This paper examines effects of public funding for religious and private schools in the Netherlands and England over the last century. These two countries were chosen because both have religious schools fully funded by the state. The paper shows that state funding has disadvantages and advantages. Funding has been associated with considerable, yet…

Keeping the existing information technology (IT) workforce viable and rapidly increasing the number of these workers presents a United States public policy workforce development (WD) challenge at all government levels. Public policy human capital investments have been undertaken to address the IT workforce supply and demand mismatch. States seem…

Although the Workforce Reinvestment and Adult Education Act contains several provisions that move the Workforce Investment Act (WIA) program in the right direction, it fails to respond to the needs of Latino workers and job seekers in a meaningful way. Although WIA's stated purpose aims to serve all populations, implementation of the new system…

This document is comprised of 11 issues of a newsletter providing information on current child advocacy initiatives and accomplishments. Each issue describes one local or state child advocacy program or initiative and its accomplishments, highlighting National Association of Child Advocates (NACA) member initiatives that have resulted in concrete…

A study of adult learning and neighborhood renewal examined how further education (FE) colleges and Local Education Authority (LEA) adult education services contribute to neighborhood renewal in deprived areas and considered how their strategic role might develop in this field. The study indicates that the policy framework for post-16 learning and…

A policy review examined the extent to which changes to the post-16 learning and skills policy environment, particularly in relation to further education (FE) colleges, were likely to support neighborhood renewal-related knowledge and skills development. It focused particularly on the development of skills and knowledge needed by regeneration…

The following are expectations about employer-provided training: (1) the incentive to provide general training arises largely because of transaction costs in the labor market, despite adding value to a worker's productivity when working for a range of employers; (2)employers sponsor training in specific skills since they are likely to reap the…

This document contains the second year of the U.S. Department of Education's 2002-07 Strategic Plan. The plan outlines the strategies and actions the department will undertake to meet its goals, and it defines the measures and targets the department will use to determine success of the plan. Detailed are the six goals, along with their objectives,…

In autumn 2001, the United Kingdom's (UK's) government published the following key documents concerning workforce development: (1) "In Demand: Adult Skills in the 21st Century"; (2) "The UK Productivity Challenge"; and (3) "Building a Stronger, Fairer Britain in an Uncertain World." Key positions and policies included…

Since 1997, policymakers in the United Kingdom and Europe have devoted extensive effort to devising policies and programs to reconnect young people with learning and work. In April 2001, England's government launched the Connexions Service, which is designed to meet young people's needs through a comprehensive, coherent, and holistic system of…

Data from the 1992 National Adult Literacy Survey (NALS) were used to assess the prospects of California's welfare population versus those of the U.S. welfare population. Welfare recipients were found to have substantially lower basic skills than other adults do. Although 58% of California adults with basic skills and demographic characteristics…

Law and policy regarding vocational education and training (VET) in Australia was systematically examined to explore these three hypotheses: (1) Australian law and policy on VET have not evolved in a systematic manner; (2) they also do not provide a coherent and internally consistent program for VET in Australia; and (3) they do not provide…

Six of the first vocational education (VE) programs to adopt new voluntary national skill standards were studied to identify the opportunities and challenges faced by VE programs adopting the new standards. The VE programs studied were located in high schools in seven cities: Chalmette and Walker, Louisiana; Chicago, Illinois; L'Anse Creuse,…

This report discusses the policy implications of the increasing role played by grants provided by colleges and universities as a source of financial aid for students and their families. It underscores the direct and indirect connections between changes in federal and state policy and institutions' aid programs, focusing on the effects of the…

This paper examines efforts to save rapidly declining indigenous languages around the world. The entire process of language preservation and revitalization is a massive undertaking that requires immense long-term planning and support. These problems extend well beyond the linguistic concerns of the language itself. Language policy is inherently…