What are the values or ideology evident in the policy issue you have chosen to examine?

Assignment: Advocating for Policy Change
The media piece, Advocacy, policy and law: Advocating through policy, affirms that an advocacy position grounded in relevant, current research contributes greatly to the success of an advocacy plan. Additionally, it contributes to your informed influence as a participant in the policy process. In addition to having a professional knowledge that informs your advocacy position, the Rallis et al. reading emphasizes the importance of aligning your intuition, values, and morals to an advocacy cause. The ability to articulate your advocacy position from both research-based and passionate perspectives is important to your credibility as a special education leader and to the success of your advocacy efforts.
The assignment in this module is an opportunity for you to identify and examine a current special education policy issue involving diversity and special needs, as well as starting to think about how you would advocate for a policy solution to address the issue. Through a structured examination of the policy issue and your intuition, values, and morals regarding the policy issue, you will craft a personally and professionally appropriate letter advocating for or against your identified educational or special educational policy issue.
To prepare:
Review the excerpt from Rallis, S. F., Rossman, G.B., Cobb, C. D., Reagan, T. G., & Kuntz, A. (2008), as well as the entire assignment. Keep the 5-step reasoning process in mind as you complete the next bullet.
Apply this reasoning process in mind as you research proposed educational or SPED policies in current or past legislation. If possible, look for policies that would relate to the case study videos (i.e. cultural diversity, behavior intervention, etc.) you have viewed thus far in your program. To review the videos, enter the Grand City Community and locate West Ridge Middle School, which is found in this module’s Learning Resources.
Research the name and contact information for your local and state representatives.
By Day 7 of Week 6
Complete the following steps for this assignment:
Step 1: Consider the following questions prior to drafting your letter to your State of Georgia representatives (be sure to include the answers to these questions in your letter):
What is the problem or issue that interests you?
What data is available to support the existence of the problem or issue?
What Education Policy Planning and Research Community (EPPRC) sources are involved in defining the policy issue?
What are the values or ideology evident in the policy issue you have chosen to examine? Include at least one citation that supports your assumption.
Who are the proponents and opponents of the proposed policy and why?
What evidence exists that demonstrates the policy issue has reached an agenda?
How you can use Rallis et al. 5-step reasoning process to inform your position on this policy issue?
Step 2: Draft a letter to your local and state representatives advocating for or against your identified educational or special educational policy. Be sure to include the information prompted by the questions in Step 1 of this assignment.
Step 3: Reflect
Write a brief 3- to 5-page overview of how each element of the 5-step reasoning process guided you in the selection of your policy issue and drafting the letter. Summarize what you learned from this assignment that you can apply to your professional role as a Special Education leader.
Submit your letter and Part 3 of this assignment.
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Learning Resources
Required Readings
Fowler, F. C., Hulett, K. E., & Kieff, J. E. (2011). Leadership, advocacy, policy, and law (Walden University, LLC, custom ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.
Chapter 6, “The Major Education Policy Actors” (pp. 142–168).
Chapter 7, “Setting the Stage and Getting on It: Issue, Definition, and Agenda Setting” (pp.169–196.
Chapter 10, “Policy Implementation: ’Getting People to Carry Out Policy” (pp. 271–311).
Kairie, M. W. (2014). The role or policy in the development of special education. International Journal of Progressive Education, 10(3), 86-96.
A comparative overview of the role that government policy plays in the progress of special education in the United States of America and Kenya.
Rallis, S. F., Rossman, G. B., Cobb, C. D., Reagan, T. G., & Kuntz, A. (2008). Leading dynamic schools: How to create and implement ethical policies. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.
Leading Dynamic Schools: How to Create and Implement Ethical Policies by Rallis, S.F., Rossman, G.B., Cobb, C.D., Reagan, T.G., & Kuntz, A. Copyright 2007 by Sage Publications Inc Books. Reprinted by permission of Sage Publications Inc Books via the Copyright Clearance Center.
Chapter 2, “The Choice to Act: Shaping the Dialogue” (pp. 11–24)
United States House of Representatives. (n.d.). Find your representative. Retrieved from http://www.house.gov/representatives/find/
USA.gov. (2015). Government agencies and elected officials. Retrieved from http://www.usa.gov/Agencies.shtml

Required Media
Grand City Community
Walden University, LLC. (Producer). (2015). Grand City [Video file]. Baltimore, MD: Author.
Go to the Grand City Community and click into West Ridge Middle School. Review the scenario videos.
Walden University, LLC. (Producer). (2011f). Leadership, advocacy, policy, and law: Advocating through policy [Video file]. Baltimore, MD: Author.
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From my professor and please dont forget to do this when you are writing. He is the doctoral paper man!!!
Some basic things to know for each paper:
** I am more flexible in my grading on the first assignment.
– Review the rubric and directions carefully.
Work on using the MEAL Plan for writing and organizing paragraphs. This can be found at the writing center.
Synthesize research – check this out at the writing center.
Use proper APA.
Include headings to organize your paper by prompts. Just include a few words. You should also have an introduction and a conclusion. Please make sure you also include a title.
You wrote a solid paper overall.
Basics of Synthesis
As you incorporate published writing into your own writing, you should aim for synthesis of the material.

Synthesizing requires critical reading and thinking in order to compare different material, highlighting similarities, differences, and connections. When writers synthesize successfully, they present new ideas based on interpretations of other evidence or arguments. You can also think of synthesis as an extension of—or a more complicated form of—analysis. One main difference is that synthesis involves multiple sources, while analysis often focuses on one source.

Conceptually, it can be helpful to think about synthesis existing at both the local (or paragraph) level and the global (or paper) level.

Local Synthesis
Local synthesis occurs at the paragraph level when writers connect individual pieces of evidence from multiple sources to support a paragraph’s main idea and advance a paper’s thesis statement. A common example in academic writing is a scholarly paragraph that includes a main idea, evidence from multiple sources, and analysis of those multiple sources together.

Global Synthesis
Global synthesis occurs at the paper (or, sometimes, section) level when writers connect ideas across paragraphs or sections to create a new narrative whole. A literature review, which can either stand alone or be a section/chapter within a capstone, is a common example of a place where global synthesis is necessary. However, in almost all academic writing, global synthesis is created by and sometimes referred to as good cohesion and flow.

Synthesis in Literature Reviews
While any types of scholarly writing can include synthesis, it is most often discussed in the context of literature reviews. Visit our literature review pages for more information about synthesis in literature reviews.

MEAL Plan
Duke University’s Thompson Writing Program (n.d.) recommends that you organize the material within a paragraph according to the MEAL plan:

Main Idea: Your topic sentence stating the concrete claim the paragraph is advancing.

Evidence: Paraphrase or direct quotations from the source material you are using to support your topic sentence’s claim.

Analysis: Your explanation and evaluation of the evidence; explaining the evidence you provided and its relevance in your own words.

Lead Out: Concluding; preparing your reader to transition to the next paragraph (and the next claim).
The MEAL plan matches the general format of academic writing on many levels: that of assertion, evidence, and explanation. Many students make the mistake of writing toward a topic sentence or claim, rather than from one; keeping the MEAL plan in mind as you write will help you begin your paragraphs strongly and develop your analysis thoroughly.

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