One objective of the U.S. Department of Education's (ED) School Improvement Grants (SIG) and Race to the Top (RTT) program is to help states enhance their capacity to support the turnaround of low-performing schools. This capacity may be important, given how difficult it is to produce substantial and sustained achievement gains in low-performing…

Research on academic achievement has demonstrated the important role that teachers play in improving student outcomes and has also revealed wide variation in teachers' qualifications and experiences across schools. Schools serving low-income students in urban areas, for example, have fewer well-qualified teachers than schools in nonurban settings…

The purpose of this document is to describe AED's extensive experience in six countries that have undergone periods of violent conflict or natural disaster followed by extended and complex periods of increasing resilience, and if possible extract lessons learned from it. The focus is on what we have learned about effectively and sustainably…

This report provides a portrait of children who entered Head Start for the first time in fall 2009 and completed a year in the program in spring 2010. It also describes their family backgrounds and the classrooms and programs that serve them. Data are drawn from the 2009 cohort of the Head Start Family and Child Experiences Survey (FACES), a…

This report presents trends on the implementation of Title I parental choice options from the National Longitudinal Study of No Child Left Behind (NLS-NCLB) and the Study of State Implementation of Accountability and Teacher Quality Under No Child Left Behind (SSI-NCLB). The report uses data from state-level interviews; surveys of a nationally…

This Research Brief brings together recent results of a nationally representative survey of U.S. teens about the nature of their relationships with their parents and findings from rigorous research studies on the parent-adolescent bond. The evidence presented shows that while the proportion of teens reporting positive relationships with their…

Afterschool programs offer an important avenue for enhancing educational opportunities. Federal, state, and local educational authorities increasingly see them as environments to improve attitudes toward school, achievement, and academic performance (Fashola, 2002; Hollister, 2003) with higher levels of student participation and engagement in…

This article discusses the importance for technology transfer offices of sound media and government relations strategies. It reports the results of a nationwide electronic survey in the USA and interviews with technology transfer managers on how they handle public relations issues in their offices. Strengths and weaknesses of their communication …

This annual report highlights information on school performance and improvement in Hawaii's public schools. The report profiles noteworthy academic events, trends, and outcomes at two organizational levels: state and complex. Featured are tables, figures, and narrative sections related to demographic, financial, and educational performance. Also,…

In 2004, nearly 30,000 students were included in the blind or visually impaired (B/VI) category (approximately .04% of the total public school population). This figure, however, only includes children and youth for whom blindness or visual impairment is identified as a primary disability. States indicate that these numbers may actually double or…

The report is an evaluation of the 1979-80 High School Title I English as a Second Language Program. Two types of information are presented: (1) a narrative description of the program which provides qualitative data regarding the program, and (2) a statistical analysis of test results which consists of quantitative, city-wide data. By integrating…

This report summarizes some of the key findings of a survey of the Connecticut public that was conducted as part of the Year of the Library Project by the Institute for Social Inquiry at the University of Connecticut. The purpose of the study was to explore public attitudes that might be relevant to improve and broaden use of library services. The…

This report presents the main findings of the first phase of an ongoing study on improving the quality of children's early learning in England and Wales. The purpose of the project is to investigate the ways in which early learning in group settings can be improved by raising the quality of the practice of those professionals who work with young…

This Kids Count special report examines attitudes of adolescents in Delaware toward smoking and the use of tobacco products. Data are based on interviews with middle and high school students conducted by journalism students at Glasgow High School under the supervision of their teacher, and on statewide data. The report presents statewide data and…

The quantity and type of writing demands in the undergraduate curriculum, as reported by students enrolled at the Bloomington campus of Indiana University in fall semester of 1977, are investigated. The study is based on reports of students enrolled in 27 class sections of two freshman English courses, Elementary Composition I and Introduction to…