Objective:

identify the basic elements of public policy studies

state the reason for undertaking policy studies
Philippine Need
for Policy Studies
US Experiences, Ideas, and Issues
Conclusion
importance of linguistic analysis and distinction of terms
scientist or analyst should not indicate his policy preferences
appropriation of technical equipment and competence of
techonocrats for analysis and making recommendations
Romeo B. Ocampo
What are policy studies really all about?
teaching, research, and related academic and professional activities
directed at gaining and applying knowledge for the improvement of
governmental policies

US Experiences, Ideas, and Issues

began 25 years ago as a call for the active orientation
of the social sciences, psychology and other disciplines
to the solution of policy issues and problems

"the policy sciences"

emergence of academic units,
degree programs, institutional
research, new journals and
organizations and the conduct
of analyzing, planning and allied
activities devoted to public policies
political science, economics, business administration,
law, public health, and other academic and professional
disciplines have individually or jointly participated in
this movement, but none have done so more than
PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION
MAPA
public administration
public affairs
or policy analysis
PPBS (Planning-Programming Budgeting System)
By the federal government, policy analysis has
also grown as a PROFESSIONAL and INSTITUTIONAL
activity at different levels and in the area of American government
concern with substantive problems
processes of policy formation and
implementation
interdisciplinary and
comprehensive problem-solving approaches
heavy reliance on quantitative evolution tools
encouragement of practical field experience
quantitative methodology
political and institutional
environment
economic theory and analysis
with emphasis on public-private
sector relationships in the allocation
of resources
behavioral and non-behavioral decision-making and implementation
strategies and process

program mgt., control and evaluation

Problems of Identity and Certainty
emphasis on generalists or specialists?
how much training in management
as well as in policymaking and analysis?
the proper balance between quantitative
and nonquantitative methods
and whether policy research should
involve political advocacy

"Policy science" vs "Policy analysis"

Thomas R. Dye - the description
and explanation of the causes
and consequences of government
activity
involves the systematic identification
of the causes of the search for reliability
and generality of knowledge

Brian Fay
process of analysis accdg to monetary costs and benefits
set of procedures to determine the technically best course of action

Policy analysis
The systematic investigation of alternative policy options and the
assembly and integration of the evidence for and against each
option.
-Ukeless
"the basic emphasis of the policy approach..
is upon the fundamental problems of men in
society rather than upon the topical issues
of the moment"
-Lasswell
"In practice, policy tends to be social science
opportunistically applied to the issues of the day"
and to resemble the process of American policymaking
in its preoccupation with 'tireless tinkering' with data
and programs"
-Schick 1977:261
James E. Anderson suggests that poblic policy is a
"purposive" course of action "actually" followed
"by an actor or set of actors in dealing with a problem or matter of
concern"
Dye defines it as "whatever government choose to do or not to do".
Policy is a rule of action, manifesting or clarifying specific
organization, goals, objectives, values, or ideals and often
prescribing the obligatory or most desirable ways and means of their
accomplishment. Such a rule for action established for the purpose
of framing, guiding, or directing organizational activities, including
decision-making, intends to provide relative stability, consistency,
uniformity and continuity in the operations of the organization. -
(Nikolaidis 1963: 347-356)

"analycentric" bias
Policy science has had limited influence in the US due to
inhospitability toward the claims of the former rationality.
Politics has its own kind of rationality
-one based on the need to decide on
limited information, balance of interests
and forces, and other considerations that
scientists may find irrelevant in the resolution of policy issues.
-Ukeless
Its importance derives it force from the expanding scope and
authority
of gov't and widening array of programs and projects for national
development.
emergence of "technocrats"
element essential to the conduct and impact of gov't
Attention to the form of substance of policy
presence of policy to govern a set of activities
policy objectives need to be explicitly stated, examined and tested
for
generality and internal and external consistency
develop analytical sensitivity to the consistency among broad
objectives and policy program
prediction and evaluation
importance and concern in processes both in formulation and
implementation
synthesis and analysis that attend policy decision making and
administrative action
deliberation that go into policy decisions
End :)

Policy Analyst

Systems analysis can be of only limited utility in government unless it

changes so as to be better able to deal with qualitative and political
phenomena. If systems analysis in its present form is applied to complex
political issues, it cannot provide the hoped-for benefits; indeed, a
boomerang effect may follow which will inhibit necessary innovations in the
future. Instead, a new professional study of policy analysis should be
developed. Policy analysis should combine present methods of systems
analysis with qualitative methods and a full awareness of the special
characteristics of political phenomena. Policy analysis should become a new
professional role in government, operating within the political and
organizational setting as a new component which contributes to aggregate
policy-making without pre-empting in any way the functions of politicians and
line executives. Development of policy analysis requires changes in the
present rather sterile trends of the disciplines of political science and public
administration and, in the longer run, establishment of a new "policy science"
interdiscipline. Immediate steps can and should be made to move in the
direction of policy analysis within the efforts to introduce a Planning-
Programming-Budgeting System in federal administration. For example, the
training provided in the special university programs sponsored by the
government could be modified toward that end.

