Education Policy

Assignment 1 | ‘I’m Just a Policy’ Paper – Due June 2
Study the origin of an actual education policy and describe it through the lenses, concepts and language found in our readings. (This assignment loosely takes inspiration from the 1976 Schoolhouse Rock music video I’m Just a Bill – and see the 2021 remix – which tells the story of how a bill becomes a law in the U.S.) In this assignment, your task is to write a short paper
(1200-1500 words) about the formation of an actual educational policy and in doing so, utilize concepts that you encounter in the readings. The goal is to provide a brief but cogent summary of the policy development in order to apply and deepen understanding about textbook concepts. Additional details in the Assignment Guide.
Additional Guidance

1. Selecting a policy to focus on: The goal of this assignment is to interrogate an actual education policy, but you have wide latitude in selecting a policy. To help you, consider the following:
2. Something local or one you are familiar with: Look for an education policy in your local environment, ideally something that impacts you or your work in some way. For example, if I were doing this assignment a few years ago, I might have chosen the 2016 California state proposition 58, which directly impacted bilingual and immersion programs in k12 schools, including those in the district where my kids were enrolled. It also had a long and interesting background in terms of how it came about. If I were doing this assignment today, I might choose the double-reduction policy in China, because of the dramatic effect it is having in the area on English language policy and workforce dynamics, of serious concern to many students in a program I chair.

If you wish to focus on a broader, national level policy, that’s fine as well of course, but pick something that you care about.

2. A policy that has impact: Try to focus on an educational policy that is important in the lives of educational stakeholders (teachers, students, faculty, others). The impact may be not all good or all bad – more likely it is contested, and depends on one’s perspective. For instance, a recent bill in California, AB1705, prevents community colleges from providing remedial math classes to encourage colleges to move more students, particularly first generation, minoritized, students from less resourced districts, into more advanced math. The bill was designed to increase equity, but in the short- term it has had a lot of mixed influences and has also been very polarizing.
3. Public policy vs. organizational policies: Many policies take the form of public laws or statutes, whether at a local, system, state/regional, or national level. Other policies, on the other hand, emerge within institutions or organizations where policies are developed and ratified internally. Feel free to focus on a policy in either setting, as long as it affects people and is something you are interested in.
4. Integrate concepts and language from the readings: Another main goal of this assignment is to apply key concepts from the Unit 1 readings. Specifically, aim for a minimum of 5 references in your paper focusing on concepts such as the following:
5. Concepts in Smith and Larimer Chapter 5 to help interpret how the policy originated, try to use at least ONE of these:

• Advocacy coalition framework (ACF)
• Punctuated equilibrium theory (PET)
• Policy windows
• Concepts from Stone’s introduction and Chapter 1, such as rational steps or processes, common problems, influence, cooperation, power, and market vs. polis model
• Bell and Stevenson, particularly: part 1 ideas on how education policy is formed; and, part 2 on different lenses or ideologies at work: human capital theory, citizenship and social justice, or institutional and state accountability.

2. Outline – a suggested 3-section outline for your paper:
   ◦ Brief introduction – open with a paragraph that briefly introduces your selected policy – briefly state the policy you selected to focus on and why – what is it and why it interests you or influences you, etc. Ensure your intro provides a roadmap of paper for your reader.
   ◦ Story of policy’s origins and development – how did the policy come about, what was the process, who was involved? What goals or values informed the development of the policy? Were multiple constituencies involved? Did they have different or overlapping goals? This section would be a good place to connect to Stone as well as ideologies as described by Bell and Stevenson in some cases.How might you explain its formation using concepts in Smith & Larimer? You might also look for and note any similarities or contrasts between the process behind your policy and some of the processes described in cases by Bell and Stevenson, or in Stone.
   ◦ Policy development insights – End with a section where you discuss what you learned through this paper/ analysis relative to policy formation. Aim to identify 3-5 key lessons/takeaways, and any overall observations

building on everything you’ve discussed above. Continue to link and support your ideas to the readings.
◦ Appendices optional – But sometimes words aren’t
enough. Feel free to add images, tables, figures, diagrams, etc. as appendices and refer to them in the text.

3. Cite all sources – Both required sources that I refer to in the
   assignment guidelines, which are focused on using the assigned readings, as well as any additional sources that you use for any purpose in the paper.
4. Impacts of the policy? For this paper, you don’t need to
   write about the outcomes or impacts of the policy to any great extent. It’s a short paper, so stick to the prompts above and the process that led to its development, the stakeholders involved, goals, any of the various arguments around the policy, and other dynamics of the process of its formation, etc.
5. Information about the policy – To make this assignment as doable as possible, I would focus on a policy that has been around long enough or has been discussed enough that there is writing about it out there in the public sphere, in newspapers, reports, official statements, etc. Or, it may be a policy that you know very well, including information needed to complete this paper. If you pick a policy that is too new, or too minor, that it’s off the radar so to speak, and/or that you know nothing about, it might be hard to find information needed for this assignment.
   Length – Conform to the suggested word length. To do this, stick close to the assignment guidelines, keep referring back to those. Avoid other topics or asides. Put your intellectual energy on the concepts and ideas in the reading and on trying to make connections to those. Take it as a challenge to try to make at least 5 meaningful connections to our readings throughout the paper.

Bell, L. & Stevenson, H. (2006). Education Policy: Process, Themes and Impact (1st ed.). Routledge

Smith, K.B. & Larimer, C.W. (2017). The public policy theory primer (Third Edition). Bolder, CO: Westview Press. Chapters 1, 2, 5.

Stone, D. (2012). Policy paradox: The art of political decision making (Third Edition). New York: W.W. Norton & Company.