This report provides basic information about some 140 federal programs and tax provisions affecting children and their families. It contains brief descriptions of each program/tax rule, participation and funding information (to the extent available), and table summaries of selected program characteristics, such as how benefits and services are…

Author, Senator from Arkansas, discusses educational exchange since the enactment of Public Law 79-584, known as the Fulbright Law. (MB)

Concludes that the Upward Bound program is of marginal social value, with low or nonexistent net benefits. (BH)

Certain expectations that federal officials have about evaluation researchers are discussed. Included are: (1) presence of a clear understanding of what evaluation means; (2) procedure for carrying out an evaluation; and (3) understanding by the evaluator of how the research relates to the decision-making process. (Author/GK)

Examines the interrelationship between the National Diffusion Network and the Office of Career Education. Discusses initial collaborative efforts (fiscal year 1979), further efforts (fiscal year 1980), and plans for the future. (CT)

Describes the activities of National Diffusion Network (NDN) project directors, which include traveling to school districts, demonstrating validated educational programs, and training teachers in schools that have adopted NDN projects. (SK)

Describes the Reading Is Fundamental program. (IRT)

Presents national survey of state agency vocational rehabilitation counselors (N=790) to assess the effect of federally funded statewide supported employment implementation grants by evaluating counselors' knowledge and use of supported employment. Found use of federal discretionary awards have been effective in enhancing counselors' access to…

Provides overview, background, vision, and goals of a report from the Advisory Committee on Services for Families with Infants and Toddlers. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Donna Shalala pledged to use the guidelines presented to help establish "Early Head Start," a new support and services program for families with…

Supporters of the new direct student loan program are critical of the private loan-guarantee agencies that cover lender losses on defaulted loans, portraying them as greedy, inefficient, and plagued by conflicts of interest. In turn, the agencies and banks doubt federal capacity to manage student borrowing. (MSE)

The Federal government will spend $1.2 billion in 1999-2000 on the Clinton administration's Class Size Reduction Initiative. Research on K-3 class-size reduction experiments (such as Tennessee's Project STAR) show positive achievement gains, particularly for minority and inner-city students. However, better teaching and learning must be a program…

Describes the early history of the Upward Bound program, including the role of President Johnson's vision, the Task Force on Poverty, the Office of Economic Opportunity, and Community Action Programs; influences on the development of the program; establishment of the program's administrative structure; pilot programs; and early problems leading to…

Four years ago, federal officials launched an initiative to study mathematics and science cognition. Since then, that program has begun to exert its influence through the relatively modest but steady flow of public funding it provides for scholarly research. In this article, the author features the federal center entitled, Program on Mathematics…

The purpose of this paper is to promote clearer understanding of the graduation-rate debate by distilling the policy developments and controversy surrounding the measurement of these rates over the last decade. The paper concludes with a discussion of the move toward a federally mandated common metric for graduation rates. The No Child Left Behind…