Disproportionate representation of children from diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds in special education has been a longstanding concern that the 2004 reauthorization of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) sought to address. The IDEA contains new requirements related to the provision of early intervening services designed to…

The "Children's Budget 2010" is intended to be a resource guide for policymakers and advocates who are interested in better understanding how Colorado funds children's programs and services. It attempts to clarify often confusing budget information and describe where the state's investment trends are and where those trends will lead the…

Nearly every institution is faced with the situation of having to reduce the cost of a construction project from time to time through a process generally referred to as "value engineering." Just the mention of those words, however, gives rise to all types of connotations, thoughts, and memories (usually negative) for those in the…

Purpose: Minnesota's Nursing Facility Performance-Based Incentive Payment Program (PIPP) supports provider-initiated projects aimed at improving care quality and efficiency. PIPP moves beyond conventional pay for performance. It seeks to promote implementation of evidence-based practices, encourage innovation and risk taking, foster collaboration…

The "raison d'etre" of higher education institutions is to educate individuals, undertake research, and disseminate knowledge into the public domain. Changing values and norms in HEIs, partly as a product of "managerialism", as well as increased competition for funding and other environmental factors, have moved autonomous…

The decade 1997 to 2007 was a dramatic one for Ireland. Driven by a strong economy it had low rates of unemployment and attracted a large population of immigrant workers. These changes impacted directly on family life--most particularly in the area of the education and care of young children. The recent and equally dramatic change in economic…

In the 1990s, most US states adopted new forms of performance-based accountability, e.g., performance-based budgeting, funding, or reporting. This study analyzed changes in institutional performance following the adoption of these new accountability standards. We measured institutional performance by representative education and research…

Educational institutions receive a disproportionately large share of their gift income from estates. Charitable estate plans often donate a share of the total estate, rather than a specific dollar amount. The value of this type of planned gift depends not only on the value of the estate at the time the plan is signed, but also on the individual's…

Over the last 20 years, states and provinces have become increasingly involved in the financing and administration of elementary and secondary education. Local school boards, however, still retain control over key aspects of the provision of education. Historically, these boards were organized at the community level so as to meet the wants of the…

President Obama has announced the availability of more than $4 billion in discretionary funds to reform the nation's K-12 education system. These funds are part of what Secretary of Education Arne Duncan calls the "Race to the Top" and are part of the economic stimulus legislation enacted shortly after the president took office in…

In this article, the author discusses how to work with legislative delegation to get positive legislation passed. Most school districts have a person who is responsible for working with the legislators and informing them of the district's position on bills and issues that arise in each legislative session. Even if one has a full-time or part-time…

Children's noncognitive skills, mental health, and behavior are important predictors of future earnings and educational attainment. Their behavior in the classroom also affects their peers' behavior and achievement. There is limited prior evidence, however, concerning the impact of school resources on student behavior. Some elementary schools…

This article shares the success story of Hamissou Samari, an immigrant from Togo, who realized his dream through the help of the Kaplan Foundation scholarship and leadership program for nontraditional students enrolled in community colleges. Designed for underserved community college students in New York, the comprehensive, first-of-its-kind…

This article describes the development and validation of the Family Influence Scale (FIS). The FIS is designed to assess perceptions of how one's family of origin influences career and work choices. The purpose of Study 1 was to identify the domains of family influence. A 57-item scale was completed by a sample of 205 college students. Results…

This postscript commentary challenges private and public funders to take action in support of the internationalization of teacher preparation programs by funding efforts for much needed resources, in order to prepare twenty-first-century teachers to teach with global perspectives. Specific ideas for foundations, corporate philanthropy, and…