Mr. Summerfield first provides a descriptive analysis of the structure and dynamics of the federal policy process for educational decisionmaking in the lobbies, the Congress, and the administration. Substantive material in the next three chapters is followed by a more general conceptualization and a theoretical perspective of the operations of the policy process. Chapter 6 concludes this first part by assessing the limits of the use of the federal policy process for making American education policy. Part II highlights three major aspects of the policy process that are not treated fully in Part I. In a first essay, John McDermott examines the role of the federal judiciary in education policymaking. He offers arguments about why the federal judiciary is limited in its education policy role. A second essay, by James W. Guthrie, examines the economics behind the appropriations process and the means by which federal dollars are allocated annually to education provisions authorized by law. Finally, Jack H. Schuster provides an examination of the relation of electoral politics to the legislative life of Representative John Brademas, a congressman who has built a career on education affairs. (Author)