Adult learning policies, like any other policies, need to be effective: they need to reach their objectives and attain the desired impacts, which should be carefully defined. Understanding the performance of policies allows policy makers to change and improve them. A growing body of research and statistics provides important insights into how…

The Study of School Turnaround examines the improvement process in a purposive sample of 35 case study schools receiving federal funds through the School Improvement Grants (SIG) program over a three-year period (2010-11 to 2012-13 school years). This evaluation brief focuses on 11 of these SIG schools with high proportions of English Language…

Background/Context: Calls for evidence-based decision making have become increasingly prominent on the educational landscape. School district central offices increasingly experience these demands. Yet there are few empirical studies of evidence use at the district level. Furthermore, research on evidence use among policy makers in noneducation…

Purpose: To examine the role of power in interactive policymaking settings. Design/Methodology/Approach: A literature study is combined with four case studies relating to citizen participation in natural resource management and rural development in the Netherlands. Findings: Many of the identified problems and dilemmas of interactive policymaking…

In March 2009, the RAND Frederick S. Pardee Center for Longer Range Global Policy and the Future Human Condition hosted a workshop called "Shaping Tomorrow Today: Near-Term Steps Towards Long-Term Goals." The workshop gave policymakers and analysts an opportunity to explore new methods and tools that can help improve long-term decisionmaking. The…

This article examines the 11-year Soviet experiment with boys' schools as a way to cast new light on scholarly research and public debates about single-sex education. Drawing on archival and published materials by educators who described school conditions, identified problems, suggested reforms, and evaluated remedies, the author argues that…

Although the belief is strong in human service organizations that services should be coordinated to permit the resolution of the client's total problems, there is no consensus on what works best. To provide federal and state agency planners with information about research, trends, and issues in coordinating youth services at the state level, a…

This information paper provides employers, policymakers, and the general public with examples of innivative personnel policies and practices designed by private sector employers to increase employment opportunities for older workers. Part 1 is an introduction and overview. It defines the problems of the older worker and describes the National…

A comparative review of the literature on integration of handicapped children into ordinary schools across Western nations is presented. Implications for national policymaking and program implementation are discussed, based on programs in the United States, England, Italy, France, Switzerland, and Sweden. Case studies of integrated children with…

This report offers three broad suggestions for redefining how small town service delivery is examined. First, it uses a very broad definition of service delivery that encompasses revenue enhancement methods, expenditure reduction options, and innovative program arrangements. Second, it argues that three interrelated categories of research needs…

The work-based learning model of human resource development has captured a great deal of attention and has gained increasing importance in higher education in recent years. Work-based learning is a powerful phenomenon that attempts to help policy-makers, managers and curriculum developers improve the quality of the decision and organizational…

In 11 chapters, this book has been organized around the Concerns Based Adoption Model (CBAM), a sophisticated way to understand the change process and how participants experience it. This model provides ways for practitioners and policymakers to label change process phenomena, to take positive action in facilitating change, and to predict effects.…

Purpose: This paper sets out in the wider context of globalization to examine how and what specific reform strategies the Government of the Hong Kong special administrative region (HKSAR) has adopted in reforming its higher education system to enhance the competitiveness of its higher education in the increasingly globalizing economic context.…

This report presents a case study concerning the accomplishments of the Kansas City (Missouri) specialized magnet schools that were created to cure the low academic achievement of minority students and eliminate the racial isolation that existed. The plan sought to dramatically improve the facilities and programming of the city schools, the…

This policy research summary outlines the paradigms and processes used in recent research and evaluation studies conducted on supported employment and rehabilitation programs in Minnesota. First, the paper reviews evaluation strategies and models for assessing the individual and societal efficacy of supported employment. It identifies key…