This resource was prepared for a Race to the Top-Early Learning Challenge (RTT-ELC) State in response to a request for examples of States that support local Early Learning Councils. Local Early Learning Councils are public-private partnerships that work to align and strengthen a comprehensive early childhood system and to coordinate funding coming…

Minnesota provides supplemental state funding to existing federal Head Start and Early Head Start (EHS) grantees to increase their capacity to serve additional infants, toddlers, and pregnant women. The initiative was started in 1997 when the state legislature earmarked $1 million of the general state Head Start supplemental funds for children…

Missouri's Early Head Start/Child Care Partnership Project expands access to Early Head Start (EHS) services for children birth to age 3 by developing partnerships between federal Head Start, EHS contractors, and child care providers. Head Start and EHS contractors that participate in the initiative provide services through community child care…

Since 1999, Nebraska's Early Head Start Infant/Toddler Quality Initiative has supported Early Head Start (EHS) and community child care partnerships to improve the quality and professionalism of infant and toddler care. EHS programs apply to receive funding to establish partnerships with center-based or home-based child care.The initiative has…

Maine has two initiatives that build on Early Head Start (EHS). The first initiative, Fund for a Healthy Maine, has since 2001 provided tobacco settlement money to existing Head Start and EHS programs to expand the number of children who receive full-day, full-year services. Local programs have the option of using these funds for EHS, depending on…

Head Start is a federal program that has provided comprehensive early childhood development services to low-income children and their families since 1965. The comprehensive nature of the program includes educational, health, nutritional, and social services. These services are intended to prepare children to enter kindergarten and to improve the…

Although eternally debated, the issue of autonomy in higher education is rarely analysed in its complexity. To address this issue, this article uses an analytical matrix which combines the distinction between substantive and procedural autonomy and the distinction between HEI governing bodies, academic professions and individual academics. This…

Multilevel programs--that is, programs with multiple levels of administration, funding, and implementation--present dynamic and challenging environments for the conduct and use of evaluation. The challenges include questions, priorities, audiences, and purposes that vary at each level. This chapter discusses the challenges as well as the…

The need for an appropriate governance structure of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) and a governance proposal are discussed. NAEP provides time series data on student achievement within certain academic areas by age and geographic region. Its main purpose is informational, rather than diagnostic. Several objectives are…

This report presents an overview defining what constitutes a charter school and how the existing 22 charter schools in Indiana are funded. 36 charter schools have been approved in Indiana as of Spring 2005. Of these, 22 schools have already begun operating, 10 are slated to open in the coming years, 2 have been closed down before they opened, and…

This paper examines the structure and governance of higher education in Australia, including the federal and state roles, the functions of formal governing bodies, and finance. The paper also examines the organization of studies (bachelors through doctorate), the school admission process, the student financial aid scheme known as AUSTUDY, and the…

The Hawke Labor government in Australia, elected in 1983, conforms to a well-defined international trend away from stong public support for education and welfare spending. This paper focuses on the education policies of the Hawke government and compares them with those of the previous Fraser government and with those of the Reagan administration…

Who determines the structure and content of children's learning? It is at the federal and state legislative level that the laws-of-the-land are made. Both at the federal and state levels, lawmakers have enacted legislation that has had direct effects upon students and instructional curricula. Federally sponsored programs have had great impact upon…

The national Swedish Board of Universities and Colleges has initiated a program for the followup and evaluation of the higher education reform in Sweden. The program currently consists of six projects, with an additional three in the planning stage. They cover all of the problem areas given high priority by the national government: the…

This report analyzes progress states and local sites have made in implementing the One-Stop Career Center systems. An executive summary is followed by Section A, Introduction, which provides an overview of the One-Stop initiative and describes evaluation objectives and methods. The main portion of the report is organized into three major sections.…