School summer vacation may create a significant gap in the learning cycle. Such a gap may be particularly detrimental for vulnerable children such as those with lower academic achievement due to learning and language disabilities, lower socio-economic environments or learning in a language other than their native language. The current exploratory…

In 2008, the federal government allotted $7 billion in child care subsidies to low-income families through the state-administered Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF), now the government's largest child care program (US DHHS, 2008). Although subsidies reduce costs for families and facilitate parental employment, it is unclear how they impact the…

This paper explores aspects of professional development for teachers of science and mathematics in schools in rural Australia. The study identified a range of issues including tensions between government, school and individual professional learning priorities and their respective responsibilities; the shaping of professional development by…

Education reform proposals are not in short supply. Recent issues of the "Kappa Delta Pi Record" examined two of these: Common Core State Standards (Winter 2011) and Charter Schools (Spring 2011). Teacher pay for performance is another policy gaining traction in state legislatures and at the federal level. The Race to the Top (RTTT)…

The "Condition of Education" is an annual report mandated by the U.S. Congress that summarizes the latest data on education in the United States. This report uses data from across the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) and from other sources and is designed to help policymakers and the public monitor educational progress.…

This is a descriptive self-study of my experience participating in IRA's Diagnostic Teaching Project in Tanzania. The paper describes the teacher educators with whom I worked, their responses to IRA's curriculum, and what I learned about Tanzanian people, culture and education. Data are derived from a Likert survey, an open-item questionnaire, and…

I investigated eight preservice teachers' understandings about culturally responsive pedagogy as they participated in a writing methods course in which they tutored children from different ethnic, socioeconomic, cultural, and linguistic backgrounds in an afterschool program at a local community center. I also investigated how these preservice…

Federally funded Healthy Marriage Initiative (HMI) programs provide marriage education as well as other services to low-income diverse individuals and couples at many points along the marital continuum with improving children's well-being as the overarching purpose. These programs need appropriate measures of healthy marriage for couples with…

"National CrossTalk" is a publication of the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education. The National Center promotes public policies that enhance opportunities for quality education and training beyond high school. The primary purpose of "National CrossTalk" is to stimulate informed discussion and debate of higher…

During the 2009-10 academic year, 1,444 8th grade students in the Canton City, Plain and Marlington Local School Districts (hereafter called Stark students) took the EXPLORE Test as part of a pilot project, "Ready to Go: Increasing Eighth Grade Readiness," sponsored by the Stark Education Partnership with funding from the Ohio College…

Project LOGgED ON was a project supported by the U.S. Department of Education that maintained two initiatives, a.) to provide online case based professional development for teachers in gifted education, b.) to provide online advanced science curriculum for underserved gifted students. For the purposes of this study, the author will examine the…

Using data from Achieving the Dream: Community Colleges Count, this issue of "Data Notes" looks at students who returned to their original Achieving the Dream institution after completing credentials or transferring to another institution. Forty-two percent of students who either received a degree or certificate or transferred from an Achieving…

The purpose of the case study is to describe how one large school district in the United States has expanded their expectations for students based on the perceived need for graduates to compete in an increasingly global job market. The study "summarizes" the processes for establishing districtwide systems to support these expectations. The case…

"Part C Updates" is a compilation of information on various aspects of the Early Intervention Program for Infants and Toddlers with Disabilities (Part C) of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). This is the eleventh volume in a series of compilations, which included two editions of Part H Updates, the former name of the…

Smooth early childhood transitions are key to ensuring positive outcomes for young children the world over--but in today's fragmented early education systems, it's difficult to ensure continuity among programs and services. Early childhood professionals will help change that with this book, the first to propose a comprehensive, practical framework…