Expulsion has been a well-documented practice in early learning centers throughout the United States. The present study attempted to describe expulsion practices in one state's community childcare centers during the COVID-19 pandemic. Surveys from 161 childcare program administrators were analyzed and, overall, expulsion rates appeared to be lower…

This program evaluation study examined the relationship between Problem Solving/Response to Intervention (PS/RtI) training and technical assistance and educator and implementation outcomes following the first year of a 3-year project. Educators from 40 pilot schools in eight districts participating in the study received ongoing professional…

Because many school funding studies are seriously flawed, valid conclusions cannot be reached concerning the effects of school funding in the United States. New evidence from the National Assessment of Educational Progress and two international achievement tests shows that differences among U.S. public school districts (and states) in funding and…

This research investigated the effects of two contrasting pre-k curricula, relative to practice as usual, on subsequent academic achievement. One curriculum had a strong literacy focus, the other was a less didactic "developmentally appropriate" curriculum that allowed children to have more influence on classroom activities. The purpose…

This paper addresses problems with performance on open-ended (i.e., not multiple choice) test questions administered on paper for students accustomed to writing with computers. The first section summarizes the results of three studies that examined differences between computer and paper-and-pencil test results. The second section identifies three…

This two-year project demonstrated a model for preventing the removal of children from their homes, with the aim of reducing both the number of children entering foster care and the number of families recycled through the child protective services system. The project was a joint effort by the Texas Department of Human Services (DHS) Region 11…

The publication describes the process which created the Rural Virginia Development Foundation and the potential contribution it holds for the agricultural sector of Virginia's economy and for the state's rural communities. Following an introduction, Part II provides background, operating assumptions, and principal justification for the Foundation;…

Connecticut's Jobs First program was subjected to a rigorous, large-scale evaluation. During the evaluation, nearly 5,000 single-parent welfare applicants and recipients in 2 cities were randomly assigned to Jobs First or to the Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) group. Each group's progress was compared over a 4-year period. The…

The Texas Education Agency prepares school report cards (SRCs) as part of its academic excellence indicator system (AEIS) of local school accountability. The SRCs are used for evaluating campuses, determining accreditation status, and identifying and rewarding campuses for outstanding performance. Condensing the complex data into the few…

This document presents an evaluation of the New York State Preventive Services Demonstration Project, which provides services to families in distress to shorten or prevent the placement of children in foster care. A total of 549 cases, involving 992 children, were involved in the 1-year study. The experimental group of 373 cases received services…

Explores the cases of two states, Louisiana and Ohio, which found budget problems to be the occasion for concerted statewide efforts to improve academic library services. Both states ultimately established statewide multipurpose resource-sharing academic library consortia, supported by electronic library networks, as the solutions to their very…

The purpose of this study was to improve both statistical and judgmental methods for detecting potentially biased test items in an attempt to examine the agreement between the results obtained with these methods. If greater agreement between methods can be achieved, test items can be more effectively screened using judgmental methods prior to…

Five years after the massive overhaul of the nation's welfare system, 21 Maine families receiving public assistance spoke about their lives during welfare reform. The following were among the key themes that emerged throughout the conversations: (1) those leaving Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) often remain poor or very nearly poor;…

While the seventh and ninth grade Maryland Functional Mathematics Tests (MFMT) appear valid and well constructed, the 65 percent passing rate for Montgomery County Public Schools' ninth grade students raises questions about the 81 percent passing score set for the MFMT. This standard is far stiffer than the 59 percent set for the Maryland…

This report reviews the problems of protecting nature in a heavily industrialized democracy such as the United States. Factors contributing to the establishment of protected areas in the United States are traced from the creation of Yellowstone National Park in 1872 to the present. Arguments in defense of wilderness areas consider nature as: (1) a…