EDUC 1410: Urban Education

This list of major think tanks and institutes includes many that focus on education policy. The creator of this list also comments on the quality of the work as well as political leanings of each group (as he sees it).

1. Search for local/regional sources.
2. If you Google a topic and find an interesting article, but aren't sure whether it's "a policy paper" or not, backtrack and look at the authoring organization. What do they do? Do they have experts or scholars on staff? Do they explicitly mention their policy priorities or areas?
3. Policy papers can vary wildly in length, so what you're looking for has more to do with content. Proposed or supported legislation is often a good clue that you're looking at a policy paper vs. something else.