Public Policy Analysis

This assignment provides you with the opportunity to engage in research on an issue of public concern. It can be an issue of ongoing political debate or an issue that has not yet gained the attention of policy makers.    A policy analysis defines the problem or issue at hand, describes its background and provides a balanced assessment of options that policy makers could pursue to resolve the problem. The posting should conclude with a recommended course of action for policy makers. Introduce the problem you have researched and analyzed. Whether the issue is universal health care, improved educational achievement or campaign-finance reform, you should identify a specific issue or policy and articulate why it is important. Establish a set of criteria for resolving the problem in question. For example, an increase in the number of people covered by health insurance represents a criterion for resolving the issue of the uninsured. Improved scores on standardized academic assessments and higher graduation rates from high schools would be criteria for improved achievement in education. Place the issue or policy in historical context by describing how the problem arose and outlining previous efforts, if any, to address the problem. To detail the issue and any prior policy responses, you can use a range of sources, including books, articles from scholarly journals, previous policy analyses, government reports, legislative materials and news articles. Summarize the results of prior policy efforts and identify the major stakeholders. These are the individuals and groups likely to affect or be affected by new government policies taken in response to the issue under discussion.