This project assesses the feasibility of creating a voluntary, nationwide data dictionary that can be used to standardize the reporting of postsecondary accountability reporting requirements for the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act of 2006 (otherwise known as Perkins IV). Variables, field codes, and programming instructions,…

This Quick Reference Document has been prepared by the Regional Resource Center Program ARRA/Fiscal Priority Team to aid RRCP State Liaisons and other (Technical Assistance) TA providers in understanding the general context of state questions surrounding excess cost. As a "first-stop" for TA providers in investigating excess cost…

The purpose of the Race to the Top-Early Learning Challenge (RTT-ELC) program is to improve the quality of early learning and development and close the achievement gap for children with high needs. The RTT-ELC grant competition focuses on improving early learning and development for young children by supporting States' efforts to increase the…

This article reports the results of policy research survey examining U.S. government strategies to obtain data on counts of children who are deaf-blind and the issues related to this effort and its outcomes. Problems frequently cited were varying definitions of deaf-blindness among states and lack of accurate data on etiology and severity. (JDD)

The U.S. Department of Education has not yet published an official guidance document for using NAEP achievement level scores to confirm state testing results. A review of the literature, however, identified four principles that inform the valid use of NAEP scores in a confirming analysis. The principles address the appropriate NAEP statistics to…

Recommendations designed to assist states in the creation of meaningful definitions of types of schools and students for use in the Council of Chief State School Officers' Education Data Improvement Project are presented. The Project's goals are to promote and facilitate the reform and refinement of the National Center for Education Statistics'…

This report reflects the results of an evaluation of the coverage in the annual Public Library Statistics program, a joint federal-state information collection project. It is the first phase of a broader project of the Census Bureau and the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) to evaluate the overall statistics available from the annual…

Differences between state and local special education programs and the state-federal vocational rehabilitation (VR) program are highlighted, through discussion of the history of the state-federal VR program, the differing definitions of disabilities, operation of the VR program, funding differences, and resultant differences in evaluation…

Since President Obama took office, he has repeatedly called for the United States to significantly improve its postsecondary education performance. One goal in particular has gained wide attention: the President's declaration that in an ever more competitive global marketplace, the United States must once again lead the world in college…

The book defines terms and presents information on various aspects of educating handicapped children. Definitions of over 1,000 terms used in the education of handicapped children are presented in four sections: general terms, terms from P.L. 93-112, terms from P.L. 94-142, and terms from the supplement to P.L. 94-142. Additional topics covered in…

Specific issues to be resolved, prior to including federal programs information on school and school district universe files, are identified and discussed as part of the Education Data Improvement Project of the Council of Chief State School Officers. Goals of this Project are to describe state collection of data elements currently in the common…

Entrepreneurship education and training for the existing, potential, and future entrepreneur has become increasingly in demand during the past decade. This publication is designed to assist the entrepreneurial leadership in vocational education and other constituencies interested in entrepreneurial training and/or education to form synergistic…

During its three-year pilot period, Title V of the Rural Development Act of 1972 demonstrated its potential as part of a broad national rural strategy and should be carefully expanded with special attention to funding, organization, and evaluation policies. Initial funding at $20 million yearly would provide each state with $100,000 (an amount…

This report provides an analysis of the activities being conducted by 25 federally-funded projects across the country that focus on issues related to paraeducators of students with disabilities. A definition of paraprofessionals/paraeducators is offered with a discussion of their increasing role in the education of students with disabilities in…

This handbook is designed to help state and local vocational education evaluators and persons using evaluation results by presenting strategies and procedures for improved use of vocational education evaluation results. It is divided into five sections, followed by a glossary and annotated bibliographies. Chapter 1 contains an overview of the…