A case study of policymaking regarding information competency in California community colleges

There is limited insight and understanding of the problem recognition, agenda setting and policymaking processes concerning educational issues confronting California Community Colleges. This case study analyzed these processes using as a case the proposed policy changes requiring information competency as a statewide graduation requirement. Analysis was based upon interviews of 14 informants and on formal documents and policy statements pertaining to information competency. The case study applied Kingdon's model to understand educational issues confronting the California Community College system. This study found: (1) librarians were the dominant role players in the problem recognition and agenda setting processes by identifying information competency as a mission of California Community Colleges and by successfully engaging other constituents including all three administrative entities of the system; (2) external forces that contributed to the problem recognition and agenda setting processes were the ACRL and ALA Standards, changes in WASC accreditation language, the pressures generated by the "Information Age," and employer expectations of community college graduates; (3) internal forces that contributed to the problem recognition and agenda setting processes were the lack of student preparation and their inability to use information competently, the recognition by librarians that embedding information competency into the curriculum required cooperation of other constituents, and the efforts by internal policy entrepreneurs facilitating policymaking within the state level administrative entities; (4) the shared governance structure of the California Community College system was procedural in character and not amenable to the initiation and formulation of policy and of policy change; (5) that librarians while successful in placing the issue of information competency on the higher education agendas failed to secure formal statewide adoption; (6) that the Department of Finance eventually played the role of dominant policymaker by ruling information competency an "unfunded mandate;" (7) that the Chancellor's Office approved an alternative policy, namely, local implementation of an information competency graduation requirement; and, (8) the problem recognition, agenda setting and policymaking processes conformed to Kingdon's model of "streams of problems, policies and politics" and at the same time the model highlighted deficiencies concerning these processes within the California Community College system.