Policy Analysis Project
Policy Analysis Project: Part 3 – Construct the Alternatives and Select the Criteria Assignment Instructions
Your Policy Analysis Project will be completed in six parts throughout this course. It is intended to allow you to apply your analytical skills in assessing and evaluating education policies for effectiveness. You will select a contemporary educational policy issue and conduct an analysis in incremental parts. Each part will build upon the others.
For this third part of the Policy Analysis Project series of assignments, you will think about possible policy alternatives (solutions) that should be considered when dealing with the chosen problem/policy. As the policy analyst, you will establish specific standards (criteria) that should be considered when formalizing a policy analysis report. Selecting alternatives and establishing criteria are foundational to a well-written policy analysis report.
Instructions
Using the same Policy Analysis Project Template file used for the previous assignments (incorporating any needed changes identified in your instructor’s feedback), complete the portions of the Appendix A (Project the Outcomes Matrix) template section as specified below. You will also add any sources used for this section in the Sources Consulted or Recommended section.
- Review Steps 3 and 4 in the Eightfold Path manual on constructing alternatives and selecting criteria. Also review Chapter 15 in your Weimer and Vining (2017) textbook.
- In the Appendix A (Project the Outcomes Matrix) section of the template:
- Add three alternatives (short labels) and three criteria (short labels) to the matrix table. Each alternative label should be no more than four or five words. Each criterion label should be no more than three or four words.
- For each alternative and criterion, provide a brief explanation (150 words each) directly underneath the matrix table. An authoritative source should also support each alternative (solution).
- In each cell of the outcome matrix, add at least three possible data collection items that may need to be considered at the beginning of your data collection/analysis cycle. There should be a total of 27 possible data elements in the outcome matrix. In the next assignment, you will complete the projected outcome, cost analysis, and value of the alternative elements.
- Sources Consulted or Recommended: This section is essentially an annotated bibliography if the decision maker has the interest and time to read up on a specific source. Add your sources and annotations to this template section that you used for the parts you completed in this assignment. (Note: The final written report for this project requires at least three sources used must be scholarly, peer-reviewed journal articles published within the last five years.) For each source, list the reference entry according to current APA formatting and provide a 2-3-sentence description and evaluation.
Complete each section of the template using single-line spacing. All other formatting, including, but not limited to, source in-text citations and references, must follow current APA formatting guidelines.
Note: Your assignment will be checked for originality via the Turnitin plagiarism tool.
Answer preview to Policy Analysis Project
APA
3585 words