BACKGROUND: Participation in the US Department of Agriculture's summer meals program is consistently lower compared to National School Lunch Program (NSLP) participation, even though the programs target the same population of children. The purpose of this study was to elucidate reasons for participation and nonparticipation in the summer meals…

The report "How a Federal Grant Program Is Training and Supporting Educators of English Learners" examines the extent to which National Professional Development (NPD) grantees implemented their projects in ways aligned with program objectives, drawing primarily on a survey of all 2016 and 2017 NPD grantees. This document provides…

The Government Performance and Results Modernization Act of 2010 defines major management challenges as programs or management functions that are vulnerable to waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement, and where a failure to perform well could seriously affect the ability of the U.S. Department of Education (Department) to achieve its mission or…

The Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) Simplification Act made several changes to the FAFSA, including changing the formula for determining student financial assistance need and simplifying the application. The rollout of the redesigned 2024-2025 FAFSA application encountered issues that affected students' ability to apply for aid.…

The Department of Education's Office of Federal Student Aid (FSA) manages the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), which students and parents submit to determine a student's eligibility for receiving financial aid. The FAFSA Processing System (FPS)--the system that underpins federal student aid--processes these applications. In…

The U.S. Department of Education's Full-Service Community Schools (FSCS) program awards grants to states, districts, or other organizations to help partner schools implement community schools, which seek to provide coordinated, comprehensive supports to children and their families. This snapshot charts FSCS's progress in two foundational areas:…

Increases in mental health needs resulting from traumatic events have brought challenges that affect students' ability to fully engage in learning. The School-Based Mental Health Services (SBMH) Grant Program aims to address these challenges by increasing the number of credentialed mental health services providers providing school-based mental…

The National Academy of Education (NAEd) undertook this consensus report on the evaluation and improvement of teacher preparation programs (TPPs). Specifically, this consensus report aims to (1) identify and disseminate best practices for evaluating and improving TPPs to promote teacher effectiveness and student achievement; (2) provide…

This report sheds a new light on the history of the U.S. Department of Education (ED), its abuses of policy, and recommendations for a path forward. The report's evidence, and the long-term political dispositions of America's citizenry, supports the wholesale reform of ED, but not its elimination. The authors have structured their report in this…

In recent years, the federal Department of Education (ED), and state and local educational agencies (SEAs and LEAs, respectively) have been increasing the emphasis on the need to engage parents and families of students in their children's education. Initiatives have sprung up across the fifty states and Washington, D.C. to help officials at the…

The US Department of Agriculture runs a large array of farm and food subsidy programs. The school lunch and breakfast programs are two of the largest, which together with related school food programs will cost federal taxpayers an estimated $35 billion in 2025. Thirty million children, about 58 percent of students in public schools, receive school…

Across the nation, states and school districts face a persistent shortage of educators with expertise in promoting both the English proficiency and academic achievement of English learner (EL) students. To help improve educators' qualifications and classroom instruction for ELs, the National Professional Development (NPD) program has awarded…

Shawnee State University (SSU) founded Project BEAR: Building Emerging and Achieving Readers, an AmeriCorps program, to support literacy development and improve school readiness in the Appalachian region. After the first 2 years of program implementation, areas for growth including enhanced service member recruitment, member onboarding, and…

In July 2021 the Chinese Government unexpectedly released what has become known colloquially as the 'Double-Reduction' policy. The policy decreed the reduction of homework pressure on students and greater control of private tutorial companies. In this paper, we set out to understand why the Chinese central government launched the…

We present a cost-benefit analysis of an Australian Government sponsored 3-year supported employment program for autistic adults--the DXC Dandelion Program--in the information and communications technology sector. We explored the range of direct costs associated with running the program, benefits to participants, and avoided costs to the…