"The Mother and Infant Home Visiting Program Evaluation: Early Findings on the Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting Program--A Report to Congress" presents the first findings from the Mother and Infant Home Visiting Program Evaluation (MIHOPE), the legislatively mandated national evaluation of the Maternal, Infant, and…

The human brain develops rapidly in the first five years of life. High-quality early learning experiences can have a profound and lasting positive effect on young children during these years, setting the stage for success in kindergarten and beyond. This is especially true for young children with high needs who are from low-income families; who…

Within the City of Chicago, a wide variety of public and private programs are geared towards preparing adults and youth for the workforce. This report of workforce development programs provides an overview of federal, state, and city workforce development programs within the City of Chicago through a detailed inventory table of the programs…

The Lifelong Learning Imperative (LLI) project was initiated to assess current practices in lifelong learning for engineering professionals, reexamine the underlying assumptions behind those practices, and outline strategies for addressing unmet needs. The LLI project brought together leaders of U.S. industry, academia, government, and…

Although a growing body of research points to the critical need to foster reading, writing, speaking, and critical thinking skills for students in order to ensure their success in college, careers, and life, these efforts have tended to focus more on developing literacy skills in the early years, often ignoring secondary students. The outcome has…

In recent years policymakers have increasingly looked to Extended Learning Time (ELT) as a means of improving student outcomes. As a result, some school districts have increased academic time for students by adding time to the school day or days to the school year. In other communities, schools and community-based organizations have partnered to…

The authors share a successful Fulbright Group Projects Abroad grant award. The purpose of the grant was to enhance American educators' experience and knowledge of South Africa, in particular, and sub-Saharan Africa more generally. Toward that end, participants experienced a multifaceted view of South Africa's geographical diversity, both physical…

Plugging in to L.I.T.E.S. project (Leaders in Technology Enhanced Schools--a previously funded Technology Innovation Challenge grant project) at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville (SIUE) has been very successful in its attempts to enhance the technology integration skills of teacher education students, and to improve the capabilities of our…

The four Follow Through projects in Illinois are described and evaluated. These projects involve approximately 1,450 children in K-3 in Mounds, East Saint Louis, Waukegan, and Chicago. The Chicago project is subdivided into three individual projects and is trying three experimental programs. Emphasis is given to the nature of the environmental…

This report provides a comprehensive listing of state and federal investments in Illinois' efforts to improve the quality of life for expecting parents and children under age three and their families. The inventory profiles a wide range of initiatives and is designed to serve as a resource for local program directors, community members,…

Based on a three-year study funded by the Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools (OSDFS) in the U.S. Department of Education, "Safe and Sound" is a comprehensive and inclusive guide for social and emotional learning (SEL) programming. The guide provides a road map for schools and districts that are launching or adding social, emotional,…

This paper explores the range of ways in which school districts are using Title I funds for early education through kindergarten and examines how the implementation of No Child Left Behind (NCLB) has impacted those investments. It also makes recommendations for local education agencies (LEAs) interested in creating Title I-funded early education…

This paper presents a transcript of a National Center on Secondary Education and Transition (NCSET) teleconference call held on February 27, 2001. David R. Johnson and Bonnie Jones talked about the mission, structure, and activities of NCSET. The presenters also provided an overview of OSEP (Office of Special Education Programs) perspective about…

The federal Maternal and Child Health Bureau (MCHB) has launched a five-year initiative that will support state efforts to build comprehensive early childhood service systems. This initiative--the State Early Childhood Comprehensive Systems (SECCS) Initiative--provides planning and implementation grants to the state and territory Maternal and…

The four issues of the first volume of this National Clearinghouse for Bilingual Education newsletter include articles on these topics: organization and programs of the Department of Education's Office of Bilingual Education and Minority Languages Affairs; identifying school reform practices in linguistically diverse schools; state data on…