EDUCATIONAL
POLICY
10-21
July, 2000
Course Director: Thomas
Balazs Timar (University of California)
Resource Persons: Carol
Weiss (Harvard University)
PeterDarvas (World Bank)
Péter Radó (Institute for Educational Policy, Open Society
Institute)
Pavel Zgaga (Ministry of Education, Slovenia)
Thomas Timar has
been a public school teacher and administrator; consultant for the California
State Legislature; and university researcher and professor at Stanford,
Harvard, UC Berkeley, and UC Riverside. He has also served as director
of a multi-state policy center in San Francisco. He has published
numerous scholarly and professional articles on school change and organizational
design. He has also consulted for governments and foundations at local,
state, and international levels. He specializes in organizational change,
school finance, law, educational evaluation, education administration
and leadership, and policy analysis
Carol Weiss is regarded
as one of the world's foremost authorities on policy and program evaluation.
She has published numerous articles and books on the subject. In
addition to her teaching and research at Harvard, she has worked extensively
in the area of educational policy with international organizations such
as the World Bank , OECD, and UNESCO.
Before joining the World
Bank where he serves as specialist for East and Central Europe, Peter
Darvas directed the Higher Education Support Program for the Open Society
Institute. He has extensive experience and knowledge of education
policy issues in the Central/East European and Central Asian Region.
Péter Radó
serves as Special Advisor to the Institute for Educational Policy for OSI
in Budapest. He has also served as an educational policy specialist
in the Hungarian Ministry of Education and National Institute for Education.
Pavel Zgaga is Minister
for Education for Slovenia. He was instrumental in the reform-beginning
in the mid-1980s-of Slovenia's education system. He is also professor
of education philosophy at the University of Zagreb.
Course Objectives
This course introduces
students to concepts of methods of policy analysis. The purpose of the
course is to
* help students develop
a deeper understanding of the relationship between educational issues and
problems, policy development, and the institutional structures needed to
support those policies;
* strengthening students'
skills in analyzing policy arguments (pulling apart assumptions, assessing
evidence) in order to construct a persuasive policy analyses;
* provide students with
skills to conduct policy analysis;
* sharpen students' understanding,
knowledge, and use of policy analysis.
The course comprises three
strands. The first examines also the political, economic, social, and cultural
contexts that shape policy. The second examines educational policy
systems. The third examines the relationship between policy making and
implementation.
Course level, target
audience
The course is intended
to serve as an introduction to policy analysis, both methods and concepts.
It is intended for individuals with an interest in educational policy analysis.
Preference in selection of course participants is given to individuals
who work in ministries of education, NGOs (such as foundations or professional
organizations), or academics with an interest in educational policy.
Past participants have included junior level university faculty in political
science, economics, or sociology; World Bank or OSI staff; journalists;
and government officials.
Teaching Methods
The format for the course
combines lecture, discussion, group collaborative work, and participant
presentation. The course is organized around a high level of active
participation in discussion and development of group projects.
Syllabus
Readings:
Eugene Bardach: The Eight
Step Path to Policy Analsyis
Carol Weiss: Evaluation
UNICEF (The MONEE Project):
Education for All?
Additional readings will
be assigned from a course reader. Readings will include case studies from
Central/Eastern Europe and Central Asia.
Session 1:
Introduction: Education policy systems and the political context of education
policy making
Large-group discussion topics:
Understanding the political
context of education policy making: the structural and functional features
of policy.
What are the main components of national/state education systems?
* Governing the system
* Mobilization and allocation
of resources
* Delivery of educational
services
* Monitoring, evaluation,
and accountability
What political factors shape
the policy environment?
What are the determinants
for policy decision making?
Small
group discussion: How has policy decision making in your country changed
over the past 10 years? How has the political context changed? In
what ways have the main components of the educational system in your respective
countries changed?
Session 2: Policy
analysis and system change: Identifying problems and finding solutions
Reading:
Eight-Step Path to Policy Analysis: Introduction (pages 1-5), Define the
Problem (pages 6-14), Assemble Some Evidence (pages 13-19), Part
II: Gathering Data for Policy Research
Large-group discussion topics:
Defining the problem
* What evidence do we have
about the size and nature of the problem?
