This document consists of the first three issues (1997 output) or the serial "Early Development." The publisher of this journal, the Frank Porter Graham Child Development Center at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, has more than 60 state and federally funded projects, most of which focus on early childhood development of…

This study examined the impact of the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in University of Pennsylvania v. EEOC as it applies to tenure/promotion practices and the disclosure of peer evaluation information. The 1990 decision ordered the university to turn over confidential tenure files to the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) pursuant…

This note series is intended to summarize lessons learned and key policy findings on the World Bank's work in education. Over the past 20 years China's education sector has provided many lessons for countries that are approaching Universal Primary Education (UPE). The most important lesson may be that the need for educational reform does not…

Addressed to both social scientists and to nonacademic readers, this book provides an overview of the United States child care market, analyzes the main aspects of child care and child care policy, and proposes a new child care policy. The main thesis of the book is that the child care market functions much better than is commonly believed.…

Immigration and domestic industrial policies have been powerful instruments in the creation of immigrant "niches" in labor markets. While Indians have clustered in the information technology industry, Mexicans have formed niches in low-skilled industries such as agriculture. A review of the relationship between immigration policy and the…

Over the past decade, the standards-based reform movement in education has focused attention on the responsibility of schools and school systems to produce results in student learning. Nationally this focus is most evident with the implementation of accountability provisions of the federal No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act of 2001. However, even…

In May 1997, USAID's Center for Development Information and Evaluation (CDIE) launched the initiative, "Focus on Girls: An Evaluation of USAID Programs and Policies in Education." The effort included five Impact Evaluations, including this study in Guinea (Guatemala, Malawi, Nepal, and Pakistan were the others). This Impact Evaluation…

This paper outlines the argument that there is a convergence of curricular goals across early childhood services in all European countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), and a move to define more clearly the developmental goals and outcomes that services should achieve; the trend is positive for both children…

The fall 2001 issue of New Directions for Community Colleges discusses the changes in policy and practice of vocational education at community colleges. The 10 chapters included in this volume are: (1) "Opportunities and Challenges for the New Vocationalism" by Debra D. Bragg; (2) "The Role of Leadership in Successful Vocational Initiatives" by…

Identifying the growing interest in early childhood programs and services, this paper offers practical guidelines for collecting accurate and useful information about early childhood services in a particular country or region, focusing on data collection and system monitoring. The paper discusses how programs develop out of policy decisions and…

This final report describes the activities and accomplishments of the Consortium on Inclusive Schooling Practices, a federally-funded 5-year project to investigate the utility of a systemic approach for building the capacity of state and local education agencies to provide inclusive educational services. The project focused on four states…

Over the past 20 years, approaches to educational policy analysis have opened up to qualitative research methods and to sociocultural perspectives on schooling. This volume is a collection of studies that view educational policy from a variety of angles and at different levels of social life. It consists of 12 chapters: (1) "Are Pedagogical Ideals…

Among the most dynamic influences affecting higher education is the increase in the for-profit postsecondary industry. In 2002, for-profit institutions constituted 12% of the four-year colleges and universities in the United States, continuing a rapid pace of growth that began in the late twentieth century (NCES, 2003). As the economy moves…

Although there is a great deal of disagreement about how to handle the changes that confront postsecondary education, few will suggest that being wedded to the status quo is sufficient. Many contend that the future of higher education is up for grabs; how those of us in the "industry" respond will determine whether American higher…

Reviews the development of European Union's early childhood social policy agenda over the last 15 years, examining what part of the agenda addresses early years issues and what problems the EU should focus on. Raises questions that require attention and makes a series of suggestions as to what a distinctive European approach for early year…