This project assesses the feasibility of creating a voluntary, nationwide data dictionary that can be used to standardize the reporting of postsecondary accountability reporting requirements for the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act of 2006 (otherwise known as Perkins IV). Variables, field codes, and programming instructions,…

The Early Childhood Advisory Council (ECAC) in Minnesota makes recommendations to the Governor and Legislature, and is responsible for fulfilling the duties required by federal and state statutes. The Council was created in 2008 by the Governor's Executive Order 08-14. The ECAC consists of 18 members, including the State Director of the Head Start…

With over 4,400 colleges and universities offering a variety of degrees and programs, and more than 2,000 non-degree granting institutions, the postsecondary education landscape within the United States can be a complex web to navigate for high school students (U.S. Department of Education, 2012). The transition from high school to postsecondary…

This individual profile provides information on Minnesota's high school exit exam standards and policies. Some of the categories presented include: (1) State exit exam policy; (2) Type of Test; (3) Purpose; (4) Major changes in exit exam policy since the 2009-10 school year for financial reasons; (5) Subjects tested on exam; (6) Grade exam first…

This report on a statewide telephone survey describes child care use in Minnesota among households with children 12 and younger. Minnesota has an estimated 908,000 children ages 12 and younger; 24 percent are ages 0 to 2, 24 percent ages 3 to 5, 30 percent ages 6 to 9 and 23 percent ages 10 to 12. Of the nearly 500,000 households with one or more…

In cities and towns across America, millions of children and youth get out of school by mid-afternoon but have neither a safe, supervised place to go nor a structured or engaging activity in which to participate. Because the hours between 3:00 and 6:00 p.m. are when young people are most likely to be affected by crime or to engage in risky…

In 2009, Excelencia in Education launched the Ensuring America's Future initiative to inform, organize, and engage leaders in a tactical plan to increase Latino college completion. An executive summary of Latino College Completion in 50 states synthesizes information on 50 state factsheets and builds on the national benchmarking guide. Each…

The physical, social, and economic health and wellbeing of adults and society are strongly influenced by both positive and negative experiences in early childhood. The most cost-efficient time to build foundational skills, to assure the healthy development of all young children, to break the cycle of disadvantage for vulnerable children, and to…

This paper examines utilization of a state earned income credit by AFDC and TANF recipients. Although utilization percentages are increasing, we find that among TANF recipients in 1999, 45.7 percent of all households and 34.8 percent of eligible households did not receive the state earned income credit. Moreover, we find that utilization may…

Since the passage of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (2002), there has been increased interest in using student achievement data (through standardized tests) to evaluate teacher effectiveness. Two U.S. Department of Education secretaries, Secretary Spellings and Secretary Duncan, have expressed interest in growth models and the need to…

By now people are all too familiar with the disheartening numbers: approximately 7,000 students drop out each day, which means nearly one-third of high school students will not graduate with their peers. The statistics are even more staggering for minority and low-income students, especially in the nation's largest urban districts, where less than…

This dissertation explores the private-public sector partnership between CVS/pharmacy and the federal/state workforce development system in Minnesota. The study describes how CVS creates partnerships with the federal/state system of one-stop career centers and other partners in the workforce development arena such as community or faith-based…

In 2009, families nationwide were surveyed to see how many children are in afterschool programs, how many are unsupervised after school and how these numbers compare to five years ago. "America After 3 PM" provides the most comprehensive and accurate picture to date of what this nation's youth are doing each day after school. Overall,…

As Internet technology encroached on the public school classroom about a decade ago, Kim Ross, superintendent of the Houston School District in Houston, Minnesota, saw an opportunity. At first, he and his administrative team simply wanted to offer students in the district of 1,300 access to more classes via the web than what a district that size…

This is a progress report on the development of the Minnesota State Individually Guided Education (IGE) Network. The foreword states that the state IGE network came into being in July of 1973 in response to a need for the continuing awareness, implementation, and refinement of IGE on a statewide basis. Section 1 is an introduction which explains…