Following the 2002 work of economist Henry Levin, who laid out a framework for evaluating school vouchers, we provide an updated framework involving four major goals: equity, efficiency, accountability and democratic goals. We review what is known from recent research around these four major areas under today's voucher programs. We raise questions…

This paper provides an analysis of government-supported workforce development programs in the United States and selected states as of the end of 2024. We provide an overview of the topic of workforce development, defining this to include activities and funding mechanisms that aim to increase the skills of workers and help them succeed in the labor…

Over the past three decades, governments have recurrently intervened in higher education. Over time, significant changes have occurred in inherited national governance modes. These reforms have been assessed in different ways, such as by emphasising the shift to the more supervisory role of the State, or the increasing privatisation and…

The use of active learning pedagogies gives students a more applied experience and aids in the retention of material, improvement of critical thinking, and overall student satisfaction. Among these pedagogies, long-form (complex, extended) simulations provide an excellent vehicle for teaching students about the legislative process. However, these…

It is widely agreed that the availability of high quality evidence does not translate readily into influence over policy decisions. This insight has generated long-running debates about the most effective way to 'bridge the gap' between policy research and policymaking, and to increase policy research 'uptake'. The proposed remedies (for example,…

The use of robust research findings in public health policy has been strongly encouraged for bridging the evidence-policy gap. To assess and further promote evidence uptake, understanding how research evidence is being used by decision makers is very important. This systematic review examined primary studies exploring the use of research evidence…

Background: Debates about evidence-based policy (EBP) were revived in the UK in the 2010s in the context of civil service reform and changing practices of policy making, including institutionalisation of public participation in science policy making. Aims and objectives: This paper aims to explore this revival of interest in EBP in the context of…

Equitable education requires racially, and economically integrated schools staffed by skilled teachers who are adequately prepared to teach in diverse classrooms. This summary includes best practices reflecting the concerted efforts of communities across the country working to pursue integrated communities reflecting the rich diversity in the…

Employing a social justice framework, this book provides educational leaders and practitioners with tools and strategies for grappling with the political fray of education politics. The framework offers ways to critique, challenge, and alter social, cultural, and political patterns in organizations and systems that perpetuate inequities. The…

This path-breaking addition to the Comparative Politics of Education series studies the influence of public opinion on the contemporary politics of education reform in Western Europe. The authors analyze new data from a survey of public opinion on education policy across eight countries, and they also provide detailed case studies of reform…

Through a qualitative hermeneutic phenomenological study, I examined the intersection of document analysis, sensemaking and policy implementation, that revealed rich descriptions of situated policy contexts and nested working practices where policy actors from Ontario, Canada, and England, UK, translated and used career guidance policy documents.…

Universities and higher education institutions (HEIs) aim to provide the maximum support for the community. Hence, to obtain the optimum results, the educational policies must be in alignment with the societies' needs and prerequisites. The present research investigated the undergraduates' expectations of studying at university and the fulfillment…

External quality assurance of higher education is possibly the most significant emergent policy within the higher education sector in recent times. This paper examines policy enactment in Samoa, highlighted in the relational tension between the national university and the national external quality assurance body. Research findings indicate that…

The Congressional Research Service (CRS) is the nonpartisan research and analytical arm of the U.S. Congress and is physically and structurally located within the Library of Congress. Despite the role of CRS as a critical information provider and technical assistant to actors crafting and implementing federal policy, CRS reports, which serve as a…

This paper is about the politics of policy knowledge production. It calls for spaces to be forged to allow teachers' voices to have centre stage in knowledge creation and production. Specifically, this paper discusses the need for alternative ways of conducting educational research so that power in research design is utilised as a capacity for…