This study explored the experiences of Head Start parents who were becoming involved in their pre-school-age children's Individualized Education Program (IEP) process. Seven participants from the rural Midwest engaged in focus group (n = 2) or interview (n = 1) format discussions regarding barriers to involvement in the IEP process and…

In 2019, the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) began exploratory data collection for the School Pension Survey (SPS). The SPS is a new data collection of elementary/secondary school teacher pension data collected at the school district level. The SPS was developed primarily in response to public demand for data on teacher and other…

In spring 2020, in response to the COVID-19 (for coronavirus disease 2019) pandemic, many early care and education centers, including Head Start centers, closed their physical buildings and changed their operations to virtual. Because of health and safety restrictions, OPRE was unable to directly assess children's skills in spring 2020 for the…

Every year a subset of postsecondary students goes hungry and lacks stable shelter. Recent research has helped raise national awareness of basic needs insecurity on college campuses across the US. States and institutions of higher education have, until recently, been approaching the problem of student food insecurity in separate, sometimes…

In 2002 Congress passed the Education Sciences Reform Act of 2002 (ESRA), authorizing the creation of the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) as the research, evaluation, statistics, and assessment arm of the Department of Education, and crystallizing the federal government's commitment to providing national leadership in expanding fundamental…

This dissertation reports the results of a research project that examined the effect teachers' attitudes, knowledge, and practices have on the relationships they build with their students and students' success in school (i.e., academic, social-emotional, and behavioral). [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission…

Background: South Africa's long-standing reading crisis is well recognised. At various stages since 2000, national government has presented the inculcation of a culture of reading as a solution to this crisis. Objectives: This article critically interrogated the term 'culture of reading' as used in national government discourse with reference to…

Program evaluation is important for assessing the implementation and outcomes of local, state, and federal programs. The Program Evaluation Toolkit provides tools and resources to support individuals responsible for evaluating and monitoring local, state, or federal programs. The toolkit comprises eight modules that cover critical steps in program…

When a college closes, it can derail the education of many students, leaving them with loans but no degree. Those who cannot complete their education may be eligible to have their federal student loans forgiven through a "closed school discharge" from the Department of Education (Education), but this process has changed in recent years.…

The Charter Schools Program (CSP) is a key lever that the federal government uses to ensure charter schools provide more students access to excellent public schools. As the U.S. Department of Education studies the program, a new National Association of Charter School Authorizers (NACSA) brief, "U.S. Department of Education's CSP: Investing in…

The U.S. federally funded Head Start programs serve more than one million low-income children and their families each year in education and health programs. Historically there have been few requirements for formal education for Head Start teachers. In response to research linking teacher education and outcomes for children, increased educational…

This study examined the literacy trajectories of 185 Head Start-eligible Black children from preschool to first grade enrolled in a high-quality early learning program physically connected to an elementary school where they attended kindergarten and first grade. Social emotional, language, and literacy skills were assessed in the fall and spring…

Government-funded assistance program enrollment may play an important role in the overall increase of HIV testing among low-income U.S. adults. We pooled data from the 2016-2018 National Health Interview Survey and limited analyses to respondents aged 18 to 64 years with incomes less than 100% of the U.S. poverty threshold (N = 9,497). The outcome…

This "Building Capacity for Change" "playbook" highlights practices and strategies that proved to be effective in supporting the rollout and implementation of certain programs under the New York State Department of Health's First 1,000 Days on Medicaid Initiative, a series of evidence-based reforms aimed at improving health and…

This National Early Head Start Services Snapshot summarizes key data on demographics and services for infants, toddlers, and pregnant women served by Early Head Start programs. The data in this Snapshot is a subset of the annual Program Information Report (PIR) submission to the Office of Head Start. Data categories include: (1) Funded Enrollment;…