Since passage of the federal No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) in 2002, state departments of education across the U.S. have been busy creating or modifying school accountability systems to meet NCLB guidelines. Ultimately, NCLB seeks to have all public school students proficient in English/Language Arts and mathematics by 2014. To identify schools…

This paper employs the difference-in-differences empirical strategy and quantile regressions to analyze the effects of sorting and mixing on the academic performance of high school students in South Korea. In Korea, about half of high schools are subject to the equalization policy (EP), and must therefore passively accept students randomly…

For decades sociologists, criminologists, political scientists and socio-legal scholars alike have focused on the symbolic and instrumental dimensions of law in examinations of the effects of social reform and policy implementation. Following in this tradition, we focus on the relationship between hate crime policy and hate crime reporting to…

This paper describes three multigrade school reforms in Latin America: (1) Colombia's "Escuela Nueva", (2) Guatemala's "Nueva Escuela Unitaria", and (3) Chile's MECE-Rural. Each reform endowed primary teachers and students with special training and instructional materials, and encouraged new kinds of instruction in rural…

According to Swedish legislation as well as laws pertaining to disabled citizens, Swedish schools are to be accessible for all children and adolescents. This implies that disabilities of any type must not be allowed to prevent students from completing their schooling on their own terms. The purpose of this research was to study the degree to which…

This article asserts that although there has been a consistently increasing demand on both the national and state levels for alignment of resources (inputs) to improved student outcomes (outputs), the lack of a systematic and well-defined policy portfolio has limited reform effectiveness. This article specifically examines the overreliance on…

This paper draws on recent work by John Clarke and Janet Newman and their colleagues to analyse a relatively coherent governmental project, spanning the decades of Conservative and New Labour government in England since 1979, that has sought to render teachers increasingly subservient to the state and agencies of the state. Under New Labour this…

In 1957, 12 years after the end of World War II, the Ministry of Education issued Circular 323 to promote the development of an element of "liberal studies" in courses offered by technical and further education (FE) colleges in England. This was perceived to be in some ways a peculiar or uncharacteristic development. However, it lasted…

Asserts that academic feminists who argue on behalf of a women-centered policy analysis have raised several vital points, but that the forms of persuasion on which they rely are not productive of the policy changes they seek. Suggests that to ensure that policy analysis is conducted as if gender mattered, women-centered analysts need to avoid the…

Replies to Haithe Anderson's critique of their conceptualization of feminist critical analysis. Reaffirms and elaborates on what makes conventional policy analysis incapable of undoing the power asymmetries that characterize relations between male and female academics. (EV)

Argues for a context-sensitive understanding of plagiarism by analyzing a set of written institutional policies and suggesting ways that they might be revised. Offers examples of classroom practices to help teach a concept of plagiarism as situated in context. Concludes that plagiarism is an area where students need access to their teacher's…

Explores the changes that England's Family Law Bill is undergoing. Discusses whether the 12-month period of child protection is adequate when parents are divorcing. Suggests that children should be provided with information about the divorce process, and that parents should have regard to children's views when making decisions. Claims that…

Public management scholars often claim that agency competition provides an effective institutional check on monopoly authority, and hence, leads to improvement of administrative performance in public sector agencies. This logic was central for creating the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) in 1975 to challenge the policy information provided by…

Precautionary principles have been proposed as a fundamental element of sound risk management. Their advocates see them as guiding action in the face of uncertainty, encouraging the adoption of measures that reduce serious risks to health, safety, and the environment. Their opponents may reject the very idea of precautionary principles, find…

Basic research can inform social policy in a number of ways. First, it can draw the attention of policy makers to problems. Second, it can deflect policy makers away from focusing on issues that are not really problems. Third, it can help policy makers understand whether or not factors are causally related to problems and the processes underlying…