In the past, parents of children with disabilities have spearheaded several policies for individuals with disabilities. However, little is known about their experiences with legislators. To address this gap, focus groups and surveys about legislative advocacy were conducted with 127 parents of individuals with disabilities across four states. The…

This paper discusses a current project to develop open educational resources (OER) for legislative counsel in countries of the Commonwealth of Nations. The project is the latest step in a 20-year old distance education program for those professionals. The paper explores best practices for investment in freely available OER for use by professionals…

The purpose of this descriptive, single case study was to provide knowledge and insight about state education policy-making, specifically, the process by which education-related bills pass through a legislature. This study was also designed to identify factors of influence shaping legislative decision-making as perceived by lawmakers and observers…

The Australian Disability Discrimination Act (1992) has challenged higher education to meet the increasing needs of students with different abilities. This may be more so in programmes that have practice components where students must demonstrate competency, regardless of their situation. This qualitative exploratory study undertaken at the…

Concludes that journalists and sources share notions about what aspects of a bureaucratic process are worth their attention and that journalists select information in a patterned way, with that pattern determined by the frames of reference of the sources. (FL)

In a modified replication of the Miller-Stokes study, constituents from two Oklahoma congressional districts were interviewed to see how well they could identify the names of their members of congress and their stands on five issues. Results showed that participants were more politically informed than the Miller-Stokes study would have predicted.…

The relation that should exist between central and local authorities has long been a favorite theme for persons interested in various theories of government. Many arguments have been produced, some based upon fact and others upon opinion, as to the relative merits of centralized and localized plans of government. In the field of education, as in…

Provides a description of communication in legislative hearings. Categorizes members' comments by type, purpose, valence, time focus, problem/solution orientation, audience, and topic. Indicates that the most important function of the hearings appears to be marshalling evidence for later debate. (JMF)

A model of roll call voting by House members on the Family and Medial Leave Act (FMLA) of 1990 was tested. Found that support for the FMLA was tied to a range of dispositional and contextual demand variables: conservatism, presidential support, etc. The model accurately predicted 90% of the votes. (RJM)

This paper reviews research concerning the attitudes that principals, journalism advisers, high school journalism press association directors, and student editors hold toward student publications, and it reviews research concerning effective political strategies. The study focuses particularly on the strategies employed by supporters of student…