EDU 507: Law, Policy, and Ethical Decision-Making: Writing Policy Analysis and Proposal Papers

A major assignment for EDU 507 in the past was a policy analysis proposal.  This assignment synthesized two common tasks for the educational leader: analyzing the policies that affect their institutions or educational contexts, and making recommendations based on that analysis.  While there is no proposal component required this semester, the resources below will still be helpful for preparing the critical law and policy paper, and for understanding how to use a policy analysis to propose changes.

To the right, you will find books about policy analysis in education that you can borrow from Ikeda Library.  The library subscribes to Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, an academic journal that you might find useful as well.  Below are resources to help you master both the policy analysis and proposal formats.  You will also find a list of eBooks available at Ikeda Library, and links to external resources, on proposal writing in the Comparative and International Education LibGuide.

As you will find, no one source completely reflects your assignment's parameters.  You will need to make decisions about what elements or aspects of  each format best meets your needs as you put together your analysis and recommendations for the consumption of your target audience.  Creating a portrait of your audience--who they are, why they are interested, what evidence will be most persuasive to them, what format would best meet their needs and expectations as readers--before you begin will help you determine how best to create a document that not only breaks down a policy for them in a way they will understand, but also persuades them that your suggestions are definitely the best for this situation.