Chapter 1: Policy Knowledge, Politics, and a Proverb of Decision Making
The Evidence-Based Proverb and Policy Knowledge as Panacea
A Research Approach to Tackle the Evidence-Based Proverb
Organization of the Book
Chapter 2: No Panacea - The Purposes, Uses, and Limitations of Policy Knowledge
Defining a Typology of Policy Knowledge
The Purposes and Creation of Policy Knowledge
Direct and Indirect Uses of Data, Information, and Evidence
Program Design and the Production of Policy Knowledge
Chapter 3: Challenging the Proverb: A Balanced Model for Governance Decisions
Politics and Policy Knowledge as Drivers of Decision Making
A Balanced Framework of Politics and Policy Knowledge
Political Elements of Policy Knowledge
Chapter 4: The Performance Movement and other Evidence-Based Reforms
The Performance Movement: 50 Years of Evidence-Based Reforms
Evidence-Based Policy: The Modern Reform Agenda
Decision Making in Federal Education Policy
Chapter 5: The Roots of Modern Federal Education Policy
Three Transformations of Education in the United States
A Federal Role for Elementary and Secondary Education
A Federal Role for Higher Education
Implications for the Case Studies
Chapter 6: Improving Access to Higher Education
HEA Titles and Background
Politics and Policy Knowledge at HEA's Passage
Major Eras of Student Loan Programs
Summary of the Case
Chapter 7: Education for the Disadvantaged
ESEA Titles and Background
Politics and Policy Knowledge at ESEA's Passage
Major Eras of Title I Grant Programs
Summary of the Case
Chapter 8: Contending with the Evidence-Based Proverb
The Political-Rational Continuum
Incremental and Comprehensive Decisions
The Implications of Program Goals and Design
Quality versus Purpose: Which Policy Knowledge gets Used?
Chapter 9: Moving Beyond the Evidence-Based Proverb
Unanswered Questions and a Research Agenda
Creating Policy Knowledge: Purpose and Quality
Understanding, Influencing, and Improving Decisions
Looking Forward: Federal Education Policy and Evidence-Based Policy
Steven Putansu is a Senior Design Methodologist at the US Government Accountability Office, Professorial Lecturer at American University, USA, and recipient of a 2017 Arthur S. Flemming Award for Federal Management and Leadership.
“In this important book, Putansu argues cogently that a simplistic adherence to ‘evidence-based policy’ has negatively impacted how we understand the interplay of policy knowledge, decisions purposes and politics.”
—Jenny M Lewis, Professor of Public Policy, The University of Melbourne, Australia
“Putansu offers a compelling assessment of policymakers’ struggle to put policy knowledge to good use, while signposting the factors that make a more realistic marriage of policy knowledge and policy making.”
—Donald Moynihan, Professor, McCourt School of Public Policy, Georgetown University, USA
“Putansu skillfully unpacks the complexities and politics information production and consumption in the US federal government.”
—William Resh, Associate Professor, Sol Price School of Public Policy, University of Southern California, USA
Policy knowledge derived from data, information, and evidence is a powerful tool for contributing to policy discussions and debates, and for understanding and improving the effectiveness, efficiency, and equity of government action. For decades, politicians, advocates, reformers, and researchers have simultaneously espoused this value, while also paradoxically lamenting the lack of impact of policy knowledge on decision making, and the failure of related reforms. This text explores this paradox, identifying the reliance on a proverb of using policy knowledge to supplant politics as a primary culprit for these perceived failures. The evidence in this book suggests that any consideration of the role of policy knowledge in decision making must be considered alongside, rather than in place of, considerations of the ideologies, interests, and institutional factors that shape political decisions. This contextually rich approach offers practical insights to understand the role of policy knowledge, and to better leverage it to support good governance decisions.
Steven Putansu is a Senior Design Methodologist at the US Government Accountability Office, Professorial Lecturer at American University, USA, and recipient of a 2017 Arthur S. Flemming Award for Federal Management and Leadership.