This 2015 report is third in a series of annual reports on virtual education in the U.S. It is organized in three major sections: Section I examines the policy and political landscape associated with virtual schooling and describes the current state of affairs related to finance and governance, instructional program quality, and teacher quality.…

In the five years since the first National Education Policy Center (NEPC) "Annual Report on Virtual Education" was released in 2013, virtual education has continued to be a focal point for policymakers. Proponents argue that virtual education can expand student choices and improve the efficiency of public education. In particular,…

This report is the second of a series of annual reports by the National Education Policy Center (NEPC) on virtual education in the U.S. The NEPC reports contribute to the existing evidence and discourse on virtual education by providing an objective analysis of the evolution and performance of full-time, publicly funded K-12 virtual schools. This…

This national study, which comprehensively reviews 311 virtual schools operating in the United States, finds serious and systemic problems with the nation's full-time cyber schools. Despite virtual schools' track record of students falling behind their peers academically or dropping-out at higher rates, states and districts continue to expand…

Guest editors Gail Boldt and William Ayers have asked 14 leading educators to address the politics of the teacher accountability movement in America. Who benefits and who is hurt? What is gained and what is lost? How can we move forward with a more hopeful and inclusive vision of our educational future? All of the contributors are motivated by an…

The Committee for Education Funding (CEF), a coalition of over 85 national education associations and institutions from preschool to postgraduate education, applauds President Obama's Fiscal Year 2012 budget for recognizing the importance of investing in education to our nation's economic growth and competitiveness. Within a constrained fiscal…

The Committee for Education Funding (CEF), a coalition of over 90 national education associations and institutions from preschool to postgraduate education, applauds President Obama's Fiscal Year 2013 budget for prioritizing investment in education as a proven strategy to increase jobs and improve our nation's economic growth and competitiveness.…

Involving two or more academic subjects, interdisciplinary studies aim to blend together broad perspectives, knowledge, skills, and epistemology in an educational setting. By focusing on topics or questions too broad for a single discipline to cover, these studies strive to draw connections between seemingly different fields. Cases on…

What turns a good school into a great school? With today's schools under enormous pressure to make adequate yearly progress (AYP), the answers are more important than ever--and this essential guidebook gives K-12 administrators and educators scores of proven, concrete strategies to help their school succeed. Authors Martin Ratcliffe and Melissa…

This book, a collection of six papers by different authors, examines grants consolidation or the combining of several categorical programs into a single broader category serving the same target populations. According to the book, grants consolidation is seen as a possible compromise between the extremes of narrow categorical aid and unrestricted…

The Federal Republic of Germany has identified the conservation and the protection of the environment as a major challenge of the 1990s. Environmental education is further identified as an important part of anticipatory environmental policy. The document is separated into two parts. The first part presents the aims, content, and organizational…

This monograph contains (1) five papers on issues raised in a study by Ron Corwin on the Teachers Corps program as an instrument of educational change, (2) a summary of educators' and sociologists' responses to the papers, and (3) an essay by the editor on possibilities for educational change and institutional reform. The first paper is by Melvin…

In 1994, the U.S. Congress added parental involvement to the National Education Goals. Goal 8 states that by the years 2000, every school will promote partnerships that will increase parental involvement and participation in promoting the social, emotional, and academic growth of children. The fourth in a series that seeks to inform educators and…

Contributors to this collection examine how today's federal education programs work and show how, instead of working for school improvement, these programs have begun to function as obstacles to the efforts of reform-minded states and schools. The following essays are included: (1) "Overview: Thirty-Four Years of Dashed Hopes" (Chester…

These papers, prepared by graduate students at Texas Woman's University as part of an internship program, are presented in three sections: (1) overview and administration of federal programs; (2) Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act; and (3) some procedural considerations in the development of federal programs. The specific topics…