Is graduate school worth it? Graduate degrees--including master's, professional, and doctoral degrees--can help individuals boost their earnings and improve career advancement opportunities. But they can also be high-risk investments given rising costs, student debt, and the current lack of transparency about program outcomes. "Graduate…

Many of the positive changes seen in education reform over the past few decades--from replication of high-quality charter schools to expansion of teacher residency programs--have been made possible, at least in part, through partnerships with AmeriCorps and other national service programs. Under the Trump administration's current proposal to cut…

Only 60 percent of students in post-secondary education in the United States graduate within six years of enrollment. Some minority and disadvantaged students graduate at significantly lower rates. As Congress considers reauthorizing the Higher Education Act, some consideration is being given to promoting greater use of evidence-based programs and…

Traditionally seen as a way for institutions to help students alleviate some of the financial demands placed on them, on-campus student employment has several additional benefits institutions can leverage to assist students along their collegiate journey. If designed and operationalized effectively, institutions can use their on-campus student…

More than a decade ago, Michael Lewis penned the influential book "Moneyball." An examination of how Oakland Athletics General Manager Billy Beane used data to make his franchise competitive with wealthier baseball teams, the book struck a chord. Beane's strategy of making decisions based on data had a powerful and positive impact on the…

While educators are eager to forget the financial woes of the past two years and return to the familiar routine of steady budget increases, the fiscal outlook for America's fourteen thousand school districts is bleak--not just for next year, but for a half decade or more. This calls for a new mindset among educators and an unfamiliar,…

The Youth Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program (EFNEP) is one of the United States Department of Agriculture's hallmark nutrition education programs for limited-resource youth. The objective of this study was to gather opinions from experts in EFNEP and related content areas to identify costs, effects (impacts), and related instruments to…

States and school districts receive funding through ESEA, IDEA, and national school meals programs. Some requirements for these programs are intended to help ensure program integrity and transparency, among other purposes, but questions have been raised about whether some federal requirements place an undue burden on states and school districts.…

After more than a decade (and four years behind schedule) Congress finally seems ready to reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. For years, critics have complained that the law's focus on test scores offers far too narrow a picture for judging school quality. There is also concern that the "adequate yearly progress," or…

The author analyzes the growth and nature of internal evaluation from the 1960s to the present and suggests that internal evaluation has been on the increase because of its perceived importance. Although the 1960s were characterized by a rich intellectual development of evaluation theory and practice, the fiscal conservatism of the 1980s ushered…

Poses additional complexities for the evaluation of government programs by the formation of partnerships with the private sector. Challenges include differing partner objectives, information deficiencies, variances in partner contributions and outcome effects, and difficulties in estimating benefits and costs. Discusses strategies to aid…

An approach toward integrating evaluation into a program at its inception is presented as a way to increase utility and cost-effectiveness. Examples illustrate that such integration, combining internal and external evaluation, is preferable to independent and separate evaluation in terms of the cost to stakeholders. (SLD)

Many higher education institutions today are struggling with the costs of their retiree health plans. The answer to controlling these costs may come in the form of a defined contribution retiree health plan for both current and future retirees. This article examines how such a plan can maximize availability of Medicare Part D prescription…

Looking for ways to save money within the Stafford Student Loan program, a study was done to measure the effect that a lower special allowance could have on the supply of Stafford loans made with private capital. The special allowance is an incentive payment to commercial lenders who participate in guaranteed student loan programs. The study used…

This report presents data and findings on the economic impact of Job Corps on its participants and analyses of the program's benefits in relation to its costs. Findings are based on postprogram experience of individuals enrolled in the Job Corps in 1977, compared to a group of disadvantaged youth not in the program. The first three chapters…