A growing number of schools across the country are working hard to provide a "deeper" learning experience for their students, and state legislators are being asked to create policies that support wide-scale implementation of 21st century learning practices. This primer is created for state policymakers seeking to modify instruction and…

The Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC) Statewide Survey provides policymakers, the media, and the public with objective, advocacy-free information on the perceptions, opinions, and public policy preferences of California residents. This is the 141st PPIC Statewide Survey in a series that was inaugurated in April 1998 and has generated a…

This paper is intended to provide a selection of easy to use resources and tools to enhance the effectiveness of a local senate president during ongoing budget conversations. It is not intended to provide a narrative description of budgets and budget process, nor a comprehensive listing of the many arcane rules that govern community college…

The tension at the heart of pension politics is the incentive to satisfy today's claimants in the here-and-now at the expense of long-term concerns. Rules and auditing standards are intended to tame this kind of short-sighted behavior in the private sector. In the public sector, the primary safeguard is the hope that public officials will not be…

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…

Designed to provide information for the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges' review of the state's Master Plan for Higher Education, this two-part report presents background on recent research on the community college mission and describes processes currently available to the Board to establish priorities within the mission.…

One of a series of papers resulting from a Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE) project to improve evaluation and planning in community colleges, this working paper presents the results of interviews with community college policymakers conducted to assess their views on matters such as non-governmental accreditation,…

Individual members of state legislatures wield the greatest influence in state level policy formation. This was one of the findings of a study that identified the power and influence context of state-level policymaking. Data were gathered from six states (Arizona, California, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Illinois) using an instrument…