Educational policy analysis training workshop : exercise manual

The first section covers group decisionmaking techniques such as brainstorming, "buzz sessions," and reaching a consensus. The bulk of the manual consists of nine sets of exercises framed around a case study dealing with the question of improving the "quality" of primary school teachers in a particular developing country. These exercises guide analysts through the following steps: (1) understanding the problem, (2) planning the analysis, (3) describing the current situation, (4) restating the problem, (5) generating and narrowing alternatives, (6) analyzing costs, (7) analyzing consequences, (8) ranking alternatives, and (9) preparing the final report. When all the exercises are complete, the product will be a written solution to the case study. Guidelines are also presented for preparing a persuasive oral report that is understandable by busy policymakers not fully familiar with quantitative techniques. A companion volume (PN-ABB-660) presents an unstructured case study aimed at providing experience in the analytical skills learned in the exercises.