Reports on a study designed to define the demographic and career characteristics and the values of lawmakers in the United States and Canada. Discusses how this information was used to predict policy decisions. (TW)

Using North Carolina state legislators, investigates alternative explanations of sources of rural-urban differences in activities of political elites. Examines influence measures of legislative position, power, and decision-making. (AH)

The nine articles of this theme issue provide overviews of legislative program evaluation and demonstrate the tensions caused by the conflict between utility and rigor in such evaluations. Legislative evaluation is concerned with evaluation utilization because legislators commission evaluations they expect to use. (SLD)

Students can learn great lessons when placed in decision-making roles. Simulating a Senate confirmation hearing can give students a glimpse of how government works and a chance to evaluate historical figures and issues. Any simulation, however, is an imperfect imitation of a real event. Having to make a decision based on incomplete information…

The Institute for Educational Leadership works with a volatile combination--legislators and educators--and with results that show both the better for it. (Editor)

Examination of Indiana state legislators' dependence on various mass media and interpersonal sources for information about their constituents reveals a relatively stable use of mass communication sources and a surprising role for radio. Tenure apparently is unrelated to information search for situations examined in this study. (Author/MBR)

This paper describes the development of a parliamentary research service in Egypt. The first part investigates the impact on the Egyptian parliament (the People's Assembly) of the development of a new social and cultural environment that fostered the democratization process. The second part deals with how the establishment of a parliamentary…

The strategies presented in this report are suggested as ways to make decision makers at all levels of education more aware of the benefits of educational technology (ET) in improving the effectiveness, efficiency, and enjoyment of learning. These strategies emphasizing results and learning are provided, not to limit any person or group, but to…

In the past few years, the concept of local control of public education through elected school boards has been superseded by legislation mandating other forms of citizen involvement in educational decision-making. Specifically Alberta's enactment of the Department of Education Act and approval of Operational Plans for Early Childhood Services…

This guide for changing public opinion concerning physical education is divided into four sections: The first, "Setting the Stage" tells how the various governments are organized, and the processes which turn public opinion into public policy. Future trends in the federal, state, and local role in funding public education are discussed. An…

Efforts of the 96th Congress to use evaluation data in considering whether to change policies about reimbursement for psychotherapy services. (Author/BW)

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)

Reporters' perceived concern for their editors' news priorities and their own role self-concepts were examined for their effects on how reporters covering the Indiana State Assembly used diverse sources of information. Subjects, 34 reporters and 39 state senators, were surveyed concerning their contacts with each other during the 1982 legislative…

Presentations are on the five topics of functional models of institutional research: (1) and the political scene; (2) at public and private colleges and universities; (3) for improving communications between institutional researchers and data processors; (4) for deriving qualitative decisions from quantitative data; and (5) for special interest…

In 2006, the input of scientists, economists, and private industry representatives inspired nearly unparalleled bipartisan support in Washington state for the formation of a Department of Early Learning. This new cabinet-level department consolidates three separate agencies, provides universal preschool for all children in Washington, and…