How States Influence Colleges

Week One Course Signature Assignment
For the course signature assignment, you will pick one state (other than one of the state cases presented in your text) and analyze it using the model presented in the first chapter of Richardson & Martinez’s (2009) Policy and Performance in American Higher Education (see model on page 19): introduction, state actors, rules in use at the state level, higher education institutional and system actors, and higher education system rules in use.

After choosing the state, you will write a 5-7 page research paper using APA style, inclusive of the following:

A discussion of performance and key rules; the political, economic, and social context for the state; and state higher education issues.
An overview of the individuals, groups, agencies, and organizations that are state-level actors who influence higher education.
A description of how state actors come together in formal and informal arenas to derive, utilize, or alter rules that govern planning, program review and approval, academic preparation, student assistance, fiscal, enrollment, and other policy issues.
An overview of individuals, groups, agencies, and organizations that are institutional or system-level actors who influence higher education.
A description of how institutional and system actors come together in formal and informal arenas to derive, utilize, or alter rules that govern planning, program review and approval, academic preparation, student assistance, fiscal, enrollment, and other policy issues.