California made a historic commitment to early childhood education in 2021 by providing universal prekindergarten (UPK) for all 4-year-olds by 2025-26 and expanding access for income-eligible 3-year-olds. California's UPK initiative includes multiple early learning programs, including transitional kindergarten (TK), the California State Preschool…

California is on the cusp of implementing universal preschool--a step that could help level the playing eld for young children. Over the next few years, all four-year-olds will become eligible for Transitional Kindergarten (TK), which has been part of the state's early learning programs since 2012. In this report, the authors examine the…

This brief describes the types of college promises that exist in the state of California. In doing so, we summarize existing research on this topic. Furthermore, we provide a framework to study the California Promise Program in community colleges in California. We use publicly available data to highlight key aspects of our proposed framework: What…

Since the Student Education Loan Fund (SELF) Loan program's inception in 1984, over 250,000 students have received more than $2 billion in SELF Loans to pursue their postsecondary education (Minnesota Office of Higher Education, 2014a). The SELF Loan program provides undergraduate and graduate students with long-term, low-interest educational…

The primary purpose of the 2016-2017 North Carolina (NC) Pre-Kindergarten (NC Pre-K) Evaluation study was to examine variability in enrollment practices within the statewide Pre-K Program. Four major categories of enrollment practices were examined: recruitment, application, placement, and waitlist. The study involved all 91 local NC Pre-K Program…

The Idaho State Department of Education (SDE) recently revised its SLD identification policy to include a requirement to document a student's response to intervention coupled with a comprehensive evaluation. To implement this policy, the SDE is using multiple implementation drivers. In this article, we describe how and why the new policy was…

Since its inception in 1993, Georgia's HOPE Scholarship Program has provided thousands of state residents the opportunity to pursue a college education. This study examines the history and recent changes to the merit-based program along with interesting consequences resulting from its implementation. This study demonstrates how the program has…

Purpose/Objectives: The Direct Verification Pilot tested the feasibility, effectiveness, and costs of using Medicaid and State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) data to verify applications for free and reduced-price (FRP) school meals instead of obtaining documentation from parents and guardians. Methods: The Direct Verification Pilot…

This report addresses the issue of whether Federal regulations and certain state and local office practices and procedures may discourage or prevent eligible persons from participating in the Food Stamp Program. The report focuses on only those procedures and practices that affect households once they have contacted the local food stamp office for…

We evaluate the effects of state policy design features on SCHIP take-up rates and on the degree to which SCHIP benefits crowd out private benefits. The results indicate overall program take-up rates of approximately 10 percent. However, there is considerable heterogeneity across states, suggesting a potential role of inter-state variation in…

This brief provides a snapshot of the types and scale of expansions that states have adopted in the early implementation phase of the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP), a program to expand health coverage for low-income children up to age 19. In addition, the brief examines how coverage expansions vary in relation to state…

In U.S. K-12 public education, incentive pay for educators remains firmly fixed as a high-interest policy topic and has recently become a popular reform initiative in many school systems. The Teacher Incentive Fund (TIF), created in 2006 by the U.S. Department of Education, is at the forefront of this policy movement and has provided hundreds of…

The State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) provides funds to states to expand health insurance coverage for low-income children who are uninsured. States have a great deal of flexibility to design and implement SCHIP, resulting in considerable diversity across states. Enrollment reached 3.4 million in federal fiscal year 2000 and…

The 2005 Washington State Legislature authorized, through Substitute House Bill 1345, a two-year pilot project allowing eligible students, who enroll for four or five credits in a term, to receive the State Need Grant (SNG). Several important policy considerations emerged during the pilot project. Board staff explored these issues with financial…

The document outlines the Georgia State Plan for providing special programs to gifted students within the public schools. Section I covers legal authorizations for special education services including state statutes, state board of education policies, and federal regulations and statutes. The primary responsibilities of state department of…