1.  What is the actual policy? Who is it for? What are the intended outcomes?
- Get a copy of the original policy from:
-- school website
-- district website
-- municipal website
-- government website
-- Google and/or Wikipedia can be helpful with names and original sources

2.  Where did the policy start?  How did it come about? What were the initial reactions to the policy?
- meeting minutes
- community organizations
- Parent-Teacher Association/Local School Council meetings
- local news

3.  What have others written about the policy?
- peer-reviewed articles and studies
-- Education databases
                -ERIC (contains articles, conference proceedings, government publications)
                -Education Research Complete
                -Educational Administration Abstracts
                -Professional Development Collection
- newspaper articles (see News Resources below)
- relevant associations or organizations
- conference proceedings

4.  What historical, political and economic information is relevant?
- newspaper articles (see News Resources below)
- online news sites
- government information (see Government Information below)

5.  What demographic information is relevant?
- census data (see Census Information below)
- housing trends (see Chicago Communities below, or contact local library)
- economic levels (see Statistics Resources below)
- educational attainment (see Statistics Resources below)

Several of these guides link to Social Explorer. Here is a handy tutorial! Social Explorer/Mapping Chicago Communities Guide