Over the last two decades, there has been interest in developing federal policies that focus on student outcomes in elementary and secondary education. Perhaps most prominently, the enactment of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB; P.L. 107-110), which amended and reauthorized the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), marked a…

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…

How government spends money, and who benefits, reveals the priorities. How, then, do children fare in the competition for public resources? While families have long been the primary caregivers of children, all levels of government--local, state, and federal--invest in the growth and development of children, whether through education, family…

This document, prepared by the U.S. Department of Education-National Science Foundation (ED-NSF) Task Group on Systemic Reform, proposes a framework for creating a comprehensive, coordinated approach to the reform of elementary-secondary education. The group focuses on two themes of educational reform--increasing the capacity for reform at the…

The average educational attainment of US students is weak by international comparison. For example, mean results of PISA test scores are below the OECD [Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development] average. This is despite substantial resources devoted to the schooling system. One partial explanation for this is that academic standards,…

This paper provides an overview of U.S. Department of Education programs authorized and funded under federal law. It includes information as well on the laboratories, centers, and other facilities funded by the Department that provide important resources for education. Each entry, which gives a brief overview of a program or resource, is listed…

This work has been done as part of the effort to plan the National Institute of Education (NIE). The report, one of a series, proposes and analyzes alternative ways of organizing and managing (1) the proposed National Institute of Education, (2) the relationship between NIE and the rest of the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare's…

Dramatic changes in the direction of federal educational policy have occurred since the Reagan administration took office in 1980. This document examines the changes that are taking place and will continue to occur in the emerging policy stance of this administration toward educational research. The thesis is that a form of the "new…

The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) collects statistics on the condition of education in the United States, analyzes and reports the meaning and significance of these statistics, and assists states and local education agencies in improving their statistical systems. This publication contains a summary of all recent data collections…

Sixteen articles describe the status of program evaluation in the federal government by showing how evaluation is organized in the government. A review of evaluation in the legislative and executive branches is followed by a review of the major organizations producing evaluation work. (SLD)

The Social Work Education Planning and Assessment (SWEPA) System is an information system designed to function within social work education toward two main purposes: (1) to help schools more effectively specify their own educational objectives, plan their social work education projects to achieve these objectives, mark their progress toward this…

This publication is the second annual report on the programs and plans of the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). Representatives of state and federal education agencies have presented the NCES with a report, "A Guide to Improving the National Education Data System," which contains recommendations for improving the nation's…

The federal government has, on the whole, has done an excellent job, especially since 1996, in fostering the use of technology in K-12 public schools in the United States. The Department of Education's focus on getting computers and Internet access to low-income schools and communities is the right approach. This paper measures the impact of the…

Offered in response to a request for background information from the Congressional Subcommittee on Science, Research, and Technology, the document presents a report of the National Science Foundation's (NSF) support for social and psychological sciences research. Major objectives of the report are to review the origins of NSF support programs;…

This overview of social research illustrates how the federal government increasingly relies on knowledge gained through research reports and studies for its planning and policy formation. The research reviews are grouped into five sections. The first section, the historical perspective, traces the increasing importance of the role of social…