In this essay, Benjamin Baez and Susan Talburt analyze the U.S. Department of Education's Helping Your Child Series to consider how the government of children, families, and schools reflects a concern with two seemingly unrelated political objectives of neoliberal projects: creating responsible, self-reliant citizens and making schools more…

In this testimony, Patricia Whitefoot talks on behalf of the National Indian Education Association (NIEA) with regard to President Obama's Fiscal Year 2011 budget request. She describes how Native education still faces enormous challenges, including severe underfunding. Far too many students and schools continue to experience abject failure. NIEA…

This is the final report of the National Evaluation of Student Support Services (SSS). SSS is one of eight federally funded grant programs that are administered as part of the Federal TRIO Programs within the U.S. Department of Education (ED). The SSS program, in particular, focuses on students while they are enrolled in college. In general, SSS…

Education finance has emerged as one of the most pressing public policy issues of the new century. Americans spend more than $500 billion a year on elementary and secondary education, yet neither policy-makers nor practitioners seems to know how to align these resources with student learning goals. In fact, spending increases have outstripped…

Monitoring the Future (MTF) is a long-term study of American adolescents, college students, and adults through age 50. It has been conducted annually by the University of Michigan's Institute for Social Research since its inception in 1975. It is supported under a series of investigator-initiated, competing research grants from the National…

This paper provides information about Alabama High School Graduation Exam, 3rd Edition, a comprehensive standards-based exam. The purpose of the exam is to: (1) Provide schools with student academic diagnostic information; (2) Determine prospective high school graduates' mastery of the state curriculum; (3) Increase alignment of local curriculum…

This paper provides information about Ohio Graduation Test, a comprehensive standards-based exam. The purpose of the test is to: (1) Measure the level of reading, writing, mathematics, science, and social studies skill expected at the end of 10th grade; (2) Ensure that students achieve a passing score as a condition of granting a diploma; (3)…

This paper provides information about South Carolina's High School Assessment Program. The purpose of the test is to: (1) Demonstrate students' achievement based on selected South Carolina academic standards; (2) Provide data to state policymakers on student attainment of state education goals to inform educational policy decisions; and (3) Meet a…

"Title III Accountability and District Improvement Efforts: A Closer Look" (2010) summarizes findings from interviews with six Title III Directors and nine Title III district-level directors in the spring of 2009. States and districts were selected in order to collect information from some entities with a long history of serving English…

"Title III Policy: State of the States" (2010) discusses state implementation of the Title III accountability requirements based on phone interviews with six state Title III Directors in the spring of 2009, interviews with six experts and university-based researchers who work on education for English Learners, and based on earlier data…

An emerging body of research suggests that a set of broad "21st century skills"--such as adaptability, complex communication skills, and the ability to solve non-routine problems--are valuable across a wide range of jobs in the national economy. However, the role of K-12 education in helping students learn these skills is a subject of current…

Advances in digital video technology create opportunities for more detailed qualitative analyses of actual teaching practice in science and other subject areas. User-friendly digital cameras and highly developed, flexible video-analysis software programs have made the tasks of video capture, editing, transcription, and subsequent data analysis…

The No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) mandates that every classroom be staffed with a "highly qualified teacher." Research supports that teachers' content knowledge affects student achievement. However, the special education population continues to be taught by teachers who do not have the content area background they teach. In addition,…

High school career academies are a time-tested model for improving academic outcomes and preparing students for both college and careers. Career academies (1) are smaller learning communities taught by a team of interdisciplinary teachers, (2) provide a rigorous academic curriculum based on a career theme that demonstrates how knowledge is used…

The Office of Management and Budget requested that the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) oversee an independent impact evaluation of the federal Student Mentoring Program, and in 2005 IES contracted with Abt Associates and its team of subcontractors (Branch Associates, Moore and Associates, and the Center for Resource Management) to conduct…