In recent years, concerns have been raised about the adequacy of dental care for low-income children. Attention to this subject became more acute due to the widely publicized case of Deamonte Driver, a 12-year-old boy who died as a result of an untreated infected tooth that led to a fatal brain infection. Deamonte had health coverage through…

To help fulfill the goal of No Child Left Behind (NCLB), high-quality postsecondary education opportunities must be available to all students. In keeping with this goal, the Federal TRIO programs and Child Care Access Means Parents in School (CCAMPIS) program provide outreach and support to help low-income and first-generation college students, as…

This article talks about the Australian Government "Summer School for Teachers" programme which was announced as part of the 2007-08 Budget Package: "Realising Our Potential." Funds earmarked for this initiative totalled some $102 million over four years, and it was sold to the Australian public as something that would both…

Context: The Balanced Budget Act (BBA) of 1997 and other recent policies have led to reduced Medicare funding for home health agencies (HHAs) and visits per beneficiary. Purpose: We examine the staffing characteristics of stable Medicare-certified HHAs across rural and urban counties from 1996 to 2002, a period encompassing the changes associated…

The Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC) is an independent, not-for-profit corporation designated as the administrator of the federal Universal Service Fund (USF) by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). USAC administers the Universal Service Fund and the four Universal Service programs: High Cost, Low Income, Rural Health Care,…

The Rural and Low-Income School (RLIS) program is part of the Rural Education Achievement Program (REAP) that was authorized under Title VI, Part B of the "Elementary and Secondary Act of 1965" ("ESEA"), as amended by the "No Child Left Behind Act of 2001" ("NCLB"). The RLIS program provides additional funds…

In response to the demands of the changing economy and the business community's need for better-educated, more highly skilled workers, the U.S. Department of Education, through the Office of Vocational and Adult Education (OVAE), developed the State Scholars Initiative (SSI), which encourages students to take a rigorous course of study in high…

Accessing Curriculum through Technology Tools (ACTTT), a model development project, was developed and tested by staff of the Center for Best Practices in Early Childhood (the Center), a research and development unit within the College of Education and Human Services at Western Illinois University. The major goal of ACTTT was to develop,…

The National Summer Learning Association is the only national organization that focuses exclusively on learning during the summer months. It works to ensure that children and youth in high-poverty communities have access to quality summer learning opportunities that support their academic performance and healthy development through hands-on…

Over the past several years, a number of new programs, policies, and initiatives designed to promote the employment of people with disabilities have been implemented by state and federal agencies, and are being evaluated to greater and lesser degrees. The purpose of this report is to provide a review of the recent evaluation activities being…

As President Obama said in advance remarks about the American Graduation Initiative: "[T]he hard truth is that some of the jobs that have been lost in the auto industry and elsewhere won't be coming back. And that only underscores the importance of generating new businesses and industries to replace the ones we've lost, and of preparing our…

Prior to its election to office in 2007, the Australian Labor Party announced a commitment to introduce Trade Training Centres (TTCs) into all Australian secondary schools as an initiative of its Education Revolution. TTCs were proposed as a key element of Federal Labor's education and training policy that aimed to manage future risks to…

This study positioned the federal No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act of 2002 as a reified colonizing entity, inscribing its hegemonic authority upon the professional identity and work of school principals within their school communities of practice. Pressure on educators and students intensifies each year as the benchmark for Adequate Yearly Progress…

This paper provides information about the New York's Regents Examination. The purpose of the exam is to: (1) Provide schools with student academic diagnostic information; (2) Determine prospective high school graduates' knowledge and skill levels relative to those needed for entry-level employment; (3) Determine prospective high school graduates'…

The inclusion of young children with disabilities has remained a function of the Head Start program since its inception in the 1960s when the United States Congress mandated that children with disabilities comprise 10% of the Head Start enrollment (Zigler & Styfco, 2000). Standardized, norm-referenced tests used to identify children with…