In recent years, a new breed of political organizations has had remarkable influence in American educational policymaking. Proponents of neoliberal reform, these groups have been labeled as Education Reform Advocacy Organizations, or ERAOs. I situate these organizations within the larger network of Intermediary Organizations (IOs). To understand…

State implementation of new standards (revising, adapting, and adopting new standards) is a significant undertaking. Such an effort at the state level requires extensive support, planning, and resources. Implementing new state standards also requires the support of multiple education leaders--governors, legislators, state departments of education,…

College and career readiness has become a unifying principle for education reform leaders across the country. A majority of states have made it a top policy priority, with an increasing number of national foundations and education reform advocates supporting this work. To help state leaders build strategies for sustaining their education agendas…

The "Policy to Performance Toolkit" is designed to provide state adult education staff and key stakeholders with guidance and tools to use in developing, implementing, and monitoring state policies and their associated practices that support an effective state adult basic education (ABE) to postsecondary education and training transition…

A study examined state-level coordination of education and job training policy development in Massachusetts. Selected representatives of Massachusetts' four secretariats, 30-40 agencies, and governing and advisory councils/boards responsible for oversight of the commonwealth's education/training programs were interviewed. It was recommended that…

In April 2008, the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) contracted with the Educational Policy Improvement Center (EPIC) to facilitate a series of regional workshops and provide technical assistance to strengthen efforts to improve college readiness for all students. This final report summarizes these activities…

This speech begins with a discussion of broad social and political patterns and trends that are currently developing and continues to the specific unresolved social issues which will affect the nature and structure of educational systems. Those issues seen by the author is most likely to produce the greatest amount of activity are integration, the…

The Management Information System for Occupational Education (MISOE) supports policy formation at two levels. On the static level, MISOE provides managers with data about students, teachers, administrators, costs, and the social impacts of educational programs which are essential to the accurate analysis of present policy. On another level, the…

This report presents the fourth study conducted by the Massachusetts Early Childhood Advisory Council since its inception in 1985, an investigation focusing on how interagency collaboration occurs in local early childhood programs in Massachusetts and whether mandating interagency councils is effective in promoting collaboration. The report also…

The Massachusetts Board of Regents of Higher Education's tuition policy is designed to effectively promote rationality and equity and access, improve the margin for excellence via resources to support academic quality and institutional responsiveness, and permit greater public management accountability in public higher education. The policy builds…

As states work to provide public funds for early care and education programs, they need data on the current system to better provide a system that supports parents' need to work, promotes healthy child development, and ensures the educational quality of all early education and care programs. This report provides Massachusetts' policy makers with a…

This study of Massachusetts focuses on policymaking for the elementary and secondary schools at the State level. A systems framework is used to illustrate the impact of the govermental structure on and the economic, social and political context of the policies, roles, and relationships within the political process known as Massachusetts…

Legal and policy initiatives to achieve various tuition policy goals are proposed for the Massachusetts Board of Regents of Higher Education. The suggested tuition policy builds on the policy adopted by the Board in 1984. Details are provided on tuition and access, tuition and equity, the margin for excellence, tuition and fees, and…

Based on a study by the Department of Community Service Education, Cornell University, to evaluate human service planning (HSP) nationwide, this paper discusses the premises that HSP may be defined as community learning and that the community (according to the Robert Boyd and Jerold Apps model for adult education) is both a beneficiary of and…

Given a successful instance of public school desegration, this study examines some of the factors that may have contributed to the integration effort. The initial section provides an examination of the historical and socio-political milieu building a context by which various change agents such as pupil mobility, prior experience in limited or…