Effective partnerships for education reform "require that schools view parents and communities not simply as customers or clients but as partners in the educational process" (Sanders, 2009, p. 1695). In 2012, seven Seattle area school districts and the Puget Sound Educational Service District (the PSESD) were awarded funding for the Road…

In 2009, the U.S. Department of Education distributed $2,500,000 via a competitive grant program, the Technical Assistance for Student Assignment Plans, to 11 school districts. The grants and their local effects provide an opportunity to examine the new politics of diversity in public education. Participants cited a wide range of conceptions of…

The passage of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA), also known as the economic stimulus package, provided an extra $3 billion for school improvement grants (SIGs) under section 1003(g) of Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. Along with this funding increase, the U.S. Department of Education issued guidance…

The Study of School Turnaround examines the improvement process in a purposive sample of 35 case study schools receiving federal funds through the School Improvement Grants (SIG) program over a three-year period (2010-11 to 2012-13 school years). This brief focuses on 11 of these SIG schools with high proportions of English Language Learner (ELL)…

Sixty-four federal Elementary and Secondary School Counseling (ESSC) program grants were awarded in 2009. One awarded school district implemented a comprehensive school counseling program based on the ASCA National Model at three high-needs elementary schools. This case study describes a district initiative that provided prevention education for…

The Study of School Turnaround examines the improvement process in a purposive sample of 35 case study schools receiving federal School Improvement Grants (SIG) over a three-year period (2010-11 to 2012-13 school years). Using site visit, teacher survey, and fiscal data, the case studies describe the school contexts, the principals' leadership…

This qualitative multisite case study examined how three high schools within one large urban district supported ninth-grade students' needs through interdisciplinary teaming. Data collected during the 2006-2007 school year included observations, interviews, and archival evidence of 67 participants. Findings suggest teacher communication as a…

In an effort to determine the effectiveness of 309 (b) projects (experimental demonstration projects in Adult Basic Education funded through the Adult Education Act), selected projects were used as the basis for several case studies and evaluated. Project RFD was never intended to be utilized by Adult Basic Education (ABE) programs but instead…

The University of Oregon's financial aid director describes the success of the Federal Direct Student Loan program in its first year at the institution. No significant program disadvantages were experienced, and its advantages included flexibility of administration, ease of data management with the servicer, decrease in office workload, and…

Presents methods for assessing the impact and economic viability of federal equal-educational-opportunity programs, particularly in higher education. Techniques for gathering needed data and analyzing them are offered in the context of a hypothetical community college Veterans Upward Bound (VUB) program and two real VUB programs. (MSE)

Six global education projects funded under (or with purposes similar to) Title III of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act are evaluated. The projects are: A Model for the Dissemination of Multicultural Perspectives for Midwestern Public Schools (Illinois), Citizen Education for Cultural Understanding (Ohio), Kentucky Model for Citizenship…

Descriptive summaries of twenty-two rural and urban school systems throughout the United States are presented in this report. Data for each summary include: (1) an introduction which describes the school's student population, the school's desegregation strategy (court ordered or voluntary), grants received by the school, and problem areas focused…

The Targeted Jobs Demonstration Program (TJDP) was a two-year, six-agency demonstration project under which 14 communities received federal funds to encourage local coordination of federal programs to link federally assisted economic development programs with employment and training programs for individuals from minority groups and for…

The report discusses a field study of the implementation of major requirements of P.L. 94-142, the Education For All Handicapped Children Act, by rural districts, and presents detailed case studies of five districts' responses. The first volume introduces the naturalistic model of inquiry, noting its philosophical underpinnings and basic…

The reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) provides an opportune occasion to take a fresh look at the federal role in teacher professional development. Funds designed to improve teachers' professional prowess currently are tucked into a number of federally funded programs--programs, for example, for students living in…