The Advisory Committee was created by Congress in the "Higher Education Amendments of 1986" to be an independent and nonpartisan source of knowledge, advice, and counsel to Congress and the Secretary of Education on federal, state, and institutional postsecondary student assistance. One of the most important analytical directives in the…

The School Improvement Grants (SIG) program, which was created in 2002, funds reforms in the country's lowest-performing schools with the goal of improving student outcomes, such as standardized test scores and graduation rates. Congress greatly increased SIG program funding from $125 million available in fiscal year 2007--the first year the…

The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) produced a study reviewing the K-12 funding formulas of all 50 states. In a section of the report, NCES examined whether states had designated funding for dual enrollment programs. They found that: "Sixty-four percent of institutions with dual enrollment programs reported that parents and…

This report provides a first-time analysis of the nation's current investments in elementary-age children, defined as children ages 6 through 11. The authors consider over 100 federal programs through which the federal government allocates money to children, and subsequently estimate the amount spent on six- to eleven-year-old children. This…

Charter school laws and successful charter schools have been identified as key elements of bold initiatives to turn around chronically low-achieving public schools. Yet, charter schools operate in a policy space that was not constructed for them, a space in which public schools are primarily a state responsibility, but are markedly influenced by…

In January 2010, the General Assembly passed the Complete College Tennessee Act (CCTA), a comprehensive reform agenda that seeks to transform public higher education through changes in academic, fiscal and administrative policies at the state and institutional level. While the higher education landscape has been shaped by the CCTA, higher…

A record-breaking number of Congressional pork-barrel projects this year has loaded college and university plates with more earmarks than ever before, despite growing worries that the noncompetitive grants undermine the American scientific enterprise, and in spite of promises by some lawmakers to cut back. An analysis by "The Chronicle" shows that…

The Coordinating Commission for Postsecondary Education is directed by the Nebraska Constitution, Article VII, Section 14(3) to "review and modify, if needed to promote compliance and consistency with the "Comprehensive Statewide Plan" and prevent unnecessary duplication, the budget requests of the governing boards" prior to…

This study is the twelfth in a series of studies conducted by the American Association of School Administrators (AASA) on the impact of the economic downturn on schools. AASA launched the series in fall 2008 in response to state budget shortfalls, federal buyouts and interventions, and a series of additional events characterizing a slowing,…

Three studies are described in this article. Each is focused on a different aspect of the long-standing initiative that supports special education doctoral students. This initiative is one of the discretionary programs of the Individuals With Disabilities Education Improvement Act that is managed by the U.S. Department of Education's Office of…

In January 2010, the General Assembly passed the Complete College Tennessee Act (CCTA), a comprehensive reform agenda seeking to transform public higher education through changes in academic, fiscal, and administrative policies at the state and institutional levels. While the higher education landscape has been shaped by the CCTA, it is also…

This guide outlines strategies for financing asset-building initiatives and provides information on 71 federal funding sources that can be used to support a range of activities and services. It includes well-known sources of funding for asset building, for example, the Assets for Independence Demonstration Program and the Family Self-Sufficiency…

This article examines recent trends in the allocation of education dollars across school districts, investigating in particular the impact of federal dollars on school funding disparities. Using both the coefficient of variation and the range ratio to evaluate spending disparities, this article estimates that over the 1990s, funding disparities…

On September 8, 2011, the President proposed the American Jobs Act to Congress, including investments of $25 billion to renovate and modernize at least 35,000 of America's public schools; $5 billion to upgrade infrastructure at America's community colleges; and $30 billion to keep hundreds of thousands of educators in the classroom. This report…

There are very real barriers to using people, time, money, and technology well in today's public schools systems. To begin to break down these barriers, the Education Resource Strategies (ERS) has created a framework to prioritize seven urgent restructuring priorities. The authors have found that these areas represent the largest opportunities for…