America is unique in that participation in sports has historically been linked to colleges and universities under the premise that participation serves an educational function and supplements the mission of higher education. Yet, intercollegiate athletics is seldom discussed in institutional accreditation self-studies, mission statements, or…

In this study we examine whether and why human and social resources increase charitable giving. Using the Giving in The Netherlands Panel Study 2003, we find that people with more extended networks and higher education are more generous. However, these effects can be completely explained by financial resources, church attendance, requests for…

In this article, the author explores how some community colleges have survived, if not thrive, amid the pain of a deep recession. Rather than cut educational options, administrators at Pima Community College in Tucson, Arizona have opted to freeze discretionary spending, sweep unspent budget allocations back into its general budget, improve its…

This paper documents the experience of incentive-based reforms in the secondary Islamic/madrasa education sector in Bangladesh within the context of the broader debate over modernization of religious school systems in South Asia. Key features of the reform are changes of the curriculum and policy regarding admission of female students. In return…

Among countless petitioners to the incoming president, higher-education leaders have sent Barack Obama position statements and requests for action that extol the strengths and accomplishments of this nation's higher-education enterprise but also warn of its increasingly dire financial situation. They have asked that a share of an impending…

The underfunding of public education over the years has forced schools and school communities to compensate in various ways: door-to-door fundraising campaigns, advertising revenue, exclusive marketing contracts, and seeking donations or handouts from the private sector. Although numerous stories have been gathered ranging from the mundane to the…

In November 1996, the voters of Montgomery County (Maryland) approved by referendum an amendment to the County Charter that changed the County Council's review and approval cycle of the six-year Capital Improvements Program (CIP) from an annual to biennial cycle. The referendum specified that in odd-numbered fiscal years (on years) the County…

In an effort to inform preschool policy in California, an interdisciplinary team of RAND researchers conducted a multiyear study of preschool education known as the California Preschool Study. One of the recommendations from that study was the need for a more in-depth analysis of the effectiveness of the early care and education (ECE) workforce…

Learning always takes place in a particular context and culture, yet educators have tended to focus their attention mainly on the form of learning, its methodology, content and teaching approach. While these can and do affect learning and its results, this paper looks beyond the particulars of the program to explore how the context and culture of…

California's community colleges are key to resolving the shortage of educated workers that is threatening the competitive position of the state's economy. Tremendous potential for addressing this challenge resides in the system's career technical education (CTE) mission which, with appropriate structures and support, could help many more students…

Early life experiences are critical to a child's development. Research has shown that, for a variety of reasons, children born into low-income families are at a disadvantage when compared to their higher-income peers. Fortunately, research has also shown a positive association between high quality child care and the academic and social-emotional…

Since the last century, there has been at virtually all levels of formal learning an increasingly imbalanced funding of art and science fields of study in the United States. From the look of things, science has been misappropriated to the extent that its ascendancy has eclipsed art. Art has been named science and the effects of this misnomer are…

Initial teacher training for post-compulsory education in England is currently undergoing profound change in terms of central direction of curricula and the provision of financial support for trainees. Within a discourse of the "professionalisation" of teaching in the sector, unprecedented control of the detailed structure and content of…

Coming up with ideas for major donations that are not only enticing to the most generous philanthropists but are also aligned with an institution's goals is a vexing problem for many colleges. With 28 colleges now in the midst of capital campaigns with goals of $1-billion or more, finding the right ideas has never been more important. To find…

Community college funding formulas are tools utilized to substantiate the acquisition of funds and delineate the cost of education. This study develops a typology of community college funding formulas placing 48 states in three categories and five subcategories. (Contains 5 tables.)