The purpose of this study was to examine the characteristics of Part C programs and how funding has impacted the quality of services for children and families given ongoing budgetary concerns. Perceptions of State Early Intervention Coordinators (EICs) regarding their state Part C systems were obtained through an online survey. Using survey…

As a condition of receiving federal funds, the Every Student Succeeds Act requires state education agencies to implement statewide assessments in mathematics and English language arts every year in third through eighth grade and once in ninth through 12th grade. The federal law also requires a science assessment once in each of three grade spans:…

Over the past few decades, we have witnessed a surge in publicly funded pre-K programs in the United States. Today, policy makers in 45 states and the District of Columbia have adopted them. Combining information from twelve datasets, we use event history analysis (EHA) to examine the influence of a set of predictors on states' decisions to adopt…

After decades of frustration with increasingly complex college financial aid policies, a nationwide shift toward "free college" programs has gained momentum. New York State joined the free college movement in 2017, when Governor Andrew Cuomo announced his goal to make public higher education tuition-free for most students during his…

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…

In this qualitative study, we focused on a two-way model of engagement, utilizing observational and individual interview data to examine community members' perceptions of their participation in a statewide initiative to increase leadership capacity at the community level. We review barriers to engagement recognized in the literature. Our study…

Introduction: This study describes the characteristics of, services received by, and labor market outcomes of applicants with visual impairments to three state vocational rehabilitation programs. Our objective is to both document cross-state variation in vocational rehabilitation clientele and services and provide new insights on the longitudinal…

Educational measurement and evaluation experts generally agree that increasing stakeholders' assessment literacy will yield a variety of positive benefits, especially broadening the range of assessment formats teachers use to measure students' mastery of high level, more cognitively complex learning outcomes. But in the context of education…

This study examines administrator perceptions of Pennsylvania's state assessment data. This study had three main purposes. The first purpose was to investigate the value and utility of state assessment data to inform decision making and the possibility of improving student achievement through the routine use of state assessment data. The second…

Multi-Tiered System of Support (MTSS), as a fully integrated set of practices and interventions directed to academics and behavior, with emerging applications to social and emotional learning in the teaching/learning process, is very much in its ascendency in schools across the United States and elsewhere. As a result, there is an emerging need to…

While about three-fourths of all public school districts offer dual credit opportunities in Career Technical Education (CTE) courses, many programs face gaps in alignment between secondary and postsecondary CTE programs that lead to quality and equity inconsistencies in early postsecondary opportunities (EPSOs) across career pathways, ultimately…

Scholarship tax credit programs provide a tax credit to businesses and individual taxpayers for donating funds to scholarship granting organizations. Nonprofit organizations manage and distribute donated funds in the form of private school tuition scholarships to eligible students. There are currently 24 scholarship tax credit programs in 19…

This report describes the work done by the 48 State Deaf-Blind Projects awarded grants by the Department of Education's Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) in late 2013. The report documents the technical assistance and dissemination activities carried out by the Projects and their collaborative activities, describes the needs for…

Professional organizations can play an important role in the lives and work of educators. The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore Alabama educators' experiences with membership in statewide professional organizations and to determine what benefits, if any, members feel their organizations provide them. Four main benefits that…

ArtScan at a Glance summarizes state policies for arts education identified in statute or administrative code for all 50 states, plus the District of Columbia and the Department of Defense Education Activity. Information is based on a comprehensive search of state education statute and codes on each state's relevant websites. Complete results from…