Instructions For this first milestone, you will select a policy affecting your home state that you are interested in researching, choose two states to compare to your home state, and draft the introdu

POL 309 Milestone One Guidelines and Rubric Introduction Overview: Professionals in state and local government encounter all kinds of policy challenges, from road -funding issues to environmental regulat ions to navigating state health care exchanges mandated by the federal government. Many times, policy makers look to other state governments to find model programs that can be used to address policy problems in their own states or citie s. In this respect, practitioners must have the research skills necessary to look at other state and local government policies for realistic models that may work in their own state or locality. Imagine you are making a policy recommendation to your supervi sor , either in the state legislature, city council, or a state government agency, regarding a policy initiative that would be most viable in your home state. The assessment for this course involves researching a state policy issue and how two states have a ddressed this issue; analyzing why policy decisions and outcomes differ based on political culture, partisan balance, and public opinion; and recommending which policy initiative is the most realistic or workable solution for policy change in your home sta te. Topic: The first decision you need to make is selecting a policy issue. Below is a list of possible policy issues to ch oose from . This is not an exhaustive list. You will need to narrow down the chosen policy issue to a specific area or concentration that you can research within eight weeks. Education (K -12) Driver Licensing Healthc are Property Taxes Criminal Justice Sales Tax Transportation / Road Funding Insurance Regulation Welfare Child Care Higher Education Child Protective Services Gun Rights / Gun Control State Parks and Recreation Tourism Hunting and Fishing Environment SCHIP (State Children’s Health Insurance Program ) Natural Resources Income Tax Reform Agriculture Consumer Protection Energy Prompt : For Milestone One , you will develop a draft of your introduction to your final p roject. Specifically , the following critical elements must be addressed: I. Introduction: Policy Problem A. What is the policy problem that needs to be addressed? B. How long has this policy been in place? In other words, outline the history of the policy at the federal level and in your individual states. C. Have there been recent attempts at reforms or changes at the state or federal level? Why? If so, what happened? If not, why? D. Why is the policy problem important in your chosen states? In other words, why does it need to be addressed? Be sure to i nclude other information that will establish a robust context for analyzing the policy problem within your chosen states. Rubric Guidelines for Submission: This milestone should be submitted as a 1-page Microsoft Word document. Use double spacing, 12 -point Times New Roman font, and one -inch margins. Cite all references in APA format. Please note that for your final p roject , you must have a minimum of three scholarly articles and three government documents for your paper. Critical Elements Proficient (100 %) Needs Improvement ( 75 %) Not Evident (0%) Value Introduction: Policy Problem Identifies a policy problem within home state and explains why it needs to be addressed using supporting evidence Identifies a policy problem within home state, but submission lacks supporting evidence as to why the policy needs to be addressed Does not identify a policy problem that needs to be addressed 23.75 Introduction: History of the Policy Describes history of identified policy problem at the federal and state level through the identification of key events Describes history of identified policy problem, but lacks key events Does not describe the history of identified policy problem 23.75 Introduction: Policy Reform s Describes attempts at reform or recent changes to the policy, and the reason s for the attempted changes are clearly explained If no changes have been made to the policy, reasons why the policy has remained the same are clearly explained Describes attempts at reform or recent changes to the policy, but lacks explanations for why changes were or were not attempted Does not identify wheth er or not changes to the identified policy have been attempted 23.75 Introduction: Policy Importance Describes the importance of the policy problem on federal, state, and local government, and the value of changing the identified policy is clearly identified Describes the importance of the policy problem on one level of government and/or does not clearly identify the value of changing the identified policy Does not describe the importance of the identified policy on government or the value in changi ng the policy 23.75 Articulation of Response Submission has no major errors related to citations, grammar, spelling, syntax, or organization Submission has major errors related to citations, grammar, spelling, syntax, or organization that negatively impact readability and articulation of main ideas Submission has critical errors related to citations, grammar, spelling, syntax, or organization that prevent understanding of ideas 5 Total 100%