1 / 21

How Can We Use Policy to Promote Educational Excellence? KAGE Jonathan Plucker, Ph.D .

How Can We Use Policy to Promote Educational Excellence? KAGE Jonathan Plucker, Ph.D . February 6, 2012 Indiana University. Presentation overview. Why Worry About Policy? What to Do About It Take-homes. Why Worry About Policy?. The Current Policy Landscape for Education.

raoul
Download Presentation

How Can We Use Policy to Promote Educational Excellence? KAGE Jonathan Plucker, Ph.D .

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript


  1. How Can We Use Policy to Promote Educational Excellence? KAGE Jonathan Plucker, Ph.D. February 6, 2012 Indiana University

  2. Presentation overview • Why Worry About Policy? • What to Do About It • Take-homes

  3. Why Worry About Policy? The Current Policy Landscape for Education

  4. Some Particularly Obvious Observations… • Americans are public education critics. • Shifting political landscape over the past 35 years has had obvious repercussions for education.

  5. Skepticism has spread virally to all parties and politicians. • Criticisms are ridiculously broad and blunt. • Preparation programs are the new global warming.

  6. Few policymakers are willing to make gifted education their key education issue. • On issues they don’t know about, they are as informed as your next door neighbor.

  7. Several Implications • “Victory” is defined differently. • There’s no “war” to win here. • Redefine success as a series of small accomplishments (i.e., influence).

  8. Focus on … • Impact • Impact • IMPACT

  9. Several Implications • Stay on your heels, and you lose. • Critics expect you to be defensive, so when you are, it feeds their base.

  10. What to Do About It?

  11. It’s Not Personal, It’s Politics: Part I • Policymakers are generally nice, committed people. • Political enemies are very often private friends. • The further you move from federal to local levels, it’s less about politics than governance.

  12. It’s Not Personal, It’s Politics: Part II • Many Capitol Hill education aides are in their mid-20s with little education expertise. • Most are heavily overworked. • Policymakers tend to focus on what they control – nothing else exists. • Caveat: Not talking here about lobbyists, advocates, or contractors.

  13. Implications • Policymakers NEED your expertise. • Vast majority will listen to your input … • … but don’t expect them to follow your advice.

  14. The Value of Personal Relationships • People will work with you if you have value to them. • Means you have to compromise every once and a while. • “I don’t love this, but should I still help?”

  15. The Value of Personal Relationships • Once you prove value, it becomes a personal relationship … • Recent panel example • … but you have to take a hit every once and a while. • Charter schools, accountability system examples

  16. Implications • Show a policymaker that you can and will help them out, and you will quickly gain an ally. • Successful policy leaders compromise.

  17. Specific Strategies • Bring concrete solutions. • They expect you to complain • Communicate, communicate, communicate • I’m with you on this, but I can’t get out front • Offer help from inside and outside your program

  18. Specific Strategies • Have a thick skin: Sometimes you just can’t win. • Don’t count on people having your back • Just about everyone is working behind the scenes, no matter what they tell you. • Responding to their initiatives with “Hey, we’re doing our own cool stuff” rings hollow.

  19. Implications • It’s impossible to win them all. • Compromises are rarely public. • Communicate regularly and positively. • Don’t have your only contacts be “problem conversations.” • If a relationship gets frosty, get someone else in the game.

  20. Take-homes

  21. Redefine “success” and hold realistic goals. • Best defense is a good offense. • Make sure your program values policy involvement. • Communicate regularly and positively. • Use language your targeted policymaker understands and values.

More Related