Numerous actors influence how educational policies play out in practice, but this does not mean that policies themselves are without power. Policies are crafted and enacted in part because they serve as signal and symbol: How a policy is formally codified establishes expectations, exerts norming influence, and catalyzes shifts in how issues are…

Public officials are increasingly contracting with the private sector for a range of educational services. With much of the focus on private sector accountability on cost-effectiveness and student performance, less attention has been given to shifts in democratic accountability. Drawing on data from the state of New York, one of the most active…

Courts hearing school finance reform cases have recently begun to consider several issues related to standards-based accountability policies. This convergence of school finance reform litigation and standards-based accountability policies represents a chance for the courts to reallocate decision-making authority for each type of reform across the…

The focus of this study is on higher education policy analysts and the competencies they employ to perform their work. The research focuses on responses from a U.S. sample of policy analysts to (a) define a meaningful list of competencies for higher education policy analysts and (b) empirically test whether those competencies meaningfully…

No Child Left Behind (NCLB) requires that two accountability strategies--raising standards and public pressure through publicizing performance data--be implemented simultaneously. However, when coupled, they may produce an inappropriate consequence for public opinion. The public may misunderstand the drop in achievement that occurs when the bar is…

When courts engage in educational policymaking through what is called "public law litigation," they set foot in unsettled territory. Framing the authors' work in legal studies literature, this article relays how one court engaged in a sweeping reform of special education in Chicago and teacher certification in the entire state of…

Although theorists and policy makers agree that schooling should be democratic, what this exactly means often varies. This article establishes a conceptual model for analyzing education policy in democratic societies, based on the key concepts of equality, diversity, participation, choice, and cohesion. The model facilitates the design,…

Administrators, particularly those who engage in instructional leadership, play a key role in school improvement. Past research describes the types of activities instructional leaders engage in but has paid little attention to how they do it. The authors use the case of one school to unpack instructional leadership as a practice, paying close…

This article examines the relationship between the mathematical knowledge of 438 K-8 California teachers and the demographics of the schools in which they work. To measure mathematical knowledge, we used a series of multiple-choice problems meant to represent both the content teachers teach and the specialized knowledge of mathematics that…

Analyzes factors to consider when forging policy linkages among systemic reform, equity, and school finance reform. Discusses concepts of equity and adequacy and their relationship to school finance litigation. Proposes a policy-linkage model that illustrates connections among policy-making bodies, systemic reform initiatives, and various finance…