"We want a grant for 20 computers." This was the author's directive from district administrators nearly 25 years ago. As a district grants specialist, she dutifully wrote the grant for computers so that the schools would be prepared for the 21st century. Back in the late 1980s, the computers themselves were the crux on the federal grant…

Every librarian wants to go to the American Library Association (ALA) annual conference in Washington, DC, June 24-29. Despite that, more than half of those asked informally said they can't afford it. The good news is a cornucopia of programs aimed at nearly every need of librarians of all types and including every best practice in libraries. Many…

Reading and understanding texts of all kinds form a basic competence for participating in social and cultural life and for being successful on a job. Although most European adolescents have adequate reading competences at their disposal by the end of school, about a quarter of them cannot meet the minimal standards. The urgency of this societal…

In January 2009, every day brought another piece of discouraging economic news: Rising unemployment. New stock market lows. More layoffs. Retailer liquidations. Urgent company requests for government stimulus money. The recession has created a radical shift in traditional fundraising. The shift is due to a simple case of supply and demand. Faced…

Renewal proposals for the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), the current version of which is the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act, are still being discussed by congressional lawmakers and staff. Capitol Hill aides and U.S. Department of Education officials have suggested that a current federal regulation governing alternate testing for…

Demand is far outpacing resources in one hot segment of the education innovation market, as districts, schools, and nonprofit organizations pitch reform proposals worth $12.8 billion for competitive grants to be awarded under the federal Investing in Innovation Fund, or "i3"--nearly 20 times what the U.S. Department of Education has available. The…

This study was conducted to determine the success for the diffusion of the Coalition on Intercollegiate Athletics (COIA) white paper Framing the Future: Reforming Intercollegiate Athletics. The Stages of Concern Questionnaire (SoCQ) and personal interviews were utilized to collect data and purposeful sampling was used to identify one NCAA Division…

Objective: The authors summarize points for consideration generated in a National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) workshop convened to provide an opportunity for reviewers from different disciplines--specifically clinical researchers and statisticians--to discuss how their differing and complementary expertise can be well integrated in the…

The homogenous projects-base concept is defined. Next, the necessary steps to create a homogenous projects-base are presented. A metric system is built, which then will be used for analyzing projects. The indicators which are meaningful for analyzing a homogenous projects-base are selected. The given hypothesis is experimentally verified. The…

The author reports on House and Senate bills that take different stances toward funding formula-grant programs and Obama administration initiatives. Key education programs, including Title I grants for disadvantaged students and aid for special education, would get flat funding for the 2012 fiscal year under a measure approved Sept. 21 by the…

The term "learning design" is used in this paper to refer to the process of designing effective learning experiences for a variety of contexts: in the classroom or laboratory, in the field, online and via standalone packages using a range of media. Learning design involves a wide set of knowledge, skills and competencies, including:…

This article analyzes challenges states identify in implementing No Child Left Behind (NCLB) with the Obama administration's proposals for Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) reauthorization. Drawing upon information from six states, this study shows that the Obama administration Blueprint for Reauthorization of ESEA responds to a number…

The president of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), Randi Weingarten, is putting the sensitive issue of due process on the education reform table, with a pledge to work with districts to streamline the often-cumbersome procedures for dismissing teachers who fail to improve their performance after receiving help and support. She has also…

As peer reviewers for the U.S. Department of Education begin to comb through the thousands of pages of applications for $4 billion in federal Race to the Top Fund grants, they'll be under pressure to determine which are most worthy of funding: those that promise the most, or those with the best chance of delivering. In a competition whose criteria…

The first public draft of grade-by-grade common standards was released last week to a mix of praise and skepticism, illustrating both the mounting consensus that the country needs to set higher expectations for all students and the many problems that complicate their adoption. An earlier standards document, released last fall, outlined a set of…