This report focuses on the progress made and challenges faced by the nine states in achieving the first three objectives for which they were held accountable for use of their Race to the Top Early Learning Challenge (RTTELC) funds. It discusses discrete findings related to these objectives in relevant chapters of the report: Tiered Quality Rating…

A model demonstrating how performance incentives may encourage cream skimming (selecting participants with a high likelihood of success) was applied to data from 16 Job Training Partnership Act training centers. Short-term performance measures were weakly and perversely related to long-term impacts, but efficiency gains/losses from skimming were…

Older cities represent models of energy efficiency. A research project that compares the performance of three different solar design approaches for older cities is described. (Author/MLF)

In fiscal year 1995, about 26 million students in about 94,000 schools nationwide were served lunches each day through the National School Lunch Program (NSLP). In response to concerns raised about the amount of food thrown away by students (called plate waste), the General Accounting Office (GAO) surveyed a random sample of cafeteria managers in…

Information that Congress and various agencies can use to plan, implement, and evaluate programs supported by more than 30 agencies is provided. This statement focuses on the amount and complexity of federal support for education and addresses the challenge of obtaining more and better information. Research indicates that six programs--Child…

Increasing energy dependency, high energy prices, and depleting energy sources have necessitated review of the nature of U.S. energy--who owns it; how we manage it; how and why we consume it; and what should be done about these patterns. Given the power wielded by the oil companies, the pressure of the national standard of living, and the lack of…

A survey of 64 institutions investigated how the organizational structures of financial aid offices and institutional characteristics (e.g., staff size, sector, computer services) affect the efficiency of administering federal student aid programs. The questionnaire is appended. (MSE)

Major areas of concern of Pennsylvania school food service management--student participation, labor cost, food cost, and uses of management information--are analyzed and recommendations are made. The management information study is an analysis of the findings from a six-county sample survey of record keeping practices and personal perceptions of…

Do state regulatory type agencies for higher education, either consolidated governing boards or coordinating boards, have measurable effects on institutional effectiveness or efficiency? To answer this question three types of information were examined: (1) opinions of the president or delegate representative; (2) data on actual costs that are a…

The report discusses the need to vary the training of Reserve and Guard units by skill and readiness requirements and to make more efficient use of training time. It contains recommendations to the Secretaries of Defense, Transportation, Army, Navy, and Air Force. The review was based on questionnaires mailed to 2,209 randomly selected reservists…

These nine papers are from a conference held at Brookings Institution on April 3-4, 1980, focusing on subsidizing private sector job creation for workers with structural employment problems. Chapter 1 summarizes the papers and conference proceedings. The remaining nine chapters are divided into three parts consisting of three papers each. Part 1…

This paper has attempted to highlight some economic aspects of government cash benefits (particularly those in Queensland) to isolated rural families which enable children to live away from home (LAFH) to receive their schooling. It has considered allowances as welfare payments and has examined some of their equity and efficiency implications.…