Community gardening provides many benefits for students like outdoor physical activity, an understanding of plant life cycles, food production and healthy eating (Blair, 2009; Whiren, 1995). Gardening also provides hands-on learning opportunities to draw parallels between what is needed for plants to grow and what students need to be healthy. When…

There are millions of youth ages 16 to 24 who are out of school and out of work. They cost the nation billions of dollars every year and over their lifetimes in lost productivity and increased social services. They also represent an opportunity for the nation to tap the talents of millions of potential leaders and productive workers at a time when…

The School Improvement Grant (SIG) program, initially enacted as part of the "No Child Left Behind" amendments to the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, underwent a substantial transformation under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. Under the new program, states identified 2,172 persistently low-achieving schools…

In this report, the authors describe the value-added models used as part of teacher evaluation systems in the District of Columbia Public Schools (DCPS) and in eligible DC charter schools participating in Race to the Top. They estimated (1) teacher effectiveness in DCPS and eligible DC charter schools during the 2011-2012 school year; and (2)…

The purpose of this research was to study the effects of the emphasis on achieving Adequate Yearly Progress at elementary schools under the regulations of the No Child Left Behind legislation. Qualitative data were gathered through interviews with fifty educators: forty-three teachers and seven administrators. All of the educators worked at six…

This paper highlights several current collaborative activities of the National Early Childhood Technical Assistance Center (NECTAC). There are many specific examples of TA (Technical Assistance) collaborations that take place on a regular basis; the seven examples presented here were selected to represent different types of collaboration. The…

This paper provides information about the Arizona's Instrument to Measure Standards (AIMS). The purpose of the test is to determine prospective high school graduates' mastery of the state curriculum and to meet a state mandate. [For the main report, "State High School Tests: Exit Exams and Other Assessments", see ED514155.]

In this study, the authors used data from a large longitudinal birth cohort study of primarily low-income children in urban areas, the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study (FFCWS), to investigate the effects of Head Start participation on children's school readiness. The fact that their sample was mainly made up of disadvantaged families…

President Obama signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (the Recovery Act or ARRA) into law on February 17, 2009. This federal stimulus package provided an unprecedented infusion of new education aid for the nation's schools--more than $100 billion. To determine how the unprecedented federal infusion of education funding was…

This paper presents an overview of the Early Head Start program. The objective of the Early Head Start program is to enhance the cognitive, social and emotional development of low-income children, including children on federally-recognized reservations and children of migratory farm workers, through the provision of comprehensive health,…

This directory is a revised listing of projects funded by the Office of Educational Research and Improvement (OERI) in the U.S. Department of Education. It includes the addresses, telephone numbers, mission statements, major activities, key staff, and OERI liaison of the 9 regional educational laboratories, the 19 national research and development…

Suggests that the most practical budgeting system for most managers is a formalized combination of incremental and zero-based analysis because little can be learned about most programs from an annual zero-based budget. (Author/IRT)

Under the Federal Family Education Loan Program (FFELP) and the Federal Direct Loan Program (FDLP), the government guarantees and makes consolidation loans to help borrowers manage their student loan debt. By combining loans into one and extending repayment, monthly repayments are reduced. Unlike other student loans, consolidation loans carry a…

The FSA Five-Year Strategic Plan is a roadmap for FY 2004-2008 that identifies five long-range strategic objectives, tactical short-term goals, and performance management initiatives. In working toward the goals outlined in the plan, FSA will address a number of key challenges, including legacy system migration, business process re-engineering,…

A review of Daniel Moynihan's book which analyzed the War on Poverty using experiences from various federal programs but especially community action projects. (BC)