Abstract
Part of the task of the larger study was to map the interactions among those who wield substantial policy making influence within the sample states. It was assumed that state constitutions and the formal mechanisms of policy making do not portray the entire picture of influence in state education policy making. Rather, to understand policy making, the relevant groups and the arrangements of relative influence among those groups must be described
Based on data from the early field interviews in each state and on previous literature (Fuhrman and Rosenthal, 1982; Milstein and Jennings, 1973; Iannaccone, 1967; Wirt and Kirst, 1982; Marshall, 1985; Mitchell, 1982) a list of policy actors most likely to be involved was generated. Respondents were asked for their perceptions of the relative influence on policy making of these individuals and groups during the years between 1982 and 1985
In addition, extensive field investigations of the policy processes in each state allow descriptions of the rich interplay among actors. State policy making is complex and actors in the six states play by different rules with attendant differences in policy outcomes