Policy capacity in music education can be enhanced through understanding the policy-making process and state governmental policy. Three examples of engagement in state-level policy action are used to explore agency, negotiation, and visioning as important dispositions for advancing music education policy goals. First, influencing state-level…

To help state boards of education and other policymakers learn how to communicate most effectively on policies related to social and emotional learning (SEL), the National Association of State Boards of Education (NASBE) commissioned Edge Research to conduct a survey of community influ­encers in Connecticut, Illinois, Kansas, Michigan, and…

Recent decades have witnessed a proliferation of nationally organized school reform interest groups like StudentsFirst. While historically active at the state and federal levels, these organizations are increasingly involving themselves in local school board elections by recruiting candidates, making donations, and offering policy advice. However,…

A school board that initiates policies can ensure that these policies are consistent with their mission, goals, and other policies. This article supplies a 22-item checklist of questions developed by the Michigan Association of School Boards to help board members tackle the policymaking process, from origins to adoption and oversight. (MLH)

This document presents a Michigan State Advisory Council for Vocational Education report on the status of, and need for, career and vocational guidance in the schools. It discusses projected changes in the labor force; decreases in the number of youth entering the workforce; and increases in the numbers of high school dropouts, pregnant teenagers,…

Little has been written about how to manage school-district conflict produced by a privatization initiative. This paper presents findings of a case study that investigated the politics of implementing a privatization initiative in a Michigan school district. The case demonstrates that no board of education should initiate a public discussion about…

The Michigan State Board of Education's policy statements on higher education for the 1978-79 fiscal year are presented. Progress in implementation of the policies through the beginning of fiscal year 1977-78 is reviewed, and action needed to more fully implement the policies in the funding process are recommended. State Board policies relate to…

This case study is designed to determine the structures, actors, processes, and relationships that are involved when State government in Michigan determines policy for the public schools. The report looks at an instance of policymaking in each of the issue areas of finance, desegregation, and program improvement -- in this case, State assessment.…