How government spends money, and who benefits, reveals the priorities. How, then, do children fare in the competition for public resources? While families have long been the primary caregivers of children, all levels of government--local, state, and federal--invest in the growth and development of children, whether through education, family…

The objective of this systematic review is to summarize the available evidence on the effects of prevention and intervention programs aimed at primary and secondary students for increasing school completion or reducing school dropout. Program effects on the closely related outcomes of school attendance (absences, truancy) will also be examined.…

Ensuring safer schools requires establishing good indicators of the current state of school crime and safety across the nation and regularly updating and monitoring these indicators. This is the aim of this report. This report is the thirteenth in a series of annual publications produced jointly by the National Center for Education Statistics…

Research that bears on the issue of school entry policies is summarized in this report. The focus is on the age children should be to enter kindergarten and the potential benefits of delaying school entry for all or some children. The research reviewed uses three methodologies: (1) comparing outcomes for children who have delayed entry by a year…

Despite the growing interest in the care of children younger than age 3, there is little national information available on their current child care arrangements. This study used data from the National Survey of America's Families on the types of care, hours in care, and the number of nonparental arrangements for under-age-3 children of working…

This report describes the distribution of young Californians by race/ethnic groups and socio-economic conditions, and compares trends using census data from 1970, 1980, 1990, and 2000. Classification of race/ethnic groups separates Hispanics from any race category (Whites, Asians, African Americans), as defined by the Census. The objective of the…

Data from the 1980, 1970, and 1960 censuses were used to describe Pennsylvania's rural women and to compare them with urban women and, in some instances, men. In Pennsylvania in 1980, just 1 rural woman in 25 lived on a farm. These women were more educated, more active in the labor force, and somewhat better paid than their counterparts in 1960…

The "Southern Regional Education Board (SREB) Fact Book on Higher Education" is one of the nation's most comprehensive collections of comparative data on higher education. For decades, state leaders, policy-makers, researchers and journalists have used the "Fact Book" to find useful data quickly--and to learn more about…

To ensure reliable, accurate, and timely data capable of monitoring the progress of education in the United States, Congress has mandated that the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) produce an annual report, "The Condition of Education." This year's report presents 46 indicators of important developments and trends in U.S.…

The reasons why undereducated individuals choose not to participate in adult education were examined in a comparative, qualitative case study that was conducted in eight nonmetropolitan sites (including the pilot site) in diverse economic regions across Kentucky. Data were collected from the following sources: in-depth interviews with 84 adults…