What is the state of university-based principal preparation programs? How are these essential training grounds of future school leaders viewed--by themselves as well as by the school districts that hire their graduates? Do the programs need to improve? If so, by what means? This publication seeks to help answer those questions by bringing together…

This brief is one in a series highlighting state policies, regulations, practices, laws, or other tools intended to create the necessary conditions for school and/or district turnaround. Each brief includes an overview of the relevant turnaround tool, its development process, its impact, and lessons learned that could assist other education…

As state-funded pre-K programs expand--more than 1 million children currently attend such programs--there is debate about the impact of state-funded pre-K on the quality and supply of child care for low-income working families. This policy brief looks at state policies and regulations regarding pre-K expansion that have the potential to positively…

Over just the past decade, online learning at the K-12 level has grown from a novelty to a movement. Often using the authority and mechanism of state charters, and in league with home schoolers and other allies, private companies and some state entities are now providing full-time online schooling to a rapidly increasing number of students in the…

There is significant interest in reforming retirement plans for public school employees, particularly in light of current market conditions. This article presents an overview of the various types of state regulation of public pension plans that affect possibilities for reform. Nearly all of the various approaches to public pension plan protection…

This paper provides information about South Carolina's High School Assessment Program. The purpose of the test is to: (1) Demonstrate students' achievement based on selected South Carolina academic standards; (2) Provide data to state policymakers on student attainment of state education goals to inform educational policy decisions; and (3) Meet a…

Special program and other school administrators regularly confront the issue of whether students under their charge are entitled to receive homebound instruction and if so, what procedures and criteria they should apply in coming to a proper decision. Where a student is entitled to such services the administrator must decide what subjects must be…

Laws that prohibit persons under a domestic violence restraining order from purchasing or possessing a firearm are a primary way to keep guns out of the hands of batterers. In July 2005, the California Attorney General's Task Force on the Local Criminal Justice Response to Domestic Violence issued a report called Keeping the Promise: Victim Safety…

The development and dissemination of Program Standards and Performance Indicators for disability services in higher education provides research-based direction for postsecondary institutions, consumers and governmental agencies with respect to the services necessary to provide equal access for college students with disabilities. Twenty-eight…

Camden, New Jersey, a city of 80,000 located directly across the Delaware River from center-city Philadelphia, is, by any index of urban decay, one of the nation's most distressed urban centers. While severely ineffective, the city houses the essential building blocks of future recovery: branches of four colleges and universities and two major…

Communicating why and how school leaders are effective in their work will go a long way toward increasing awareness of the profession and highlighting academic successes in our schools. Research shows school leadership and school performance are closely linked. According to a report by the Wallace Foundation, leadership is second only to teaching…

Ohio's higher education policymakers are concerned with issues related to student preparation for college and degree completion. Discussions about student preparation focus on the costs of remedial courses, with the implication being that higher education costs will fall if students require fewer remedial courses. This study was designed to answer…

This annual report details activities by the New York State Commission on Quality of Care for the Mentally Disabled, which oversees the public and private service system for individuals with mental disorders. The report notes that during 1994-1995, the Commission's cost-effectiveness studies identified over $15 million in potential savings, and…

The standards set in teacher-certification requirements, and the effectiveness of the administration of certification, have been intimately related to the advancement of public education. The major portions of previous reports from the Office of Education were devoted to the presentation of the detailed requirements for obtaining the different…

This report on preschool facilities analyzes regulations proposed by the New Jersey Department of Education (NJDOE) to implement the Educational Facilities Construction and Financing Act. (EFCFA). EFCFA, which authorizes and governs New Jersey's public school construction program, was enacted in July 2000 to implement the State Supreme Court's…