EDLD 8435 Higher Education Policy

Reflective Worksheet #1
Welcome to our first reflective worksheet of the semester. I am looking
forward to reading your ideas and understandings of the class so far.
The basic idea here is for you to complete the listed questions on this
document. For any questions that require a short paragraph answer,
the space provided is related to the length of the answer I am looking
for. Once you have completed the questions, if you could please save
your file as your last name and then reflection1. So I would save my
file as: JensenReflection1.doc. This helps with the organization of the
assignments that I receive. I have set up a link for submitting this
work on the Assignments link for this course. Thanks so much.

1) At the beginning of the article I had you read in Module 1 by

Sherri Tjorman, she listed 4 different ways to look at policy.
Please list these ways.
a) Substantive & administrative policy
b) Vertical & horizontal policy
c) Reactive & proactive policy
d) Current & future policy

2) According to Sherri Tjorman, what is the purpose of public policy?

A public policy is a decision that provides guidance for tackling
certain public concerns. It seeks to achieve a desired goal which
is considered to be in the best interest of all members of society.
A problem is identified and various solutions are looked at and
then the one solution that is considered to be in the best interest
for the population is chosen and followed.

3) In her article, Sherri lists 5 common steps in the development of

policy. What are they?
1) Selecting the desired objective
2) Identifying the appropriate target
3) Determining the pathway

4) Designing the intervention

5) Implementing the measure and assessing its impact

4) At the end of Sherris article, she describes for us 5 factors that

we should always consider when looking at policy. Those 5
factors are:
1) Who benefits
2) Who might be negatively affected
3) Time required to implement the solution
4) Associated cost and financing
5) Political complexities of a federal government structure

5) In the YouTube video I had you watch in Module 1 from IGNOU,

the presenter near the beginning describes the difference
between policy and public policy. Please describe for me
here what that difference is.
A policy is a procedure for any organization which says what they
want to do.
A public policy has to deal with people. It is a proposed course of
action of a person, group or government in a given environment.
It provides opportunities which ought to be addressed to the
needs and demands of society. Public policy accommodates the
needs and demands of the people.

6) On page 21 from the article, Education policy-planning process:

an applied framework, the writers present figure 2: Dimensions
of policy making. Briefly describe your interpretation of this
figure.
We have a vertical and horizontal axis in the figure in the above
referenced article. On the horizontal axis is the actor in the
policy making process. At one end of the axis is the
societal/personalistic mode where decisions are made by
negotiating among interest groups. Examples of interest groups
include teachers unions, governmental ministries, etc. These

interest groups are driven by their ideas of a problem and values

of individuals. The societal personalistic mode is characterized
by self-interest, political bargaining, and value judgment. On the
other end of the horizontal axis is the organizational/bureaucratic
mode where decisions are made in entities such as the military,
international community, or others. The decisions made on the
organizational/bureaucratic mode tend to be unitary, rational and
value maximizing.
The process of policy making is on the placed on the vertical
axis. One end of the axis is the synoptic mode and the other end
of the axis is the incremental mode. Most policy decisions fall in
between these two modes on the vertical axis. Policy making for
education uses the balanced view of the axis since studies all
point to the complexity of the process in the educational system.

7) This same article uses a framework for which the four case
studies are explored. Please list here the 7 elements of the
policy-planning process.
1) Analysis of the existing situation
2) The process of generating policy options
3) Evaluation of policy options
4) Making the policy decision
5) Planning policy implementation
6) Policy impact assessment
7) Subsequent policy cycles

The end.