Broad agreement exists in the society about the desirability of U.S. residents speaking English. Policymakers, community and civic leaders, and social scientists--and especially non-English speakers themselves--agree that knowledge of English is the gateway to full participation in U.S. society and its many rewards. Yet learning a language is…

Despite widespread support for early education among policymakers and business and community leaders, the most frequently cited obstacle to expanding quality or access is fiscal constraints. Thus, in an attempt to accommodate these publicly supported programs within the confines of limited state budgets, policymakers leverage states' general…

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, a philanthropic organization created by the Microsoft founder and his wife in 2000, has already invested nearly a billion dollars in an effort to redesign the American high school. It supports some 1,500 existing schools; 450 of them are either restructured or brand new. But the foundation's focus was not…

Family, friend and neighbor (FFN) child caregivers represent a significant proportion of caregivers for young children. Yet, these caregivers receive little support for their services. In 2003, the First 5 California Children and Families Commission (First 5 California) began a study to determine the work-related needs of FFN caregivers in…

One of the benefits of an applied research funding program such as those within the National Science Foundation's Directorate for Education and Human Resources is the reading and referencing across fields of study and application of ideas from diverse literatures for common social good such as STEM teaching and learning. This benefit resonates…

Over one-quarter of all undergraduates attending Australian universities enrol on a part-time basis. This paper addresses the social, educational and financial characteristics of these students. In a survey in 2000, questionnaires were sent to a sample of 84,591 domestic (i.e. excluding overseas fee-paying) undergraduate students at 19 Australian…

Based on a study of research partnerships with industry across the higher education sector in three high technology fields in South Africa, the paper identifies five key tensions, the resolution of which shapes the way partnerships are facilitated and constrained in distinct institutional contexts. The paper highlights the significance of policy…

In June 1993 the "Wall Street Journal" carried a table of data prepared by the Heritage Foundation that listed the states in order of the average amount they expend on each public school student. The table also contained each state's rank on the average score on the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) and the rank of each state in the average…

This annual report of the National Action Council for Minorities in Engineering (NACME) overviews program activities for the year 1993. The goal of NACME is to increase the number of African Americans, Hispanics, and American Indians in the engineering workforce. NACME activities include educational research and public policy analysis, funding of…

This book is designed to help people who want to know whether distance education is useful for them. It suggests what questions to ask in considering whether distance education makes sense in a particular context and examines the different ways in which it can be organized. Chapter 1 considers who it can teach, what it can be used for, and how…

This report examines the financial position of Ontario (Canada) universities, focusing on the effects of declining federal and provincial financial support for higher education. It argues that the provincial government has been underfunding Ontario universities since the 1970s, and that such underfunding is unrelated to general economic conditions…

This paper reviews the changing compositions of public expenditures on education in Mongolia during recent economic transitions. It also assesses the impact of economic transition in Mongolia. The study recommends three complementary strategies to provide a more stable resource base to finance education: (1) rationalize public expenditures on…

This paper explores the question of the use of public state funds to support Catholic or any other denominational, nonpublic school. Thomas Sobol, Commissioner of Education, asked the Blue Ribbon Panel to examine the following significant matters: (1) the stress on tradition and work-related economic values derived by graduates of Catholic…

In 1992, Pine Crest School, an independent school in Fort Lauderdale (Florida) combined with three other independent schools in Broward County to form the Greater Fort Lauderdale Consortium and to build on their previous experience with summer programs to develop a summer enrichment program for low income high school students. The program,…

This report summarizes the findings and recommendations from the Children's Policy Project, which examined the child welfare system in Illinois. The report: (1) outlines the project's findings about the difficulties faced by existing child welfare services; (2) proposes ways to improve existing arrangements; (3) examines the fundamental problems…