Reports on an Australian-American research project designed to contribute to the understanding of comparative public policy--particularly in relation to the education policy domain. Notes research team was comprised of 1 American and 15 Australians. Shows findings of one American and eight Australian studies that reveal clear dissimilarities and…

Higher education lobbyists in Washington work as liaisons between their institutions and the federal government. The experiences of several lobbyists are described. Lobbying is seen as a game of knowing the people who can help and showing the legislators how a side of an issue benefits them. (MLW)

The leaders of major national civil rights organizations give their views on the state of civil rights today and the priorities they consider most important. (Author/MJL)

The evolution of congressional support for educational programs and the impact of the present trend toward financial restraint are reviewed. Research, evaluation, and policy studies will help influence future decisions, although other factors such as the economy and interest group pressures will affect support. (MH)

Adoption of the Higher Education Act Amendments of 1992 formalized a significant shift in federal financial aid policy from grants to loans. A case study of the federal policy-making process and the effects of incremental and fragmented decision making, this legislation illustrates how shifts in the power of actors and constraints in the…

Provides some historical insights into the developing plight of today's modern U.S. cities and how urban policies over the years have exacerbated a downward trend in city quality. The author argues that a lack of government attention and lack of sound urban policy development has created today's primary crisis, urban violence. (GR)

Criticizes the intrusion into Australian higher education of the corporate management model. Considers the implications of this mechanization for geography instruction. Notes centralizing tendencies and merger policies with the corresponding market imperatives of efficiency and accountability. Argues that this produces employable manpower but does…

Critiques the popular view of rural United States and presents various systems for classifying rural counties. Describes six major socioeconomic and political trends affecting rural areas. Hypothesizes the effects of the six major trends on types of nonmetro counties using the typology which classifies nonmetro counties based on primary economic…

This paper examines the tension between linguistic unification and language rights in Nigeria and assesses the nature, causes, and implications of the tension against the backgrounds of the country's history, political development, and language situation. (Contains 116 references.) (MDM)

Criticisms of the federal system of research funding, in which priorities among disciplines are set in a competitive and political environment, are outlined. Policymakers are challenged to allocate resources in such a way that economic performance is improved without restricting the freedom of individual scientists to set research directions.…

In 1991, the U.S. Advisory Board on Child Abuse and Neglect recommended the federal government begin phasing in a national, universal home visiting program for children during the neonatal period to help prevent child abuse and neglect. This article discusses the political and social factors affecting this recommendation, as well as the response…

Examines causes, strategies, and dynamics of U.S. excellence-era educational reforms, assessing economic, social, and political reform pressures. Examines major governmental, professional, citizen, and market policies promulgated across three promising, if problematic, reform periods characterized as intensification, restructuring, and reformation…

A small, well-regarded Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE) program that finances innovations in higher education has resisted a push by Congress to influence which institutions should receive grants. Its new round of awards includes only one of 11 institutions suggested by Congress. (MSE)

Conventional monitoring and evaluation (M&E) textbooks rarely address the various political influences exerted on M&E of public health programs. Policymakers are often the largest consumers of M&E information; indeed, the genesis of many public health program evaluation efforts is a need to inform public policy. People define "political…

This study used both qualitative and quantitative methodologies to examine the similarities and differences among different types of institutions of higher education in regard to federal relations. A 1994 mail survey of college presidents resulted in 1,554 respondents. Responses were analyzed based on the Carnegie classification system and control…