Adult language, literacy and numeracy are essential ingredients for greater workforce participation, productivity and social inclusion. Both national and international research demonstrate the relationship between increasing levels of language, literacy and numeracy proficiency and positive outcomes for individuals, as well as for communities and…

The Obama Administration is currently using more than $4 billion in federal stimulus funds in a controversial program called Race to The Top in an attempt to improve student achievement in public schools throughout the country. However, this study analyzes a different approach to spending stimulus funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment…

Approximately half of all New York City public school students who live in families with incomes less than 185% of the federal poverty level (FPL) do not graduate from high school. These dropouts are much less likely to achieve economic self-sufficiency in adulthood. This creates both a fiscal and social burden. Rothstein, Wilder and Allgood…

"Straight A's: Public Education Policy and Progress" is a biweekly newsletter that focuses on education news and events both in Washington, DC and around the country. The following articles are included in this issue: (1) Waive Around: Obama Outlines Plan Allowing States to Waive Specific Provisions of No Child Left Behind Act; (2)…

The development of world-class universities is high on the policy agenda of governments across the globe. China's 985 Project is among the earliest national initiatives to concentrate research funding to build world-class universities. Ten years after it was initiated, the project has enabled selected institutions to improve their research and…

This article considers the role of higher education in state budgets. It empirically models and tests the balance wheel hypothesis in a robust framework. The balance wheel model posits that in good economic times, higher education is an attractive area for states to fund and tends to be funded at a higher rate than other state budget categories.…

Set in the context of a falling budget, the purpose of this study was to investigate how the impact of Aimhigher funds could be maximised in Herefordshire and Worcestershire schools. A case study approach using phenomenological methods was used to examine three key areas: How are funds distributed and utilised by schools and colleges? How are…

When "crisis" and "extramural funding" are mentioned, most academics think about problems such as the low percentage of proposals funded by federal agencies (now approaching single digits in many fields) or inadequate indirect-cost recovery rates that fail to reimburse universities for all costs of research. These are great problems draining…

Purpose: This paper aims to investigate the factors that influenced seven graduates in the creative and digital industries to start their own businesses in Barnsley, South Yorkshire, UK--an area with lack of employing establishments and locally registered businesses. Design/methodology/approach: Questionnaires and semi-structured interviews…

One of National PTA's advocacy victories was ensuring that parent engagement requirements were included in The Elementary and Secondary Education/No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (ESEA/NCLB). In January 2002, it became the law of the land to hold Title 1 schools and parents jointly accountable for high student achievement. To help these schools…

The purpose of this qualitative study was to identify significant external and internal challenges that state organization leaders face in promoting science-based teen pregnancy prevention programs within their states. The state organization administrators were chosen because their organizations were funded by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control…

Background: The philosophical underpinnings of evaluation guidelines set forth by a funding agency can sometimes seem inconsistent with that of the intervention. Purpose: Our purpose is to introduce questions pertaining to the contrast between the instructional program's underlying philosophical beliefs and assumptions and those underlying our…

The education culture that revolves around high stakes testing has taken its toll on North Carolina schools. North Carolina high schools that have been identified as consistently low performing based on state and national measures have been inundated with curriculum reform, research and assessment teams, and professional development requirements.…

In most PISA-participating countries and economies, the average socio-economic background of students who attend privately managed schools is more advantaged than that of those who attend public schools. Yet in some countries, there is little difference in the socio-economic profiles between public and private schools. Why? An analysis of PISA…

It is not troubling, or even surprising, that the United States today faces increasing economic competition from around the world. It is easier for other nations to make up ground on the world's leader by copying more-advanced existing innovations, than it is for the leader to move forward by making new innovations. And as other nations improve…