* Who cares about the problem-who
are the constituents?
* What kind of information
do we need to fully understand the problem and develop solutions?
Small group: Select three
problem for educational policy analysis. Define the problems. What do you
know about the causes, nature, and magnitude of the problem? What evidence
do you have and what further evidence do you need to get?
Session 3: The relationship
between problem definition and solutions
Reading:
Eight-Step Path to Policy
Analysis: Construct the Alternatives (pages 19-25); Appendix B: What
Governments Can Do?
Kirp: Professionalization As A Policy Choice
McDonnell and Elmore: Getting the Job Done: Alternative Policy Instruments
Large-group discussion
topics:
Defining policy objectives,
selecting criteria, and projecting outcomes
Small group activity: Identify
three significant problems related to education that would benefit from
policy intervention. Discuss at what level within the system these problems
should be addressed and by whom. Define the problem, its scope, nature
and causes. Identify the information that is needed to better understand
and solve the problem. Identify three alternative solutions to the problem.
Session 4:
Selection of alternatives and implementation
Readings:
Bardach: The Eight-Step
Path of Policy Analysis: Select the Criteria (page 25-35), Projecting
The Outcomes (page 35 - 49)
Timar: A Theoretical Framework
for Local Response to State Policy
Janet Weiss: Control
in School Organizations
Discussion topics:
How do we know what works?
Decision making with imperfect
information
Consequences for implementation
Small group: From the list
of problems defined in previous session and possible solutions identified,
discuss how such solutions might be most effectively implemented. What
are options for implementation. What kinds of infrastructural requirements
does implementation pose?
Session 5: Applying
the tools of policy analysis
Reading: Eight-Step
Path of Policy Analysis, Confront the Trade-Offs (page 49-55);
Decide (page 55-57); Tell Your Story (page 57-67)
Small groups: For the three
policy problem you have selected, discuss the trade-offs for the various
policy alternatives. Select alternatives and discuss the criteria for doing
so. Discuss the costs and benefits of each of the alternatives.
Session 6: Telling
the story
STUDENT GROUP PRESENTATIONS OF POLICY ANALYS PROBLEMS
Session 7: Evaluating policy:
Assessing policy outcomes
Approaches to policy and program evaluation
How to do policy evaluation
Small group: Develop an
evaluation design for one of the policy problems that your group presented.
Session 8:
Organizing for policy: the infrastructure for policy making
Discussion topics:
Information utilization
and policy making
The role of ministries
of education and policy institutes/think tanks
Connecting policy analysis
and research with policy decision making/ political processes
Institutionalizing policy
analysis
Small group: Develop and
assessment of the policy making infrastructure in your countries. What
would you recommend for improving policy making capacity? Develop a strategy
for improving the policy analytic infrastructure in your country.
Session 9: The role
of non-government organizations (NGOs) in education reform: EU integration
and its implications for Eastern/Central Europe
Reading:
UNESCO and World Bank documents
to be distributed in class
Discussion topics:
The role of the supra-national
level in education policy
The role and impact of
the EU as a supranational actor in the area of education
The instruments of EU to
influence national level education policy
The use of supranational
initiatives in national level education -policy
The role of the World Bank
Session 10: Participant
presentation of policy analysis
WRAP-UP SESSION
Please refer to the web
site (above) for further information regarding course information.
Application requirements
Participants are required,
as a condition of participation in the program, to submit a brief paper
(5 to 10 pages in length) discussing the major changes that have occurred
in education in their respective countries over the past 10 years. The
paper should include a discussion of what new problems have emerged and
how government has attempted to deal with them.
Non-discrimination
policy statement
Central
European University does not discriminate on the basis of--including, but
not limited to--race, color, national and ethnic origin, religion, gender
or sexual orientation in administering its educational policies, admissions
policies, scholarship and loan programs, and athletic and other school-administered
programs.
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