People who are impacted by the criminal justice system ("system-impacted") face barriers when seeking financial aid to pay for college. Between the late 1960s and the early 2000s, Congress created laws that prohibited incarcerated students and students with certain criminal convictions from receiving federal grants and loans. This paper…

This article compares state expenditure data to see how the operating budgets of public community colleges specifically, and public higher education institutions generally, have fared over the past 30 years. Data from the National Association of State Budget Officers (NASBO) have long tracked major state expenditure categories, including the…

Through the Trade Adjustment Assistance Community College and Career Training (TAACCCT) grant program, the federal government charged community colleges across the country with two things: training adults who had lost their jobs so they could regain employment and providing the education needed for those still working to be able to move up career…

This article examines the federal role in adolescent literacy from its roots in Lyndon B. Johnson's administration with the Economic Opportunity Act (1964) through the Reading for Understanding grants of 2010. The authors consider the extent to which the recent attention to and changes in the federal approach to adolescent literacy can be…

In the nearly fifty years since the adoption of the Higher Education Act of 1965, financial aid programs have grown in scale, expanded in scope, and multiplied in form. As a result, financial aid has become the norm among college enrollees. The increasing size and complexity of the nation's student aid system has generated questions about…

The American Community Survey (ACS) is a Census Bureau program that provides annually updated information on demographic, social, economic, and housing characteristics of U.S. households at every level of geography, from the nation to the neighborhood. ACS data are used by public and business decision-makers to more clearly identify issues and…

This literature review examines four conceptual areas: (1) interorganizational collaboration; (2) the use of intermediary agencies; (3) the improvement of educational practice; and (4) the increase of educational equity. A focused review of the conceptual issue, a bibliography including research and literature citations, and abstracts of the most…

The objective of this inspection was to review the materials produced under 20 contracts and 15 grants issued by the Department of Education (Department) to determine whether any of the contracts and grants resulted in covert propaganda. It has been concluded that none of the grants resulted in covert propaganda under the existing guidance of the…

The state-administered grant program authorized under the Adult Education and Family Literacy Act (AEFLA), enacted as Title II of the Workforce Investment Act (WIA) of 1998, is the major source of federal support for adult basic and literacy education programs. The purpose of the grant is to provide educational opportunities to adults sixteen and…

This paper reviews 11 studies dealing with collaborative organizational arrangements and investigates 26 projects involving such arrangements. The 11 studies identified as relevant to the work of conceptualizing a regional grants program include patterns of information useful for planning in the areas of organizational communication, definition of…

In an analysis of the National Endowment for the Arts, which represents the national government's direct involvement in support of the arts, the author considers that agency's impact, its policy changes, its funding priorities, and its politicization since 1965. (SJL)

Presenting a brief overview of federal aid to education, this paper approaches the equity issue by first detailing the unique characteristics of rural school districts and then examining rural program needs in terms of the appropriateness, sufficiency, and manageability of federal aid for rural schools. Emphasizing the diverse nature of rural…

This article documents decreasing support for education research and introduces this special issue. The difficulties in obtaining research grants, getting schools to cooperate, maintaining treatment integrity, and communicating findings are noted. High-quality school-based research is encouraged. (DB)

Reviews the role of public libraries in adult literacy and lifelong learning in the 25 years since the signing of the Adult Education Act. Discusses collaborative projects with other government agencies, and the public library's unique role of welcoming patrons whatever their educational needs might be. (43 references/notes) (EA)

This report provides recent statistics on trends in student aid in the 1980s and 1990s for the federal government, state governments, and educational institutions. The analysis also reports on changes in the costs of attending college and in family incomes in order to provide a context for assessing whether college is becoming more or less…