For-profit colleges do not always recruit aggressively; nor do they always shortchange students. But the problem of colleges systematically overpromising and underdelivering, when it does happen, has largely been a for-profit phenomenon. The abuses have been the most widespread and most damaging when they have been fueled by government grants and…

Education policy-making in Australia remains one of the most complex of government's responsibilities, affecting a broad spectrum of social and political advancements of national and international importance. The advancement of education policy has been accepted as a key factor in achieving the labour productivity and innovation capacity that are…

The evolution of the federal role in education policy has entailed increasing activism in matters traditionally controlled by states and school districts. However, the expanding federal role has not resulted in a zero sum game for states and localities. Focusing on the policy-implementation process, this article examines recent state and local…

Increasing federal intervention and the resulting burden of complying with federal programs, rules, and regulations has caused a significant growth in state bureaucracy, much of which has a parasitic relationship with federal education programs, straining the time and resources of local schools. Instead of responding first to students, parents,…

This article offers an analysis of the origins, evolution, and impact of the Obama administration's Race to the Top (RTTT) competitive grant program and places it in the broader context of the debate over the No Child Left Behind Act and the shifting intergovernmental relations around education. RTTT is fundamentally about two things: creating…

The U.S. Department of Education is conducting several activities to address privacy and security issues related to education data. Earlier this year a contractor for the Department convened a group of privacy and security experts and produced a report with recommendations to the Department on ways they can address emerging challenges in…

Discusses the declining role the Federal Government is playing in education. Compares educational expenditures at State, local, and federal levels absolutely and as a percentage of total expenditures. (Author/DN)

This chapter is organized as follows. The first section examines the evolving state and federal role in education and the implications of an expanded federal role on the structure of the educational system. It pays particular attention to how the debate on the causes and solutions to school reform has shifted and the impact this has had on school…

Four opinions are presented concerning the controversy over state/federal government responsibility for higher education. (Editor/PG)

New youth strategies are outlined with an emphasis on matching the policy to the problem. The author says federal policy can hardly do more than provide countercyclical public employment. He recommends a more ambitious partnership between federal, state, local, and private agencies. (CT)

Traces the history of federal goals and policies in education from the expansion of federal aid under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to the reduction of federal support and regulation currently envisaged in the Education Improvement and Consolidation Act of 1981. (RW)

This article argues that the federal government will continue to shape the field of early intervention but in ways that differ from what has been seen in past years. Federal involvement in cross-state variability in eligibility, expected program outcomes, noncompliance, and directed research in perceived areas of need is discussed. (Contains…

Special revenue sharing is a tool that can allow almost unlimited state flexibility in social service interventions, while primarily confining the federal role to the specification and measurement of national social service objectives. Goal specification and measurement procedures are crucial to the special revenue-sharing idea. Federally…

Argues that because past federal interventions in the nation's economy have created great wealth differentials among states, and because present federal policies perpetuate these inequities, the federal government should establish a federal foundation program to assure an adequate education for students in poorer states. (Author/JG)

The Education Consolidation and Improvement Act (ECIA), which replaced the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, significantly changed the federal government's role in education. The ECIA is part of a program to consolidate and simplify federal programs, cut federal spending, and transfer power to state and local governments. Fiscal,…