Policy Mapping: A New Framework for Teaching Policymaking and Policy Design through Case Studies

Abstract

The case study method is widely used in the training of professionals. Many graduate programs in business, law, public management, and other fields employ case studies as a core teaching methodology. Case studies enable today’s students to walk in the shoes of yesterday’s decision-makers and to learn how to devise solutions to tomorrow’s issues. This experience is particularly important in training future public managers and policy professionals. Today, individual careers often crisscross commercial, nonprofit, and government sectors. As a result, familiarity with the tools of issue advocacy, policy design, and program delivery has become an increasingly valuable commodity for today’s professional students and tomorrow’s managers. Case study methods are an important means of introducing students to the practices of public policymaking. In this paper, the authors demonstrate the value of policy mapping as a teaching tool with a case study of the Campus Security Act of 1990. This act offers a simplified design for policy delivery. It requires post-secondary institutions to collect and publish data on crime on campus with the goal of making students more aware and better prepared to deal with of safety issues on campus. The program was born out of the personal tragedy of the Clery family of Pennsylvania and evolved from state to federal legislation. We map the path of the Campus Security Act of 1990 and its subsequent clones using the technique of policy mapping. The objective is to demonstrate the utility of policy mapping as a common framework for case study analysis across numerous policy domains.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Lelia Helms

Lelia Helms is a professor in Educational Policy and Leadership Studies at the University of Iowa. Her areas of teaching and research interests include law and policy, especially as applied to the areas of higher education and healthcare.

Helms and Biggs are coauthors of the recent text, The Practice of Public Policymaking (M.E. Sharpe, 2007).

Selden Biggs

Selden Biggs is a senior policy analyst in the Department of Homeland Security. Trained as a political scientist, he has previously taught at several universities and worked in the private sector as a consultant to Federal agencies.

Helms and Biggs are coauthors of the recent text, The Practice of Public Policymaking (M.E. Sharpe, 2007).