The economic and environmental significance of school land policy in the United States has yet to be imagined, let alone systematically studied, by scholars. Although the fact that Congress allocated shares of public lands to the support of schools beginning in the 1780s is well known, historians have not adequately assessed the impacts of that…

This article is an investigation into why U.S. states have enacted, banned, or continued with the status quo regarding in-state tuition policies for unauthorized youth. Using data from multiple government and nonprofit sources, a series of multinomial logistic regressions are estimated to explain the determinants of state behavior across the…

Examines the differences in attitude toward education in the two political parties' platforms and candidates for president, but observes that overall federal policy trends have reduced the ability of the federal government to intervene in a major way in education. (Author/IRT)

Interviews with 55 British and 40 Australian community development practitioners identified common phases experienced under New Right governments: retreat/isolation, adaptation/defense, and rebuilding. Britain's experiences suggest that community development practice is resilient, but reliance on government funding may restrain activism. (Contains…

The purpose of this article is to attempt to reclaim the concept of foundations of power as a framework of analysis and as an approach to influencing policy. The first section briefly re-examines the policy area that developed in the late 20th century United States and suggests that it was an illusion based on a small area of consensus and a large…

A decisive shift toward alternative social welfare strategies - such as comprehensive national health insurance or universal income maintenance - can be accomplished only through a vast reprogramming of funds from within the social welfare sector of the budget itself. However, the major impediment to such a restructuring lies in the political and…

Delineates components of federal legislation advocacy using the activities of the Children's Defense Fund as examples. Reviews seven aspects of the traditional role of the legislative advocate. Reveals that congressional budget procedures adopted in 1974 complicated this role. Considers several pitfalls of the new budget process. Provides a…

In an analysis of the National Endowment for the Arts, which represents the national government's direct involvement in support of the arts, the author considers that agency's impact, its policy changes, its funding priorities, and its politicization since 1965. (SJL)

The Student Loan Marketing Association (Sallie Mae) and the Clinton Administration are preparing legislation to transform the federally sponsored corporation into a private business but must negotiate complex political and financial issues. Destabilization of the private student-loan industry and conflict over direct-lending policies are central…

Interest groups have historically contributed more to the maintenance of existing national educational policies and programs than to the creation or shaping of new ones. The uncertain political acceptance of the recently increased federal role in education complicates attempts to predict the degree of change in policy development to expect during…

If President Carter is to revamp the federal bureaucracy, he is going to need a vast corpus of research on complex organizations. In this connection we should note the increase in the number of American Sociological Association members with competence in this area. The several departments of the executive branch will increasingly find that they…

Discusses: (1) the development of federal activism in education from 1964-72; (2) influences on activism during various administrations; (3) transformation of the federal role during the Reagan administration; and (4) determinants of the federal role in education (the president; political and economic conditions; racial, religious, and Federal…

The federal Hope Scholarship program, designed as a middle-class tax break, required substantial negotiation and diverse, often conflicting tactics to become policy. The story of the idea's creation and its journey to policy, based on interviews with over three dozen college officials, Clinton administration aides, lawmakers, and others is…

A Bowdoin College (Maine) policy banning military recruitment on campus, because the armed forces will not recruit openly gay people, has been dropped because of the introduction of federal legislation cutting off federal research funding to colleges barring military recruitment. (MSE)

Argues that the combined forces of recession, inflationary fears, social tranquility, the eschewal of crusades both domestic and foreign, and a commitment to leaner and more frugal government all seem to militate against a dramatic upsurge in support of the social sciences. This pattern is ominously paralleled by a decline in undergraduate…