This report marks the first in a series of research briefs issued by the Educational Policy Institute (EPI) of Virginia Tech. The Institute is a newly formed interdisciplinary group of faculty who shares a common interest in education policy in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The mission of EPI is to: (a) establish an organization devoted to educational policy research and service in the Commonwealth of Virginia and the nation, (b) conduct research intended to inform educational policy makers, (c) focus research interests of the faculty and graduate students on educational policy issues, and (d) act as a service unit for educational policy groups such as the State Board of Education and the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia.

During the course of the next few months, we hope to produce research briefs and policy reports that will assist senior policy makers in their work. In addition, we hope that these publications will help other interested parties better understand the important issues facing public education in Virginia.

Our first task was to gain a better understanding of how we could be of service. Earlier this spring, Steve Janosik conducted a brief research project to determine what types of reports would be most helpful to educational policy makers in Virginia and to determine the best way to disseminate that information. Both of us wish to express our appreciation to those who participated in this study. The highlights of this research are summarized in the pages that follow. By sharing this information with our colleagues, we hope to focus attention on the research needs of senior policy makers in Virginia and encourage those who do educational research to make their research more useful.

The complete report is available from Dr. Janosik or can be accessed from his home page. The URL is <http://www.vt.edu:10021/education/janosik/cover/home.htm>. I hope you find the information to be of interest.

Don G. Creamer
Director, Educational Policy Institute

The purpose of this study was to assess the degree to which education policy makers in Virginia use various information resources and the Internet in their decision-making processes. In addition, policy makers were asked to indicate the usefulness of topic specific web sites and university-based education research activities and to identify policy topics of greatest interest.

The questionnaire consisted of 71 items that focused on policy maker preferences and behavior. Three items recorded demographic data of the respondents. Five specific groups were included in the sample: elected officials of the General Assembly, school superintendents, senior colleges officials, gubernatorial appointees, and senior level policy staff in state education agencies. Of the 406 education officials included in the sample, 225 (55.4%) returned questionnaires.

All five groups rely most frequently on their personal knowledge for policy-related information. Elected officials turn to the Division of Legislative Services as their second source, while school superintendents, college officials, and state agency staff were next most likely to turn to their office staffs. Gubernatorial appointees rely on their respective agency staff as the second most preferred source of information. None of the five groups use university-based policy centers as a source of information with any regularity.

Elected officials, school superintendents, gubernatorial appointees, and state policy staff view short briefing reports and discussions with constituents as being most helpful. College officials find oral presentations by experts and discussions with constituents to be most helpful. All five groups indicate that reports focusing on Virginia and regions within the state are the most helpful.

More than 75% of respondents have access to the Internet at work and almost 70% have access at home. Despite this finding, all five groups prefer receiving hard copies of reports by a wide margin. However, almost 1/3 of college officials indicate a preference for email delivery and at least 1/4 of state agency staff and gubernatorial appointees indicate a preference for web-based distribution.

All five groups use the Internet frequently for business communication and tracking legislation. College officials view and download PDF files at a much higher rate than the other two groups. More than 72% of each group use the Internet at least several times a week.

School superintendents and college officials report that they would find web sites devoted exclusively to their policy needs to be helpful. Elected officials were less enthusiastic. With respect to the services that a university-based policy center could offer, all five groups identify compiling information and conducting specific research as helpful roles for university-based policy centers. Convening meetings and advocating policy positions were viewed as being less helpful.

In the K-12 arena, the various policy-making groups identified academic standards, funding, student learning, and technology as policy topics of greatest interest. In the higher education arena, respondents identified curriculum and standards, distance learning, funding, performance measures, and technology as topics of greatest interest. Complete results of these items in the form of mean scores and a rank order of the top six interests appear on the next page.