This edition of the PPIC (Public Policy Institute of California) Statewide Survey is the fourth in a series of surveys funded by The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation focusing on higher education. This survey seeks to inform state policymakers, encourage discussion, and raise public awareness about the state's public higher education…

High-quality out-of-school-time (OST) programs have a positive effect on youth development, but many cities have found it difficult to address the challenges of expanding and improving the quality of programs offered to underserved and high-need students. In response, The Wallace Foundation sponsored an initiative to help five cities increase…

Each edition of the IDRA Newsletter strives to provide many different perspectives on the issues in education topics discussed and to define its significance in the state and national dialogue. This issue focuses on Curriculum Quality and includes: (1) Suggestions for Conducting Effective Teaching Demonstrations in Classrooms with Diverse Learners…

In 1997, New York State lawmakers passed the Universal Prekindergarten (UPK) legislation, a bold new approach to early childhood education. It established new part-day Pre-K programs that were free and open to all four-year-olds. Today, the state invests $414 million annually in Pre-K, which serves more than 100,000 children in public schools and…

Writing in its many forms is the signature means of communication in the 21st century. This simple truth heightens the urgency to help all of our nation's students become strong writers and effective communicators. The National Writing Project (NWP) pursues this goal by focusing the knowledge, expertise, and leadership of the nation's educators on…

"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) "Setting the Stage for New High Schools": Alliance, National League of Cities Cohost Capitol Hill Briefing…

These self-instructional resources have their origins in a workshop on the Costs and Financing of Open & Distance Learning which took place from 6-10 August 2007 in Gabarone, Botswana. The workshop was sponsored by the Commonwealth of Learning (COL) with the overall aim of building capacity to plan, negotiate and manage appropriate financial…

The Arkansas Department of Education Technology Plan provides policy makers, school districts, education service cooperatives and institutes of higher education with a blueprint that guides and facilitates future state and local technology planning, funding, implementation, and evaluation. The 2008 Plan builds on the progress of the last five-year…

Colleges and universities around the world are enacting sustainable initiatives. Some are signing the American College and University President's Climate Committment, while others are being recognized by STARS (Sustainability, Tracking, Assessment, & Rating System). Despite what level of dedication to sustainability an institution might have, it…

ICT has a very short history in Slovakia. A majority of Slovak schools accessed computers and internet only after 2000. Different financial support and schools' participation in various projects resulted in non-random distribution of computers across Slovakian elementary schools. We examined whether 1) attitudes toward computers could be affected…

Public school leaders throughout the United States are approaching consensus about what it takes to educate all students well: more class time, smaller schools, a college preparatory curriculum, instructional coaching for teachers, and utilization of data to understand student needs. Yet results on the ground vary dramatically and remain, in large…

Although there is extensive research pertaining to Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSI), it is primarily framed around the U.S. federal definition of Hispanic Serving Institutions established by Title V of the Higher Education Act of 1965. This law identifies HSI as institutions that have a Hispanic student population of at least 25 percent and…

This article invites candidates for president to strengthen teaching and teacher education for diverse students. The article first describes two remarkable teachers in California to illustrate what strong teaching of diverse students looks like. It then discusses what the diverse students of this nation need of teachers, including teachers with…

Genetically modified (GM) crops such as maize (Zea mays L.), cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.), soybean [Glycine max (L.) Moench], and canola (Brassica rapa L.) have been widely adopted by American farmers. In spite of their use in the United States, the European Union (EU) imposed a 6-year de facto moratorium (1998-2004) on the cultivation/import of…

At a recent national conference, colleagues from different academic disciplines but all worked in college or university teaching-improvement programs found that the subject most frequently discussed was how to improve the teaching of "tired" faculty members. Tired faculty members are most often senior professors who have worked at their…