This report compares actual performance with the projected levels of performance set out in the National Council on Disability's annual performance plan. The findings of this report show a positive link between the allocated resources and NCD's performance. NCD's assessment review showed that it was successful in meeting its goals and achieving…

In this statement, Katherine M. Iritani, Acting Director, Health Care reports that dental disease remains a significant problem for children in Medicaid. Although dental services are a mandatory benefit for the 30 million children served by Medicaid, these children often experience elevated levels of dental problems and have difficulty finding…

The purposes of the present study were to examine associations between risk factors and the cognitive performance from one to three years of age of children living in poverty, and to investigate the protective and/or promotive effects of EHS on children's cognitive skill performance. Analyses were conducted using data from the Early Head Start…

This report is the result of a year-long effort by the National Council on Disability (NCD) to identify valid federal data and to describe the status of the U.S. population of Americans with disabilities. During the past 30 years, advocates, policymakers, and a variety of public and private organizations have undertaken significant efforts to…

In this testimony, Patricia Whitefoot talks on behalf of the National Indian Education Association (NIEA) with regard to President Obama's Fiscal Year 2011 budget request. She describes how Native education still faces enormous challenges, including severe underfunding. Far too many students and schools continue to experience abject failure. NIEA…

This paper provides information about South Carolina's High School Assessment Program. The purpose of the test is to: (1) Demonstrate students' achievement based on selected South Carolina academic standards; (2) Provide data to state policymakers on student attainment of state education goals to inform educational policy decisions; and (3) Meet a…

"Title III Accountability and District Improvement Efforts: A Closer Look" (2010) summarizes findings from interviews with six Title III Directors and nine Title III district-level directors in the spring of 2009. States and districts were selected in order to collect information from some entities with a long history of serving English…

"Title III Policy: State of the States" (2010) discusses state implementation of the Title III accountability requirements based on phone interviews with six state Title III Directors in the spring of 2009, interviews with six experts and university-based researchers who work on education for English Learners, and based on earlier data…

This descriptive analysis updates an earlier study of California's Title I school districts in program improvement (July 2008 "Characteristics of California School Districts in Program Improvement. Issues & Answers"), which was based on performance data for 2005/06, with another year of data. By 2006/07 more school districts were in…

This descriptive analysis provides a statistical profile of California's Title I school districts in program improvement. As an independent analysis of these districts in the aggregate, it is intended to inform the context for district improvement as California rolls out and refines its district intervention strategies. A key finding of this study…

Since the 1993 Government Performance and Results Act, performance measurement systems based on short-term program outcomes have been increasingly used to assess the effectiveness of federal programs. This paper examines the association between program performance measures and long-term program impacts, using nine-year follow-up data from a recent…

"Budget of the United States Government, Fiscal Year 2016" contains the Budget Message of the President, information on the President's priorities, and summary tables. The ideas offered by President Obama in this 2016 Budget are designed to bring middle-class economics into the 21st Century. They are intended to help working families…

The purpose of this annotated bibliography is to identify interventions, and supporting research that may benefit educators in their efforts to close the American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN) achievement gap. It examines promising programs, policies, practices, and processes related to improving academic and nonacademic outcomes for AI/AN students…

Purpose: This article presents findings from a study of six schools in the Together Initiative (TI), which facilitates increased school autonomy from districts and expands teacher decision-making authority. This study aims to understand how TI's theory of action changed structures, cultures, and agency as the concepts of "site-based…

This qualitative case study extends the literature on urban district instructional policymaking by analyzing the ways in which normative and political pressures shaped district leaders' instructional policy decisions. Drawing on concepts from the politics of education, it shows how teachers and principals repeatedly nullified policies that aimed…