This implementation guide was developed to assist states that want to give more families access to needed educational opportunities and the ability to customize their children's learning. Surging enthusiasm among voters and policymakers means more states are likely to launch Education Scholarship Account (ESA) programs in the immediate future. The…

To formulate a "systems-based" plan to address the PK-12 infrastructure crisis, in 2016, the 21st Century School Fund (21CSF) and the University of California-Berkeley's Center for Cities + Schools (CC+S), in partnership with the National Council on School Facilities and the Center for Green Schools at the U.S. Green Building Council,…

In 2013, Governor Jerry Brown and the California legislature radically restructured the state's school funding system and accountability systems with a weighted student formula and a mandated local planning process in each district. The new law substitutes local politics and grassroots agency for state-driven mandates and compliance reviews. While…

The Race to the Top fund (RTT) is intended to be a major federal investment in state and local education capacity and systemic education reforms aligned with federal policy priorities. In coming years, questions will be asked about the extent to which investments made through the RTT grant program improve educational productivity and…

The Massachusetts Education Reform Act was passed in June 1993. In fall 1993, the Massachusetts Board of Education approved the Department of Education's Implementation Plan for Education Reform and appointed a board task force to oversee the implementation process. This document presents the state's first annual implementation report card for…

The purpose of this report is to provide state-level policy makers with basic data about important alternatives to be considered as a state initiates or expands its early childhood programs. The report points out that several effective approaches could be implemented at substantially less cost than conventional classroom kindergartens and…

This report describes and evaluates the initial effects of the 1984 Texas Education Reform Bill (House Bill 72), in which the Texas legislature enacted a massive attempt to enhance both equity and effectiveness in the State's system of elementary and secondary education. Chapter 1 describes the Bill's various financing components and focuses on…

An analysis of the procedures states have adopted to distribute federal funds for vocational education under the 1976 Amendments to the Vocational Education Act shows that there is widespread confusion and variation among the states. While the Act specifies that a formula must be used for distribution of funds, the exact criteria for determining…

The 1976 Vocational Education Act set up procedures governing the flow of funds from the federal government to the states and from the states to the localities; and it establishes priorities for distribution of funds. The Act also demands that money be spent only on the programs or activites mentioned in the Act and that certain minimum…

The Workforce Investment Act of 1998 (WIA) was the first significant attempt to retool the nation's workforce development programs since the early 1980s. Titles I-V of the WIA do the following things: (1) establish the purposes, goals and operational framework of a workforce development system designed to increase participants' employment,…

Federal funding from the School to Work Opportunities Act (STOWA) has ended. There is no doubt that state policy to advance activities started under STOWA will be a major factor in the sustainability of School to Work. Already some states have taken the initiative for bringing higher standards to education by offering incentives for businesses to…