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…

Reading became a hotbed of policy activity during the 1990s with both state and federal policymakers launching major initiatives to raise reading achievement. When President George W. Bush introduced his Reading First initiative in early 2001, we saw a unique opportunity to investigate the policy processes, antecedents, and unplanned events…

Despite rosy economic news, highlighted by the 8.2 percent surge in the nation's economy in the third quarter of 2003, state coffers aren't growing at pace to meet the needs of schools and other high-priority programs such as Medicaid and prisons. Last month, many states started issuing estimates of how the money they'll have to spend in the 2005…

In this article, the authors explore this new level of tribal political sophistication and how the tribes sought to pressure state legislators by pursuing a public relation campaign centered on issues of economic interest and sovereignty. Though they have been unsuccessful in recent legislative sessions, there is evidence of a growing…

The intent of a liberal arts education is to expose students to a broad array of ideas and subject matter. Its perceived weakness involves the possible lack of preparedness for the workplace; a liberal arts education is deliberately not vocational. To bridge that divide colleges and universities, in cooperation with industry, non-profits, and the…

In 1999, the staff of the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission (JLARC) of the Virginia General Assembly (the state legislature) completed a review of the Virginia Board of Medicine that found problems with the process used to regulate physicians and recommended major changes to a system that had remained relatively unchanged for almost…

During the summer of 1787, when the delegates to the Constitutional Convention met in Philadelphia, the issue of representation in Congress was strongly debated. Delegates from the large states favored the Virginia Plan's proposal for two houses of Congress with representation based on population. Delegates from the small states favored equal…

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

Causes and effects are examined for recent cuts in the budgets of the Office of Education's Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE) and the National Institute of Education (NIE). Through interviews with agency executives the author finds new priority placed on selling themselves and their products to Congress. (JT)

While the California State Department of Education (SDE) holds the primary responsibility for the success of the California educational system, the Federal Government also supports state and local educational activities. The intent of this document is to assist local educators in understanding federal education programs and communicating with the…

The census is even more important today than it was 200 years ago. The census is taken to provide equal representation for everyone, and results provide figures for appointment and the distribution of federal funds. The enumeration of the population was included in the U.S. Constitution in Article I, Section 2. The constitutional order to…

A study examined how statehouse reporters covering the 1982 session of the Indiana General Assembly used information sources. Specifically, it focused on reporter reliance on key senate leaders, on the visibility of those senators in published stories, and on the institutional images transmitted in stories in which those and other senators were…

A study was conducted to determine the images of the media held by members of a state legislature. Specifically, it examined the legislators' perceptions of differences in print and broadcast news media performance, and differences in coverage of the legislature in the home district and on a statewide level. Questionnaires containing demographic…

Designed to assist legislators and legislative staff in using the New York State Library more effectively, this handbook provides a description of what the library is, what it has to offer, and how to use it. Specifically, sections are devoted to (1) the Library itself--general facts, descriptions, locations; (2) special services for the…

Comments from several U.S. Senators and Representatives who participated in the project summarize their personal evaluations of the usefulness of satellite videoconferencing with two-way interactive television in providing a new mechanism for informed dialogue between congressmen and constituents. The new technology is described in answers to the…