Summative assessments measure students' mastery of grade-level academic standards and skills in specific content areas after learning. State summative assessment systems provide students and families, school and district leaders, and state policymakers with valuable data to help understand student progress and school quality. This Policy Guide…

While issues of higher education access, opportunity, and impact are hotly debated on the floors of Congress and in state legislatures, it is the state's higher education executive officer (SHEEO) who is expected to be an innovative policymaker, an astute political actor, an all-seeing fortune-teller, and a rapid problem-solver. These…

The recent health crisis -- and unprecedented, rapid job loss associated with it -- has illuminated how unprepared the United States is for helping workers who lose their jobs reskill to prepare for and successfully enter new employment. Policy responses to the current crisis -- while critical -- have fallen far short of addressing challenges…

Unaccompanied homeless youth appear to be one of the fastest growing and most vulnerable segments of the larger homeless population, but flawed information-gathering by government entities makes it impossible to be sure. This issue brief examines reasons why the plight of unaccompanied homeless youth is not fully captured through current models of…

In a context where more than 1,000,000 American adolescents are processed by juvenile courts annually and approximately 160,000 are sent to residential placements, this paper examines "what works" and "what doesn't work" in reducing the criminal behavior of juvenile offenders and presents examples of government initiatives that have successfully…

This booklet discusses the potential importance to states of long-term care insurance, describes general policy characteristics, and summarizes state actions to both regulate and promote long-term care insurance. It is intended as a resource for legislators and others involved in long-term care financing and public policy formulation. Long-term…

This study examined states efforts to retain children in their State Childrens Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). Data were obtained during spring and summer of 2000 through telephone interviews with state program officials from eight states selected based on a variety of demographic and programmatic variables; the states were Alabama, California,…

Reports the first decade of diverse accomplishments in public education and state government by the North Carolina Center for Public Policy Research. The accomplishments described include the importance of research findings in influencing governmental decisions, public education about government and policy issues, and monitoring legislative…

We evaluate the effects of state policy design features on SCHIP take-up rates and on the degree to which SCHIP benefits crowd out private benefits. The results indicate overall program take-up rates of approximately 10 percent. However, there is considerable heterogeneity across states, suggesting a potential role of inter-state variation in…

This study examined the enrollment process for the State Childrens Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) and the outcomes of that process. Data were collected during spring and summer of 2000 through telephone interviews with state program officials from eight states selected based on a variety of demographic and programmatic variables; the states were…

"Kids Count in Colorado!" is an annual publication of the Colorado Children's Campaign, which provides the best available state- and county-level data to measure and track the education, health and general well-being of the state's children. "Kids Count in Colorado!" informs policy debates and community discussions, serving as…

Under the State Childrens Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), states have the option to subsidize employer premiums for low-income workers with children. Given the potential for subsidized employer-sponsored insurance (ESI) programs to reduce the number of uninsured children, this study examined SCHIPs regulations and state experiences with premium…

Community-based programs in the juvenile justice system present a promising alternative to the disappointing results achieved by large institutional facilities. A diverse group of states has found that intensive, individualized services provided in small, family-like residential settings or in the juvenile's own home yield comparable or reduced…

Noting that out-of-school time and community school initiatives are operating in a rapidly changing policy context and that tobacco settlement funds provide a flexible, significant inflow of new state revenue, this strategy brief provides policymakers, community leaders, and program developers with background information on the tobacco settlement…

This article reports the results of policy research survey examining U.S. government strategies to obtain data on counts of children who are deaf-blind and the issues related to this effort and its outcomes. Problems frequently cited were varying definitions of deaf-blindness among states and lack of accurate data on etiology and severity. (JDD)