

Reviews historical events leading up to creation of the journal and observations of course journal has followed since that time. Steady growth in proportion of empirical articles and dramatic rise in proportion of process-outcome studies symbolize division's continuing need for unity of thought. (Author/BEF)

This analysis of First Amendment rights for the electronic media recounts the stories of the broadcasting/cable industry must-carry compromise of 1986 and the failed codification of the Fairness Doctrine in 1987. It is noted that these cases were peculiar because, in each instance, the most powerful media in the country willingly sought abridgment…

This paper opens with a brief discussion of what some have seen as an unusual threshold decision by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to establish a broadcast high definition television (HDTV) system. It then identifies the spectrum and standards tradeoffs which are posed by the establishment of a HDTV broadcast transmission standard,…

Traces historical development of the John M. Wing foundation on the History of Printing beginning with its benefactor, John M. Wing, through the contributions of its custodians: Pierce Butler, 1920-31; Ernst F. Detterer, 1931-47; and James M. Wells, 1951-84. Focus is on the formulation and application of the collecting policy. (75 references)…

Institutional factors that constrain the Congress's use of evaluation research are illustrated by a case history of congressional deliberations about the Professional Standards Review Organization program. Guidelines for researchers who would like to make their work more useful in the policymaking process are proposed. (Author/BW)

Reviews the history of vocational training policy from the establishment of the European Economic Community in the Treaty of Rome in 1957 to the Treaty of Maastricht, which created the European Union in 1992. Discusses the evolution from a centralized legislative approach to a more user-oriented approach promoting mobility. (Contains 40…

The author asserts that educational research in Britain has historically acted largely to ease implementation of policies already determined on political grounds and that this concern for "obvious relevance" resulted in a severe narrowing of research initiatives. He suggests that educational researchers take a more formative role in…

Examines the federal legislative and information policy leadership roles of the American Library Association (ALA). Highlights include the ALA legislative policy structure today, lobbying in the public interest, resources for successful lobbying, effective lobbying techniques, lobbies and organizational theory, ALA lobbying style, and the White…

The policies initiated by broadcasters for campaign coverage during the 1924 presidential election influenced the treatment of political candidates on the air and helped set the stage for inclusion of the equal opportunities clause in the Radio Act of 1927. AT&T, RCA, and General Electric formed policies to treat candidates fairly in…

An emphasis on efficiency among public school superintendents did not emerge full-blown at the end of the nineteenth century, as Callahan argues, but was a basic tenet of earlier public school development and reform. This interest in providing economical and socially efficient institutions is crucial to understanding American education. (IS)