Background: Elected members of the US Congress rely on staff, including fellows with scientific and engineering expertise, to find and interpret information for use in policymaking. Factors that impede, or facilitate, the communication of scientific information within the institution thus can play a critical role in legislative capacity, but there…

Public attitudes about juvenile crime play a significant role in fashioning juvenile justice policy; variations in the wording of public opinion surveys can produce very different responses and can result in inaccurate and unreliable assessments of public sentiment. Surveys that ask about policy alternatives in vague terms are especially…

Adult and Organizational Learning and Policy Development in Environments of Gray The purpose of this study was to describe, analyze and provide an understanding of the values that influence state legislators' decision-making as it relates to appropriations, tuition and fees, and financial aid for public postsecondary education in Idaho. The study…

Institutional factors that constrain the Congress's use of evaluation research are illustrated by a case history of congressional deliberations about the Professional Standards Review Organization program. Guidelines for researchers who would like to make their work more useful in the policymaking process are proposed. (Author/BW)

In the past few years, the concept of local control of public education through elected school boards has been superseded by legislation mandating other forms of citizen involvement in educational decision-making. Specifically Alberta's enactment of the Department of Education Act and approval of Operational Plans for Early Childhood Services…

Efforts of the 96th Congress to use evaluation data in considering whether to change policies about reimbursement for psychotherapy services. (Author/BW)

A case study illustrating the political influences on higher education in a hypothetical state is presented. Higher education became a target for reform by the state's governor, who expressed interest in the sharing of resources between institutions in close geographic proximity; supported the more extensive use of management tools as a means of…

This paper discusses pregnancy disability compensation policies. On December 7, 1976, the Supreme Court held in "General Electric v. Gilbert" that exclusion of pregnancy and pregnancy related disabilities from coverage under an otherwise comprehensive temporary disabilities plan was not a violation of Title VII's prohibition of…

Whether consensus existed among groups involved in implementing the Federal Rehabilitation Act of 1973 was examined through the Delphi technique for legislators, policymakers, directors of rehabilitation centers, and client training staffs. Different perceptions of objectives are highlighted, and the usefulness of the Delphi technique is…

The influence of the federal government budgetary process on international education programs is discussed, and information is provided to help persons who wish to have their views known to the decision-makers. Specific information is included on programs administered by the U.S. International Communication Agency (USICA) and the Department of…

In this paper, social science utilization is studied as an aspect of legislative decision making. The purposes of the paper are to provide a review of political science literature on state legislatures, offer a theoretical framework for interpreting utilization of social science research, apply the framework to interview data, and generate a…

Suggestions are presented to help vocational education programs become effective lobbyists: decide what you want, choose the appropriate forum, take a position, review current laws, know what is allowed, identify your leaders, form a network, cultivate legislative leaders, take part in hearings, provide information, testify, and build working…

Examines the organizational and political context of decisions directly related to the fate of the Library Services and Construction Act (LSCA) from 1980 to 1992. This decision-making environment is then analyzed in terms of political values, structures, and strategies. (Contains 59 references.) (Author/KRN)

The present study focused on possible linkages between (1) the global characteristics of Kansas with individual characteristics, voting behavior, and attitudes of the Kansas state senators; (2) the personal and attitudinal characteristics of senators with various educational policy outcomes; and (3) the structural features of the senatorial…

This research report describes an analysis of the ways state legislative policy makers in Arizona, California, and Oregon engage in the process of turning political interests and pressures into public policies. The purpose is to provide insights into the overall processes of social science utilization within state legislatures, using a behavioral…