The K12 system is one of the most controversial programs of this administration and has
been met with criticisms and resistance by parents, teachers, youth & student groups, and
also other lawmakers. For those who are not familiar with the K12 program, it means that
High school will be comprised of 6 years for those starting their freshman year in June.
Students and parents, however complain that it would be an added strain to a
lot of middle class families and more so for poor families, whose priority is to
spend for food and basic necessities, rather than school needs. This might
eventually lead to more students not being able to finish even high school
because of poverty and lack of funds.
 I support the DepEd’s aim to improve the quality of education, BUT in my
opinion, this is NOT the way to go about it.
As parents, we all aspire that our children will finish school and earn their diploma.
However, adding more school years will definitely put a strain to most parents who are
already struggling with the high tuition fees and paying for a myriad of things like school
supplies, uniforms, field trips, school projects, extra activities, transportation and
allowance. These are big expenses especially for those with 3 or more kids. Moreover,
besides the financial strain, the K12 program needs to account for many other pressing
concerns and issues such as:
o What about those children in the provinces who have to cross a river or go down a
mountain, just to be able to attend school? Is it justifiable to prolong their ordeal and
suffering so they could earn a high school diploma?
o For those parents in their 40’s with very young children, how old will they be when
their kid’s reach high school? Or the more important question is: will they still be there to
support their kids until college?
o The K12 program seems harsh to middle-aged parents. Let’s say you’re 43 now and
you have a toddler, by the time he or she graduates from high school (add 1 year for nursery
+ 2 for prep + 12 for elementary and high school), you will be 58 years old. And if you’re 46
now, you will be 61 by then! Imagine the long financial and emotional strain many families
will have to endure.
o Also, more years in school can cause boredom and burnout for the kids, which could
translate to a higher dropout rate.
I believe that it’s also wise to assess the current private school system before
the DepEd jumps into this K12 program. For those in the private school sector,
before the K12 program, our kids would have gone through 1 or 2 years of toddler classes,
then nursery, plus 2 years prep/kinder, plus 7 years of gradeschool, plus 4 years high
school. These translate to already 14 years of studying or more! What if our children go to
good, reputable schools, and not to forget those attending IB (International Baccalaureate)
world schools, can you still say that they are getting mediocre educational training?!
Parents invest their hard earned money for their children to attend these schools because of
the quality of training and education, and the belief that these students would gain
admission to some of the most respected universities in the world. Now, if DepEd is so
gung-ho on implementing this program, shouldn’t it be on a case to case basis?
Do these schools really need the K12 program?
Now, let’s look at the public school system in our country. Yes, there’s definitely a need to
improve the quality of education is this sector. But is adding more school years for students
and more burden to parents the solution?
I don’t think so. For me, K12 is NOT the solution.
I think DepEd, should focus more on the QUALITY of education, by strengthening the
Math, English and Science curriculums. And the MOST immediate and important factor to
be addressed first is the shortage of classrooms and teachers. How can you give
quality education when a lot of public school students attend school for only a few hours a
day because of lack of facilities and human resources?!
I also believe that instead of using the budget for the K12 program, they should use this to
increase the public school teachers’ salaries (some teacher’s resort to side-line selling to
augment their income), give them better benefits/incentives, and send them abroad for
trainings. DepEd should also build more classrooms, provide enough school and teaching
supplies (as some teachers even use their own money to buy materials), update old and
outdated reference books, and also modernize the school system by buying more software
for computer studies. These are more productive ways of using the DepEd’s budget.
… and so the debate continues… Should the government put its limited
resources on the Enhanced K-12 Basic Education Program. Mommies and
Daddies, what’s your side on this? Should the government implement this
program?
Please feel free to share your thoughts and comments (no haters please) and cast your vote
on the poll.
Or for those who want to validate if there is really a correlation between the length of
schooling and students’ performance, maybe this excerpt from a write up I read can help
you more:
“According to results of the TIMSS, the length of schooling does not necessarily mean better
scores. In fact, some countries with the same or shorter school cycle garnered the highest
scores while those implementing the K-12 model or more years of schooling got lower
scores.
According to a study released by former Deputy Education Minister Abraham I. Felipe and
Fund for Assistance to Private Education (FAPE) Executive Director Carolina C. Porio, the
DepEd’s arguments are “impressionistic and erroneous” because there is no clear
correlation between the length of schooling and students’ performance.
The said study shows that fourth graders from Australia had respectable TIMSS scores
despite having only one year of pre-schooling, while Morocco (two years of pre-
school), Norway (three years) and Armenia and Slovenia (both four years) had lower scores
than Australia. South Korea, which has the same length of basic education cycle as the
Philippines, was among the top performers in the TIMSS, while those with longer pre-
schooling (Ghana, Morocco, Botswana and Saudi Arabia, three years) had lower test scores.
Test scores of Filipino students, meanwhile, were lower than those garnered by all 13
countries with shorter elementary cycles, namely, Russia, Armenia, Latvia, Slovak Republic,
Slovenia, Hungary, Bulgaria, Serbia, Romania, Moldova, Italy, Egypt and Iran.
In the high school level, Singapore that also has a four-year high school cycle, got the
highest score. Ironically, thePhilippines got a lower score together with countries that have
longer high school cycles likeSouth Africa,Chile,Palestine,Morocco andSaudi Arabia.
For the pre-college level, the Philippinesalso got a low score, but so did the United States,
which has a 15-year basic and secondary education cycle. Students from Singapore, South
Korea, Japan and Hong Kong, all with shorter education cycles, got higher scores than
America students.” (Source:http://thepoc.net/thepoc-features/politi-ko/politiko-
opinions/10020-k-12-philippine-education-system.html)