Creating smart, coherent education policy is painstaking work; there are technical, budgetary, and political challenges at almost every turn. But it is some of the most important work that state leaders can undertake. As Ohioans prepared to elect a new governor in late 2018, we at the Fordham Institute began rolling out a set of policy proposals…

The shifting ideological winds of foreign aid donors have driven their policy towards governments in poor countries. Donors supported state-led development policies in poor countries from the 1940s to the 1970s; market and private-sector driven reforms during the 1980s and 1990s; and returned their attention to the state with an emphasis on…

The new state and district policy initiatives in California recognize that effective parent involvement is multifaceted and requires schools' active efforts. The San Diego County Office of Education has served as information clearinghouse, source of direct services to parents, and provider of staff development and planning assistance. Challenges…

Provides a descriptive analysis of the recent history of family policy and argues that the United States, within its cultural context, inhibits the development of a national family policy. The final section provides an analysis of the visionary changes needed to develop a national family policy. (GR)

Explores the divide among those who study higher education policy over whether preparation or money is the primary obstacle to college attendance for underprivileged students; federal policies could hinge on which side of the debate is favored. (EV)

Evaluates the goals and objectives of the childcare component as outlined by the Family Support Act. Following a brief discussion of the legislation's childcare provisions, the authors outline Project Independence, Louisiana's response to the federal mandate, and explore the Toyota Families in Learning Program developed through this project.…

Examines the residual paradigm, used for shaping U.S. child welfare policies and programs, and argues that it has failed to address the problems of child poverty and to facilitate progress for children. Another approach to child welfare is proposed that takes into account structural issues based on current knowledge and practical realities…

The Youth Employment Program Assistance Project was a New York City initiative to demonstrate how employment training for out-of-school, economically disadvantaged youth can be made educationally vigorous. It involved four training programs with a few hundred students. The project focused on the following principles and goals: all learning…

In order to increase the knowledge base on the public policy issues pertaining to family homelessness, Columbia University and the Institute for Children & Poverty designed and implemented an extensive survey on the demographics of homeless families. Data on more than 140 variables were collected from 743 homeless heads-of-households in the spring…

Explores the greater emphasis on the role of education in federal social and economic policy and how it came about. It is suggested that changes in the relationship between class, race, and the state in the 1930s and 1940s set in motion a dynamic that made education the chief instrument of social reform two decades later. (GR)

This report examines homeless families, isolates similarities and differences between homeless and poor but stably-housed families, identifies paths along which families slide into homelessness, and recommends policy changes. The report uses a body of data collected in 1987-1988 on two groups of poor families in Los Angeles (California) half of…

This publication presents the findings of a California State Legislature task force on the changing needs of that state's families. An introduction summarizes the report's findings and lists five principles to guide the development of public policy. The next section, "Work and Family: The Contemporary Balancing Act," explores…

Focusing on follow-through, synthesis, dissemination, and application, this Youth Employment and Demonstration Projects Act plan for knowledge development in 1980 is divided into seven key sections. The first section presents projects which will require continued funding and refinement to realize their objectives. Section 2 provides a list of…

Examines the controversy surrounding school choice policymaking and discusses emerging means-based proposals designed to give low-income children a chance to attend high-quality private or parochial schools. Legal issues regarding the full choice movement in education are addressed as well as the political forces arrayed against it. (GR)

There was a major change in Canadian student aid in the late 1990s, due largely to a package of measures adopted by the Government Canada as part of its "Canada Opportunities Strategy". At the time, what aroused the most comment was the creation in 1998 of the $2.5 billion Canada Millennium Scholarship Foundation (Foundation). But while…