This article describes how Texas' Closing the Gaps initiative pays close attention to the demographics of its growing minority communities. West Texas A&M administrators created the University Success Academy (USA) in 2004, which was largely funded through the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board's First Generation College Student (FGCS)…

The Workforce Investment Act of 1998 (WIA) was the first legislation since 1991 to significantly revise federal funding for adult basic education (ABE). Federal ABE funds are distributed to state agencies that are in turn responsible for awarding the funds to local programs. In this role, the state agencies are in a pivotal in-between position in…

Objectives: To assess the impact of a voluntary, paraprofessional home visiting program in preventing child maltreatment and reducing the multiple, malleable psychosocial risks for maltreatment for which families had been targeted. Methods: This collaborative, experimental study focused on 6 Healthy Families Alaska (HFAK) programs; 325 families…

This "Report Card to the Public" is published in accordance with Alaska Statute 14.03.120 for the school year 2011-2012. Under state law, each school district is required to report information about its plans and performance to its community. This report includes a statewide summary of performance results. It reports the status of public…

This document is intended to assist State Education Agency (SEA) and Lead Agency (LA) staff and technical assistance providers in designing a meaningful evaluation for the State Performance Plan (SPP)/Annual Performance Report (APR) improvement activities. It provides: (1) information about the relevance of evaluation in the context of improvement…

In spring 2009, the Center on Education Policy (CEP) continued its research on the impact of test-based federal and state accountability policies by conducting case studies of six high schools in six different districts within Washington State. The purpose was to learn more about the curricular and instructional changes that administrators and…

State child care policies--including licensing, subsidy, and quality enhancement strategies--can promote the quality and continuity of early childhood experiences and foster the healthy growth and development of babies and toddlers in child care settings, especially if they are informed by research. One of the policy levers states may use to…

People do not want to know the history, minutiae of policy, or operations, or even the political intrigues of a virtual consortium. People want to know if the consortium has value, whether it can help them, and if it is a threat. In this article, the author focuses on the operating principles and policies that have proven successful in the…

This case study reviews the emergence and evolution of eCore (the University System of Georgia's electronically delivered undergraduate core courses) over eight years and summarizes the issues, ongoing challenges, and lessons learned from interinstitutional collaboration in offering and administering a "virtual" shared core. The bulk of…

Background/Context: In response to state-level test-based accountability and the federal No Child Left Behind Act, school administrators increasingly view centralized curriculum and prescribed instructional strategies as the most direct means of increasing student performance. This movement toward standardization reduces teachers' autonomy and…

This study examines why 51 schools declined an invitation to participate in a state-funded educator incentive initiative, the Texas Educator Excellence Grant (TEEG) program. Using data from an ongoing evaluation of the TEEG program conducted by the National Center on Performance Incentives (NCPI) under contract with Texas Education Agency, this…

Time limits on benefit receipt became a central feature of federal welfare policy in the 1996 Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA). Proponents of welfare reform argued that the time limits in the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program, would send a firm message to recipients that welfare is…

Context: An implicit objective of a state's investments in medical education is to promote in-state practice of state educated physicians. Purpose: To present a tool for evaluating this objective by analyzing the "pipeline" from medical education to patient care, primary care, rural areas, and underserved areas in Pennsylvania. Methods:…

As an educational media, radio has a long and complex history in the United States, but its most extensive and important use in education took place during the School of the Air (SOA) movement. From approximately 1929 to 1975, commercial broadcast networks, state universities and departments or colleges of education, and local school boards…

This report summarizes the activities and findings of the external evaluation of the "Science: It's Elementary" (SIE) program during the period from July 2009 through June 2010. The SIE program is managed by ASSET Inc. and overseen by the Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE). SIE is an initiative aimed at improving elementary…