"Straight A's: Public Education Policy and Progress" is a biweekly newsletter that focuses on education news and events both in Washington, DC and around the country. The following articles are included in this issue: (1) Obama Sets Timeline for NCLB Revamp: President Calls on Congress to Send Him an Education Reform Bill "Before…

Family firms play an important role in the working of the Canadian economy; despite their importance to the economic activities and job creation it is observed that family businesses have lower survival rates than non-family firms, some argue that this can possibly be attributed (amongst other factors) to the lack of training. Most of the training…

Canada faces steep, yet surmountable challenges in its efforts to significantly reduce child and family poverty. Most recent data indicate that more than one million Canadian children and their families live in low-income households. Although the House of Commons unanimously resolved to "seek to achieve the goal of eliminating poverty among…

This report describes BRIDGES, an employment equity special measures training program developed by the City of Toronto (Ontario, Canada). It was designed to help women employees move from their traditional jobs into trades, technical or operation (TTO) jobs within their own organization. The program is a combination of classroom sessions, shop…

In September 1985, the Canadian government introduced the Canadian Jobs Strategy. Two features distinguish the jobs strategy program from Canada's old job development programs and programs for purchasing job training from colleges. These features are: (1) focusing of federal support for labor market adjustment on those individuals who are most in…

An enrollment-driven finance formula that has been developed for public educational institutions in British Columbia tends to favor the survival of traditional youth-oriented labor force training. Community education is approaching extinction in many colleges and school districts. Yet the ad hoc programming capability of continuing education makes…

This study reviews the relationship that has been established in the steel industry between the Canadian Steel Trade and Employment Congress (CSTEC) and education/training institutions called upon to provide steelworker job training and development programs. It describes the forces that brought the parties together and the difficulties in forming…

This report examines selected public sector direct job creation schemes that were in operation in 1977-1978 in Canada, Denmark, Norway, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Based on responses to a questionnaire and discussions with officials in the five countries, the information presented in the report is not intended to evaluate any one…