In 2022, New Mexico joined the list of states that adopted a statewide promise program, offering tuition and fee assistance for eligible students to pursue higher education. The New Mexico Opportunity Scholarship (NMOS) differs from existing programs by including part-time and summer enrollment, academic and workforce degrees, and older adult…

In this essay, we explore the importance of state financial aid programs for both states and the students they serve. Effective state financial aid policy benefits from rigorous research that engages partners from a variety of roles, such as state agencies, legislative staff, and intermediary organizations. It also benefits from the engagement of…

Two-year colleges are trying to change legislators' perceptions about their institutions, demanding increased state support, and working together to lobby as a state system rather than as individual institutions. (MSE)

Fearing a federal court in Oklahoma might end a state-financed merit-scholarship program targeted by a discrimination lawsuit, black legislators passed a bill making the program race and gender neutral. State regents are criticized for failing to develop effective policy to remedy past discrimination. (MSE)

Interviews with state legislators from Wisconsin (D. Bezruki), Massachusetts (T. P. Kennedy), and Virginia (P. Leone) illustrate the roles that evaluation is playing in the current state budget crisis. The influence of evaluation data appears largely specific to individual programs rather than systematically applied to the budgeting process. (SLD)

A major challenge facing state policymakers who are demanding a high level of accountability in education is to design an accountability mechanism to track educational reform. The structure and uses of eight exemplary approaches to accountability are examined, resulting in a set of design characteristics for state accountability mechanisms. (TJH)

Events leading to the passage in 1984 of Arizona's bilingual education law are examined using interviews with policy elite and concepts developed by D. E. Mitchell and others (1985) for studying distinctive cultures of state educational policymaking. Passage of a mandatory or more comprehensive law was not likely. (SLD)

Characterizes resource-allocation patterns across states and across districts within states using data on financial allocations to estimate the relationship between differences in state aid allocation policies and practices, district financial and demographic influences, and district-level allocation of financial and human resources. (Contains 46…

Describes a grassroots organization of 500 educators from Massachusetts who attempted to influence their legislature to provide more funding for computers. Discusses the attempt to inform the legislators and the problems involved in the project. (MVL)

Characteristics of evaluative studies used by California state legislators are discussed: specificity in addressing particular policy decisions; factors which contribute to or hinder the accomplishment of educational objectives; balanced studies with a range of indicators; and attention to local concerns, and to fiscal and legal issues. (MH)

This article provides an overview of policymaking in relation to state and local district testing and accountability and concludes by identifying continuing policy issues and strategies for local implementation of standards-based secondary education that aligns with current testing and accountability policies. Governance models for curriculum…