Higher education leaders enjoy only limited influence in their state capitals, according to a report from the Center for Policy Studies in Education at George Mason University. A survey of 35 governors is discussed. (MLW)

Tests the functionalist and class-reproduction explanations of community college expansion against the experiences of four states where community colleges have proliferated and one state where they have failed to develop. Finds that both explanations have missed the key role of autonomous government officials. (FMW)

Uses voting and interview data to support the argument that political actors, who are responsible for electing or appointing members of a State Board of education, regard the office as one of low salience; and, as a consequence, they engage in political behavior ill-suited to securing highly qualified State board members. (Author/ JH)

Message of the Commissioner of Education to chief State School officers proposing specific steps which communities may find constructive in dealing with some of the underlying causes of student unrest. (Author/MF)

A former governor's aide offers seven rules to help educators gain access to the seat of state budgetary and political power. (MLF)

Explains how Town Hall meetings with high school students and California legislators-- the LegiSchool Project--provided the kinds of experiences that enabled the author to examine three essential conditions of democratic citizenship: student interest, respect, and appreciation. Illuminates what these three conditions consist of and how many…

When the US' governors gather in Washington this February 2005 for what is billed as a national education summit on high schools, many will come prepared to talk about initiatives already under way back home. The summit's organizers hope that an "action agenda"--coupled with intensive planning leading up to the meeting--will encourage state…

While No Child Left Behind (NCLB) requires all students to be "proficient" in math and reading by 2014, the precedent-setting 2002 federal law also allows each state to determine its own level of proficiency. It's an odd discordance at best. It has led to the bizarre situation in which some states achieve handsome proficiency results by…

Proposals to make high school more rigorous continue to surface in the states. Governors, lawmakers, and blue-ribbon panels are championing the plans, which are fueled by local and national concerns about economic competitiveness and jobs. But the agenda is growing to included calls for better middle school preparation, more flexible options for…

A 50 state look at the nation's governors and their leadership on education over the past year shows that Governors are focusing much of their attention on two critical areas of education policy--high school and preschool. At least 22 governors proposed significant policies last year aimed at improving high schools, or have made such proposals so…

In this article, I outline how, with the appropriate mix of external requirements and internal motivation, structure and capacity, a school can promote and maintain a culture of evaluative practices, specifically data use, for continuous improvement. I draw upon qualitative data conducted in a study of an Edison Project school. The findings from…

This paper explores the similarities and differences between women and men correctional officers in an all men and an all women prison in a Midwestern state. The similarities outnumbered the differences, and it was determined that the acceptance of women correctional officers by their male counterparts in both prisons was high. The acceptance of…

Reading First, a program under the No Child Left Behind Act, is intended to bring research-based reading instruction to struggling schools through the awarding of grants. In an audit of New York's Reading First plan, investigators concluded that the state erred in awarding grants to eight districts and a charter school that did not meet the…

Purpose: This study examined federal and state civil money penalties and fines collected from nursing homes and how states used the collected funds. Design and Methods: We used a telephone survey of state officials, Freedom of Information Act requests, state Web site searches, and stakeholder interviews to describe the funds collected, the…