This policy brief examines the state of period poverty in rural areas of the United States and calls on policymakers to take action. The authors categorize states based on their approach to funding menstrual products in public schools: (1) those providing direct funding [10]; (2) those with an unfunded mandate [10]; (3) those offering optional…

New student success interventions generate costs for colleges (for example, staff time and supplies). However, if they lead more students to remain enrolled, cause students to attempt more credits, and improve longer-term student outcomes, they can also generate tuition revenue and state funding (for public institutions in states that allocate…

The Federal Pell Grant program, authorized by Title IV-A-1 of the Higher Education Act of 1965, (HEA; P.L. 89-329), as amended, is the single largest source of federal grant aid supporting undergraduate students. The program provided approximately $26 billion in aid to approximately 6.1 million undergraduate students in FY2021. Pell Grants are…

This report provides descriptions of key elements of the Pell Grant program and information on recipient demographics, award levels, award value, program costs, and program funding prior to the effective date of the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) Simplification Act (FSA). For information on key changes authorized by the FSA that…

During the 2016 session, the General Assembly and Governor established the New Economy Workforce Grant Program (WCG). This grant program, the first of its kind in the nation, provides a pay-for-performance model for funding noncredit workforce training that leads to a credential in a high-demand field. The program also includes requirements for…

Over both recent years and many decades, California districts have produced a range of substantively different approaches to teacher evaluation, demonstrating both the potential for district-level action generally and specific design options. In this report, the authors focus on teacher evaluation programs and further focus on the features of…

How do children fare in the federal budget? Investments in children's health, education, and overall well-being pay high dividends for taxpayers and the economy as a whole. Without adequately funded education, nutrition, housing, early education and care, and other basic supports, the foundation of children's well-being is at risk. This report 1)…

"America after 3PM" began in 2004, precisely because of the absence of reliable data about such topics. That year, the Afterschool Alliance set out to fill the information gap, conducting what was at that point the most in-depth study on how children spend their time after school. The 2014 "America after 3PM" edition spans a…

Washington State is set to spend nearly $100 million in the next two years on pay bonuses for teachers who receive national board certification. This investment is supposed to improve the state's teaching force and encourage the most capable teachers to work in high-poverty schools. Does it accomplish those goals? Governor Christine Gregoire's…

The purpose of this report is to support educational administrators and policymakers in becoming informed consumers of information about online learning and its potential impact on educational productivity. The report provides foundational knowledge needed to examine and understand the potential contributions of online learning to educational…

Indiana legislators are currently debating the merits of a proposal to adopt a statewide tuition scholarship tax credit program. The proposed program would make available $5 million in tax credits that businesses and individuals could claim by making donations to non-profit Scholarship Granting Organizations (SGOs). SGO donations would be matched…

The Committee on Education and Labor strongly recommends the adoption of H. R. 2148, a bill that, with two major additions, would basically reenact Project Follow Through for an additional year as it is currently authorized under the Omnibus Reconciliation Act of 1981. The two additions would provide for review and evaluation of what has been…

A conceptual framework for considering the costs and benefits of postsecondary education assessment is presented, along with a typology linking the costs of evaluation to their informational benefits. A number of cost-analysis paradigms and techniques for assessing alternative evaluation projects at the institutional level are also examined. The…

We review what is known about Head Start's impacts on children and argue that the program is likely to generate benefits to participants and society as a whole that are larger than program costs. Our conclusions differ from those in some previous reviews because we use a more appropriate standard to judge program effectiveness (benefit-cost…

This report provides a discussion of strategies for containing the costs of health insurance programs offered at Florida's community colleges. Introductory material outlines the problem of spiralling health care costs and the impact upon the community colleges. In addition, some of the strategies for containing costs are discussed; e.g.,…