Educating about Public Issues. Lessons from Eleven Innovative Public Policy Education Projects.

Overview & Synopsis

The experiences of 11 innovative public policy education projects funded by the W. K. Kellogg Foundation between 1988 and 1992 are reviewed. It presents results of a cluster evaluation that used a case study approach to examine effective public policy education and the role of coalitions. The report begins with project descriptions that include a summary of the issues addressed, the policy arena in which the issues would be decided, audience, and coalition membership. Projects are as follows: the Global Food Web, Iowa Public Policy Education Project, Agriculture and Food Policy in an Interdependent World, Restructuring the Upper Midwest, Northeast Network Project, Partners in Natural Resource Policy, Groundwater Public Policy Education Project, Policy Options and Strategies for Total Community Adjustment, Communicating America's Farm Policy, Trade and Development Program, and Food Forum Education Project. Findings are presented in the forms of 21 lessons. Each lesson is accompanied by a discussion of the evidence supporting it and its implications; many are further illustrated by vignettes drawn from individual projects. Three longer case studies of individual projects are included. The report concludes with reflections on projects' experiences in light of continuing developments in the practice of public policy education in these areas: coalition building, implementation of educational programs, and impacts of education about public issues. Appended is a description of the methodology. Contains 30 references. (YLB)