Robust indicators are important for identifying disadvantaged pupils in education, and for ensuring that they are rightly receiving relevant state-funded assistance. This paper compares the quality and completeness of data from England on student eligibility for free school meals (FSM) based on an administrative census, with more all-encompassing…

Timely identification of children with disabilities is required by federal special education law (Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act, 20 U.S.C. § 1400, 2004). During COVID-19, school psychologists have been faced with the challenge of completing valid, comprehensive, and diagnostic assessments when traditional methods are not…

In 2015, the Governor's Office of Planning and Research commissioned an analytic study to determine the number of California students who were eligible to attend college within the University of California (UC) and/or the California State University (CSU) systems. The study, "University Eligibility Study for the Public High School Class of…

Adult education has a rich history in Iowa of providing services that assist adults in improving their skills, achieving their educational goals, and transitioning to further education or employment. Instruction is designed for adults functioning at the lowest levels of basic skills and/or needing English language instruction to advance their…

Given growing disparities in college enrollment by household income, policymakers and researchers often are interested in understanding whether policies expand access for low-income students. In this brief, we highlight the limitations of a commonly available measure of low-income status--whether students receive a federal Pell grant--and compare…

The Tennessee Department of Education (TDOE) discovered that infants and toddlers who were referred for Part C services and initially found ineligible for a full evaluation through screening were being re-referred and later found eligible for services at a high rate. This report presents the systematic evaluation process that TDOE's Tennessee…

This white paper explores the variation among Part C exiting categories as reported by the 50 states and Washington, D.C., using 2012-13 exiting data. Examining factors that may contribute to variation can lead to improved Part C exiting data quality within and across states. Examination of the Part C exiting data shows that 8 of the 10 categories…

California collects expansive sets of data about students in its public K-12 and higher education systems--data that, collectively, have great potential to meet the information needs of state policymakers, local educators, and other stakeholders. But the data are collected and maintained in systems that are not connected, were designed for…

While college costs have risen significantly in the past few decades, some of those cost increases can be partially mitigated by financial aid for low-income families. But many low- and moderate-income families vastly overestimate the cost of college, leading them to assume that enrolling their children in college, particularly a four-year school,…

In summer 2018, the Strengthening Career and Technical Education for the 21st Century Act (Perkins V) was signed into law, which provided states the opportunity to reflect, engage with a wide array of stakeholders and partners, reaffirm key priorities and commitments, and identify new opportunities to support learners and their industry partners.…

The "Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act of 2006" ("Perkins IV") sets a minimum allocation requirement that secondary and postsecondary career and technical education (CTE) subgrantees must achieve to receive federal financing. An eligible recipient with an allocation below the funding threshold may obtain a…

In 1996, California voters approved Proposition 209--a ban on the consideration of race in the college admissions process at public universities. This policy brief examines the effects of Proposition 209 at the University of California system by analyzing twenty years' of application, admission, and enrollment data. The brief concludes that in…

When people talk about human capital or talent in public education, they generally focus on teachers, not principals. That's a mistake. School districts and states generally don't take a strategic approach toward managing their principal workforce. Often, they lack even the most basic information about who is leading their schools: Where do most…

Current Year 12 students form the largest single group of Australian university admissions, comprising approximately half of all admissions at Australian universities. For those Year 12 students who continue to tertiary study at Australian universities, the courses studied in Year 12 play an important role in preparing them for that further…

The evidence presented in "No Place for Kids" makes clear that heavy reliance on juvenile incarceration is a counterproductive public policy for combating youth crime. It is time to act on this information by abandoning the long-standing incarceration model and embracing a more constructive, humane, and cost-effective approach to youth…