Policy Making, Values of

Casey D. Cobb & Todd A. DeMitchell

Policies, laws, rules, and regulations are pervasive and ubiquitous in public education. Policies frame responsibilities and rights, articulate procedures and process, and state what is important to be pursued by the organization. They seek to impose certainty and uniformity in the behaviors of the organization's actors, and they allocate scarce resources. They endeavor to solve problems the public needs to have resolved. If a problem arises, a policy is devised to solve it. If educators respond differently to similar situations, a policy is developed to bring consistency into the organization. Policies are enacted to achieve certain desired outcomes. Policies can have profound influence. For example, school leaders need not look far beyond their desk to find policies that define what shall be taught, how it shall be taught, and who shall teach it. A school's curriculum and instruction are currently shaped by high-stakes accountability policies. The federal government through No ...

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