This report responds to the legislative requirement of the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008 (P.L.110-246) to assess the effectiveness of State and local efforts to directly certify children for free school meals under the National School Lunch Program (NSLP). Direct certification is a process conducted by the States and by local…

This report responds to the requirement of Public Law 110-246 to assess the effectiveness of State and local efforts to directly certify children for free school meals. Direct certification is a process conducted by the States and by local educational agencies (LEAs) to certify eligible children for free meals without the need for household…

The purpose of this report is to provide insight into how state departments are implementing legislative requirements for educator evaluation, particularly the specific circumstances states encounter around arts education. Spotlights on Delaware, a first-round recipient of Race to the Top funding, and Colorado and Arizona, third-round recipients,…

Policy makers' attempts to improve low-achieving schools through reform measures are not new to the 21st century. Research asserts that this policy churn has done little, if anything, to change student achievement levels. Based on the research, I assert that policy reforms such as teacher evaluations and test-based assessment, and school…

Students, policymakers and institutions all need to have high quality data about how today's students access and pay for higher education--and what contributes to their success. But the data that are available now are woefully inadequate. We need to improve the national postsecondary data infrastructure The report thoroughly explores seven options…

The Federal Government currently funds a number of programs to support early childhood education and care. However, they are well short of meeting existing needs. The Strong Start for America's Children Act significantly expands investments at the Federal level to accelerate the work being done in States to support high-quality pre-K. It also…

While the focus in Germany was initially on disabled children only, the promotion of gifted and talented children has become increasingly important. Different organisations and institutions, ranging from parents' associations to foundations, offer a large variety of measures catering for the special demands of gifted and talented children,…

Background: Currently, there is great enthusiasm surrounding place-based initiatives for school reform, such as the Harlem Children's Zone, Promise Neighborhoods, and other initiatives that attend to the multiple contexts that influence child development. However, past efforts to bridge schools, families, and communities have been undermined by…

Young children's social information processing (SIP) encompasses a series of steps by which they make sense of encounters with other persons; cognitive and emotional aspects of SIP often predict adjustment in school settings. More attention is needed, however, to the development of preschoolers' SIP and its potential foundations. To this end, a…

This publication provides an overview of the current federal opportunities to help states advance their data-related activities. Although not exhaustive, this list provides a starting point for federal policymakers to support states' work in this area.

Participation in the federally-subsidized school breakfast program often falls well below its lunchtime counterpart. To increase take-up, many districts have implemented Breakfast in the Classroom (BIC), offering breakfast directly to students at the start of the school day. Beyond increasing participation, advocates claim BIC improves academic…

The list of 61 finalists for the latest Race to the Top competition shows that the U.S. Department of Education was successful in enticing high-scoring applications from districts in rural America and in states that had not shared in the Race to the Top bounty before. But whether the ultimate winners, which will be announced this month, will be…

Pregnancy and parenting can pose special challenges to students enrolled in secondary and postsecondary education, including issues related to child care, financial aid, transportation, and academic and career planning. In some circumstances, the responsibilities related to pregnancy and parenting can undermine students' ability to pursue and…

This case study was produced in conjunction with the Center for American Progress's accompanying report on these issues, "Increasing the Effectiveness and Efficiency of Existing Public Investments in Early Childhood Education." This report establishes a set of policies and administrative changes on the federal level that will begin to…

With years of research focusing on soaring incarceration rates, the phenomena of prisoner reentry has been largely overlooked. The majority of incarcerated people will return to the community setting. In fact, millions of recently released offenders are on some form of community based supervision. Today, recidivism is a problem that plagues…