Community colleges and broad-access universities (those with minimally selective admissions policies) provide an opportunity for students across the United States to attain postsecondary degrees and economic mobility. However, graduation rates from such colleges are often low and there are many obstacles that can be difficult to overcome,…

The Families Forward Demonstration (FFD) examined new strategies to increase the earnings of parents who owe child support but are unable to fully meet their obligations due to low earnings. It also focused on "responsive" child support services that helped parents understand their support obligations, and even suspended certain…

This is the third paper on the topic of outcomes-based funding written by Dennis Jones for Complete College America. The first paper, "Performance Funding: From Idea to Action" (ED535356), proposed a set of design and implementation principles to help states develop and implement their own outcomes-based funding models. The second paper,…

With the emergence of "pay for success" programs, state and local governments have new opportunities to align services and demonstrate how service delivery investments in one system can improve outcomes in others and potentially save money. Integrated data systems that track individuals and families across different agencies are proving…

The School Improvement Grant (SIG) program funds reforms in low performing schools. Congress provided $3.5 billion for SIG in fiscal year 2009, and a total of about $1.6 billion was appropriated in fiscal years 2010-2012. SIG requirements changed significantly in 2010. Many schools receiving SIG funds must now use the funding for specific…

This publication is the result of an 18-month project that brought together teams from six states--Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, and Texas--along with their national organizations in a groundbreaking partnership to identify collective bargaining language and policies that support high-quality professional development.…

This report from the Legislative Office of Education Oversight (LOEO) focuses on Head Start implementation in Ohio, describing its growth over the last 8 years, services provided to children and their families, costs, program quality and how it is monitored, and the challenges faced in expansion. After an extensive summary, chapter 1 describes the…

The Ohio Supported Employment Coordinating Center of Excellence is a joint project of the Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences and the Department of Psychiatry at Case Western Reserve University. The center is focused on helping to implement and evaluate evidence-based employment services provided to individuals with a severe mental illness.…

This report describes the Child Day Care Planning Project, which was developed by private and public representatives to meet the needs for child care in Cuyahoga County, Ohio. The project consisted of five major components. The first component, the Data Project, documented the needs and resources of the community. The second component, the Quality…

During a meeting of the Ohio Education Association, teachers raised concerns about a pending state mandate requiring school districts to provide mentoring programs for beginning teachers. Concerns relevant to teacher unions/organizations included funding for adequate teacher release time, the mentor role, mentor selection, training, scheduling of…

This report describes the fiscal year 1981 appropriations for implementing the third year of activities under the Career Education Incentive Act. Summarized first are three projects involving the demonstration and validation of a comprehensive elementary/secondary career project in a local setting (in the Ceres Unified School District in…

This publication contains summaries of the presentations from a conference on employment services for disadvantaged older workers. The opening remarks made by Joan A. Hammond and Kenneth M. Mahan are outlined. Summaries of the following papers are provided: "National Perspective on Older Worker Programs," by Ann Lordeman; "Older…

This document examines emerging issues and opportunities for community-based organization (CBO) involvement in welfare reform. The document begins with a brief section of background information on past CBO involvement in helping families move from welfare to work. The next section answers policy questions pertaining to the following issues: (1)…