Several federal agencies, including the Small Business Administration (SBA), provide training and other assistance to veterans seeking civilian employment. In recent years, the unemployment rate among veterans as a whole has generally been similar to or lower than the unemployment rate for nonveterans 18 years and older. However, veterans who have…

Veterans Readiness and Employment (VR&E) is an entitlement program that provides job training and related services "to enable veterans with service-connected disabilities to achieve maximum independence in daily living and, to the maximum extent feasible, to become employable and to obtain and maintain suitable employment." The…

Child applications and awards for U.S. Supplemental Security Income (SSI) fell sharply at the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Cumulative applications from April to September 2020 were about 30% lower than applications over the same period in 2019 with substantial variation in rates of decline across local areas. In this article, we explore the…

This article compares state expenditure data to see how the operating budgets of public community colleges specifically, and public higher education institutions generally, have fared over the past 30 years. Data from the National Association of State Budget Officers (NASBO) have long tracked major state expenditure categories, including the…

The Public Safety Officers' Benefits (PSOB) program provides cash benefits to federal, state, and local law enforcement officers; firefighters; employees of emergency management agencies; and members of emergency medical services agencies who are killed or permanently and totally disabled as the result of personal injuries sustained in the line of…

The "Annual Disability Statistics Compendium" and its complement, the "Annual Disability Statistics Supplement" (ED595183), are summaries of statistics about people with disabilities and about the government programs which serve them. The "Compendium" presents key overall statistics on topics including the prevalence…

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) is the nation's most important anti-hunger program, providing food assistance to people with low incomes, including postsecondary students, workers, children, people with disabilities, seniors, and many more. The needs of college students have changed drastically over time, requiring more…

The majority of federal assistance for disaster management is made available from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), as authorized under the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (Stafford Act: P.L. 93-288). The public assistance available under the Stafford Act largely provides funds for disaster relief…

This National Services Snapshot summarizes key data on demographics and services for children from birth to age five and pregnant women served by Head Start, Early Head Start, and Migrant and Seasonal Head Start programs. The data in this Snapshot is a subset of the annual Program Information Report (PIR) submission to the Office of Head Start.…

The Council of Chief State School Officers' (CCSSO's) commitment to equity is rooted in the belief that all students--across race, ethnicity, gender, language, disability, sexual orientation, or family background or income--deserve an education that prepares them for success in college, careers, and life. One of the actions that state education…

The aim of this essay is to advance understandings of current efforts to democratize disciplined approaches to educational innovation and improvement in the US and other countries, with a specific focus on the macro-level policy contexts of improvement research in education. In the US, earlier analyses examined these policy contexts from a…

How can local education agencies (LEAs), elementary schools, and teachers make sure the kindergarten year deepens and builds on children's previous learning? What are the best ways to keep children and families connected to school and engaged in learning? And how can LEAs, schools, and classroom teachers provide the smoothest transition possible…

Early care and education providers are subject to monitoring by multiple agencies and organizations. In this brief provides an overview of monitoring and the major early care and education monitoring systems. It then offers possible goals for a coordinated monitoring system and describes some approaches to addressing those goals. Eleven dimensions…

Special education, a discipline that aims to provide specialized instruction to meet the unique needs of each child with a disability, has turned 40 years old in the United States. Ever since the passage of the Education for All Handicapped Children Act (P.L. 94-142) in 1975, every state has been directed to provide a free and appropriate…

The "Annual Disability Statistics Compendium" and its compliment, the "Annual Disability Statistics Supplement," are publications of statistics about people with disabilities and about the government programs which serve them. The "Compendium" and "Supplement" are designed to serve as a summary of government…