State takeovers were an infrequently applied strategy to address financially and academically troubled schools for many decades. The opportunity for a more extensive state role in taking over troubled schools grew further with the announcement of the federal "Race to the Top" (RTTT) program in 2009. RTTT required states to develop plans…

The federal role in higher education has grown over the past two decades, and now a new administration has the opportunity to strengthen policies that support students and their colleges and universities. To help inform these decisions, the Urban Institute convened a bipartisan group of scholars and policy advisers to write a series of memos…

Eighth grade students at a middle school in a southern state were required a mathematics pass rate of 67.6% to meet annual yearly progress (AYP). Black and Hispanic students performed below the required pass rate on state assessments; thus, the school did not make AYP from 2007-2010. In an attempt to address low test scores in mathematics, the…

On May 4, 2017, the United States House of Representatives narrowly passed the American Health Care Act (AHCA) as a repeal and replacement of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Independent analyses of the AHCA show that it would leave 23 million more people uninsured by 2026, and make coverage less comprehensive and affordable for millions more. Many…

This "National Profile" serves as a helpful resource document on the basics of the federal student financial aid programs that provide funding to millions of students each year. This information is more important than ever, as data from the U.S. Department of Education (ED) show that the number of students applying for federal financial…

The present study examined how teacher preparation programs and class- and school-level factors impact teacher employment. Using a sample of 121 early-career teachers from four school districts, we examined the effect of a job-embedded master's level teacher-preparation program, in combination with several other factors, on whether or not they…

The Pell grant program is the largest source of need-based federal financial aid available to low-income students, currently providing a maximum of $5500 in grants to undergraduate students. The program is a major investment of public money, and policymakers have a responsibility to ensure that the investment yields results. Because low-income…

As a requirement for a federal neighborhood revitalization grant, the authors trained resident interviewers and coordinated the conduct of more than 1000 door-to-door interviews of a stratified random sample. The targeted area was a multiethnic, lower income neighborhood that continues to experience the effects of past segregation. Monitoring and…

Since the enactment of Title IX in 1972--which prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in education programs and activities receiving any federal financial assistance--women have made significant gains in many academic fields. However, recent research shows that women continue to lag behind men in academic and professional advancement in…

U.S. citizens or permanent residents, enrolled at least half time in a qualified program at a participating school, not in default on a prior federal student loan, and not previously convicted of a drug offense while receiving federal financial aid are eligible to apply for a student loan. This chart summarizes the interest rates, loan limits, and…

Since 1969, the Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program (EFNEP) has reached more than 32 million low-income families and youth, improving their diets and food-related behaviors. Each year EFNEP enrolls more than half a million new program participants. In 2014, EFNEP reached 121,850 adults and 392,563 youth directly and nearly 360,000 family…

An increasing amount of attention and public funding has been dedicated in recent years to the field of Early Childhood Education and the expansion of early childhood programs in the United States. Program quality in early childhood is evaluated based on program-level structural features and instructional support (e.g. problem solving, feedback,…

The Behavioral Interventions to Advance Self-Sufficiency (BIAS) project conducted 15 randomized controlled trials of behavioral interventions across eight states, in the domains of work support, child support, and child care. BIAS used a systematic approach called "behavioral diagnosis and design" to develop the interventions and their…

Decades of reading research have improved our understanding of the ways that young children learn how to read and of the component skills that support the ongoing development of reading and reading comprehension. However, while these investments have transformed reading instruction and reading outcomes for many learners, too many children are not…

Decades of reading research have improved our understanding of the ways that young children learn how to read and of the component skills that support the ongoing development of reading and reading comprehension. But while these investments have transformed reading instruction and reading outcomes for many learners, too many children are not…