Backwards Mapping & Research Institute, Essay Example

In their articles Elmore and Lipsky draws attention to many Education policies that have been made by politicians, who are often too occupied to make a sound effective policy. Elmore comes up with a new framework for policy makers, known as Backwards mapping. He assumes that the decision has to start from the low level of the hierarchy and that what we know in Kuwait as the inverted pyramid.

This theory applied in the 20th century by one of Kuwaiti Minister of Education, who called Ahmed Alrubei. This individual graduated from Harvard University in the United States of America. In that time, it was a great idea for workers in the field but it did not please many of the Kuwaiti policymakers. Elmore tried to see the birth of the policy in different lens, not to contrary to what is expected by narrowing the adverse outcomes in making some decisions. Throughout the study Elmore uses the frequently uses the term “tipping” in reference to the point at which a policy catches on through backwards mapping. This pays homage to the acclaimed author Marcus Gladwell’s bestselling novel “The Tipping Point” which defines the moment when an idea gains popularity and spreads at a rapid paste. Elmore uses the term in the same context to refer to the dissemination of information and the effective implementation of those ideas as policy.

The reason why education is such a complex issue has to do with the fact that there are many stakeholders with diverging vested interest in the education sector. This is why Elmore attempts to provide backwards mapping as a valid solution for the complex problems that arise. Even though both of forward and backward mapping are sharing the same idea of policymakers have a strong interest in affecting the implementation process, and the outcomes of policy decision, the backward mapping is closer to the problem-solving ability of complex systems. However, the question, which arises from backward mapping theory is: does the lower level of the hierarchy offer valued experience to the policymaker position? In Kuwait, because the lower level in the education hierarchy was unlettered and pleased with the substantial chance that Alrubei offered, they delayed making decisions that related to improving the education system because of their lack of organization. As result, the government drafted the offer late. The second question is: if the policy decision comes from the lowest level of the implementation process to solve specific behavior, does that gave them the right to generalize the policy? And what are their limitation of generalizing?

In sum, Elmore and Lipsky articles, provide a way of looking at the problems of policy makers that could potentially provide solutions. One essential aspect of solving this problems comes in the form of bargaining, as all stakeholders make their claim on what they consider to be a priority in drafting effective policy, bargaining will allow them to sort through complex talking points and positions. Giving the opportunity to a uneducated person could be much more devastating, than an educated person or one who is partially ignorant in his field. This is where incentives versus information plays a role in effective policy makers as uninformed, or incentivized individuals in a position to draft policy may be less inclined to acknowledge the facts. In my opinion, Elmore’s article was so interesting to read, but as an international student, I was looking for each abbreviation and searching more about the US policy, which I partially understand.  In general, it was a good choice to start our class with these two classic articles. It will help us think differently than what is expected.

References

Bannister, S. (2002) Developing objectives and relating them to assessment. University of Western Australia,

Elmore, R. F. (1979). Backward mapping: Implementation research and policy decisions. Political science quarterly, 601-616.

Lipsky, M. (1969). Toward a theory of street-level bureaucracy. Institute for Research on Poverty, University of Wisconsin.