Public and private school collaboration is one approach to educational reform that may be working in many schools across the country. The Forum for Public and Private Collaboration is committed to publicizing successful collaborative efforts while providing an outlet for educators involved in collaboration to share ideas and receive help. The…

Creating more comprehensive, community-based support systems and reforming early childhood financing systems are critical to advancing the goal of having all children enter school ready to learn. The Finance Project is a national initiative to improve effectiveness, efficiency, and equity of financing for education, children's services, and…

ExceL grants are a local funding initiative of the Austin Independent School District (Texas) designed to improve student achievement at the elementary level. Schools submit proposals for the 4-year grants, and the amount of the grant is determined based on the number of students not meeting minimum expectations on the Texas Assessment of Academic…

A community coalition for middle school reform is a group of individuals who organize to learn more about the education of young adolescents and engage community resources to improve local schools. Each coalition should be geared to the unique needs and strengths of its own school system and community. This booklet describes coalitions in three…

The issue brief describes the research base for the National Center for Children in Poverty's (NCCP's) framework to assess welfare changes from a children's perspective and points to lessons from current and past welfare-to-work evaluations. Many changes are now implemented in welfare policies due to new legislation titled the Personal…

Business leaders are increasingly realizing that arts education is beneficial in preparing young people for the workplace. Increasingly, business is acknowledging that arts education develops collaborative and teamwork skills, technological competencies, flexible thinking, and an appreciation for diversity. The need for imagination and creativity…

This paper analyzes the negative effects on private colleges of state subsidies provided to state-run colleges, noting the increasing proportion of students attending public colleges and the closing of more than 300 private colleges between 1969-70 and 1992-93. It urges legislators to eliminate direct subsidies to universities, to require…

The General Accounting Office evaluated federal programs that serve at-risk and delinquent youth. The work, which took place over several years, focused on: (1) who administers such programs; (2) how much money is spent on federal programs for at-risk youth; and (3) what is known about their effectiveness. Overall, its is apparent that multiple…

Colleges and universities are privatizing various institutional components and are seeking greater autonomy from state government. In defining privatization, the paper makes the distinction between privatizing and contracting, and notes six areas where a good or service can be owned or managed by the government or by the private sector: ownership…

The Children At Risk program was created in Wisconsin in 1985 with the broad goal of reducing the number of students at risk of failing in or dropping out of school. The program requires all school districts to identify children at risk, including dropouts, truants, parents, or adjudicated delinquents, who are behind their age group in either…

The need for early education and care for the inner city population is growing to meet parents' needs for safe, affordable care, and to provide inner city children with the services they need. The Inner City Directions Project was funded to assess the viability of inner city programs in severe financial difficulty and to analyze the overall health…

This handbook is written specifically for Early Childhood Services (ECS) operators in Alberta, Canada, applying for Program Unit Funding. It is also designed to enhance the understanding of how assistance is provided to ECS children with severe disabilities by teachers, special needs assistants, parents, and supporting agency personnel. ECS…

As states work to provide public funds for early care and education programs, they need data on the current system to better provide a system that supports parents' need to work, promotes healthy child development, and ensures the educational quality of all early education and care programs. This report provides Massachusetts' policy makers with a…

This statement to the House Committee on Education and the Workforce discusses the state of American higher education and the importance of community colleges in providing access. The author presents specific examples from her vantage point as President of Howard Community College (Maryland). She calls the two-year institution the "Ellis…

This paper aims to estimate the effects of individual and institutional factors on college transfer. The author used logistic transgression to estimate the probability of transfer. The author assumes the probability of transfer from a two-year institution to a four-year institution is a function of student characteristics, type of institution in…