Summative assessments measure students' mastery of grade-level academic standards and skills in specific content areas after learning. State summative assessment systems provide students and families, school and district leaders, and state policymakers with valuable data to help understand student progress and school quality. This Policy Guide…

The U.S. Department of Education (Education) established the Race to the Top (RTT) grant fund to encourage states to support school reform efforts. In 2010, Education awarded 12 RTT grants totaling nearly $4 billion, making RTT the largest competitive grant fund ever administered by Education. Individual grantee awards ranged from $75 million to…

Every day, millions of three- and four-year-old children attend early education programs. The range of early childhood education program models includes, among others, state-funded pre-k, Head Start, and child care programs. Children attend these programs in public schools, private schools, colleges, businesses, community-based centers, and homes.…

To counter elementary school children's ignorance about farming, a 1981 Agriculture in the Classroom Task Force recommended that states create their own groups and awareness programs. This article describes cooperative efforts between private and public sector organizations in Arizona, Colorado, Georgia, Iowa, Oregon, and Virginia. An address and…

This report examines how state policymakers designed their accountability systems to meet the NCLB Title I requirements and the implications of its provisions for schools with large numbers of low-income and minority students. The authors conducted their study in six states--Arizona, California, Illinois, New York, Virginia, and Georgia--which are…

The results of a one-year project to determine the status of provisions for consumer education throughout the country are reported in this document. A section on the observations and recommendations of the advisory committee of the consumer's education project serves as the document's introduction. Part I, background and overview, analyzes the…

This report examines the current status of federal and state involvement in educational personnel development. First, it describes the federal legislative process, and offers a list of members of Congressional committees dealing with education legislation. Next, it analyzes involvement of the U.S. Office of Education and of individual states in…

A rapid feedback evaluation of state- and local-level implementation of the Career Education Incentive Act (PL 95-207) was conducted. (This act established K-12 and postsecondary career exploration as national priorities.) Site visits were made in nine states (Massachusetts, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Georgia, Ohio, Louisiana, Missouri, Montana,…

The impact of one-stop career centers on the U.S. Employment Service (ES) program was examined through case studies of one-stop initiatives in the following states: Georgia; Ohio; California; Iowa; Oregon; Massachusetts; Texas; Utah; and Wisconsin. Of the nine case study states, only Georgia had not begun instituting a one-stop career center…

Texas's Project RIO (Re-Integration of Offenders), which was developed in cooperation with the National Institute of Justice, National Institute of Corrections, and U.S. Department of Education's Office of Correctional Education, began in 1985 as a two-city pilot program to place parolees in jobs. Project RIO has since expanded steadily and now…