The federal role in higher education has grown over the past two decades, and now a new administration has the opportunity to strengthen policies that support students and their colleges and universities. To help inform these decisions, the Urban Institute convened a bipartisan group of scholars and policy advisers to write a series of memos…

This descriptive study of a change initiative by the Syracuse (NY) City School District informs the question, "How do school boards and districts better use research and data to inform policy decisions?" Researchers used interviews and artifacts to describe how the district developed and implemented a new discipline policy, the Syracuse…

The paper examines demographic information sources and utilization as determinants of educational policy making in South West Nigeria. Using validated and structured questionnaire, the study population of 398 officers in the ministries of education in the affected states were enumerated. The study establishes population census, vital registration,…

In the wake of the financial crisis, trustees of many endowed nonprofit institutions realized that their portfolio was riskier than they thought and their own ability to tolerate loss wasn't as strong as they imagined. What can board and investment committee members do to improve their ability to assess their--and their institution's--capacity for…

Evidence-based policy-making and other recent reforms in public steering emphasize the role systematic evidence can play in improving decision making and public policies. Increasing deficits heighten the pressure on public authorities to legitimate public spending and to find savings. Existing studies show that the influence of research-based…

In the policy making process, one of the important steps is the consideration of the consequences deriving from the alternative choices. For the case of information policy, the present research has begun the development of a methodology for doing so. The methodology chosen was modeling. Information policy modeling serves the dual purposes of…

Explains how it is that the fruits of educational research and analysis, so insistently sought by Washington policy-makers, are so inefficiently used. Change will not occur in the manner originally envisioned: where a clear research result will quickly convert a set of coolly rational policy-makers. (Author/IRT)

Policy Implications Analysis (PIA) is a tool designed to maximize the likelihood that an evaluation report will have an impact on decision-making. PIA was designed to help people planning and conducting evaluations tailor their information so that it has optimal potential for being used and acted upon. This paper describes the development and…

Through a review and integration of heretofore rather distinct literatures, this paper develops preliminary conceptual frameworks of the variables affecting the acquisition and utilization of technical information by administrative agencies. (Author/IRT)

Draws attention to an existing methodology for handling decision-making in a typical planning situation of interrelated alternatives and data deficiency, and describes several important extensions that have recently been made to it. (Oriel Press Limited, 32 Ridley Place, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 8LH, Great Britain, $7.00 yearly.) (Author)

Planning means knowing what you wish to do, developing a program to do it, and anticipating the context in which you will have to act. The role of the planning official is to point out options and consequences, not to take responsibility for any policy or pattern of decision. (Author/WM)

Discussion of decision making focuses on a study that was conducted to examine how policymakers at the local community level use social science information in making decisions. The use of social science information and other information sources in two communities examining health care issues is described. (Contains 18 references.) (LRW)

It has been argued that the answer to public and political demands for a more responsive educational system lies in the practice of accountability. The future implementation of program budgeting may offer an attractive vehicle for accountability. Currently, many California school districts use the California Educational Information System (CEIS)…

A system for developing public policy indicators would include social, economic, and environmental statistics which would define problems facing a political community. Policy indicator variables center around the broad needs of policy. Any measure of human conditions, including sources outside the basic disciplines, are used; intervals of…

Defines the technology assessment (TA) movement as an attempt to link research and policy-making communities in federal government. Decision oriented, TA is used to: (1) identify problems, issues, and applicable technologies, (2) establish relevant effects and impacts, and (3) develop and evaluate policy and decision alternatives. Procedures and…