Social workers are making a name for themselves in national politics. Senators Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) and Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) have MSW degrees. The current chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, Karen Bass (D-CA), also has an MSW. Having social workers in elected office allows the profession to directly address the Grand Challenges of the 21st…

Public institutions in the United States face a policy challenge to adapt to accountability expectations among a variety of stakeholders (Bogue & Hall, 2012; Thelin, 2004; Richardson & Martinez, 2009). Among the major stakeholders are state legislators who hold fiscal and policy influence over public institutions, but these leaders have…

Lynette Brown-Snow, vice president of marketing and government relations for the Community College of Philadelphia, is one of several community college leaders across the country who have taken up one of the challenges proffered by the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC) in its 2012 report, "Reclaiming the American Dream:…

"The Achiever" is a monthly publication for parents and community leaders. Each issue contains news and information about school improvement in the United States. Highlights of this issue include: (1) President Signs College Cost Reduction Act; (2) Galvanizing the Community: Charter Schools Provides Greater Choice to Colorado Latinos…

The nation faces a youth citizenry that is disengaged and lacks the necessary knowledge, skills and dispositions to participate in and carry out their civic duties. This ECS Policy Brief summarizes the state-level goals and accomplishments of the Youth Legislative Engagement project and is intended for state policymakers, education leaders and…

Data gathered in a study of news coverage of the parttime Indiana and fulltime Michigan state legislatures were used to determine if source use in stories, portrayals of lawmakers and of the legislature as a whole, and topic coverage varied with the length of the legislative session. A content analysis was conducted of the 111 stories written by…

The purpose of this study was to investigate communication similarities and differences between the male and female representatives in the present session of the Michigan House of Representatives, in four aspects of communication behavior: allocation of communication time, floor debate, committee deliberation, and constituent communication. The…

A new survey by the Virginia Council of Higher Education found that five states have imposed a ceiling on the number of out-of-state students who can attend their public institutions. Many people fear that their own state students are being denied admission because of nonresident applicants. (MLW)

This report of the Special Senate Committee To Study the Training of Michigan Teachers is composed of selected excerpts from the testimony, categorized into areas of special concern, which point out current problems and raise possible future solutions for each of the areas. The document is divided into 11 chapters: (a) History of the Special…

A Michigan State senator discusses institutional relationships with the state legislature and communication problems between institution and government that interfere with policy and budgeting processes. (MSE)

Child care policymakers in Ontario and Michigan were compared in a study of provincial and state political processes and structures that affect child welfare. The two regions were selected due to similarities in their demographic characteristics, economic structures, and Anglo-American cultural commitments. The rationale for the study was that an…

Purpose of Michigan State University's Project 90 Priority Assessment was to extract, synthesize, and delineate a series of potential initiatives for public higher education in Michigan that reflect the key proposals of recent state and national studies. The study sought to compare the priorities of state legislators and officials with those of…

This report examines the current status of federal and state involvement in educational personnel development. First, it describes the federal legislative process, and offers a list of members of Congressional committees dealing with education legislation. Next, it analyzes involvement of the U.S. Office of Education and of individual states in…