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The mission
of the Center is to participate with policymakers, education professionals,
and other leaders in improving education within the Intermountain West.
The goal of the Center is to influence critical decisions in management
and public policy regarding education at all levels within the service
area. The Center's purpose is to provide information and best practices
for all critical areas of policy-making, administration, management, and
governance of education facilities and groups.
The
primary objectives of the Center are:
- Provide state and local policymakers with
objective, research-based information on education policy issues in
the Intermountain area: Idaho, Montana, Utah, and Wyoming.
- To track state policy actions to identify
emerging issues dealing with the ever changing scenery of public education
from K-12 to higher education.
- Provide responses to education entities
at all levels with accurate, reliable data and research.
In our
efforts to impact education through an informative discussion of issues,
the Policy Center asks the following questions:
- What are the leading policy issues in education
in the intermountain area?
- How are these policy issues being addressed
now?
- What could or should be done about them?
- What trends, developments, and new research
should policymakers, the public, and educators become knowledgeable
about?
To accomplish
the aforementioned objectives, the Center relies on the expertise of policy
analysis in the intermountain area. Electronic resources, government documents,
education research literature and specific policy studies are utilized
to provide relevant policy information. This collaborative effort will
involve state universities, agencies, and professional associations, as
well as national resources where appropriate.
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HISTORY
1985-1990:
The State Education Reform Movement
In
the wake of A National at Risk, nearly every state
undertook efforts to improve their quality of education. Many
states raised standards for teachers and the criteria for
high school education.
1990-1996:
Policy and Finance Reform
In
the first half of the 1990s, work focused on the emerging
standards-based reform movement, on efforts to deregulate
schooling and shift authority to the school level.
1996-2001:
Alternative approaches to Effective Reform
Research
examined how alternative approaches to reform, such as new
accountability policies, whole school reform approaches, and
efforts to contract out instructional services, address issues
of coherence, incentives, and capacity.
2001-Present:
How Reform Links to Instructional Improvement
To
be effective, reform must directly improve instruction as
instructional improvement is the key to increased student
learning. Building upon previous research, the Center for
Policy Studies researchers examine how reform links to instruction
improvement.
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