Paying reparations to Black Americans has long been contentiously debated. This article addresses an unexamined pillar of this debate: the United States has a long-standing social norm that if an individual or community has suffered a harm, it is considered right for the federal government to provide some measure of what we term "reparatory…

In this article, the author describes the practice of active learning with Federal Reserve Economic Data (FRED). First, he outlines the broad intellectual context of learning with and about economic data, summarizing the recent scholarly contributions made to the topic. Next, the author presents several strategies for teaching with FRED in the…

In 1974, and then again in 1996, Martin Feldstein published studies of the impact of the Social Security system on private saving in the U.S. economy. He found that Social Security depressed personal saving by a substantial amount--up to 50 percent. The author uses the Feldstein data and empirical models in this article to illustrate the steps in…

The 2001 No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) increased accountability pressure in U.S. public schools by threatening to impose sanctions on Title 1 schools that failed to make adequate yearly progress (AYP) in consecutive years. Difference-in-difference estimates of the effect of failing AYP in the first year of NCLB on teacher effort in the…

Between 2000 and 2005, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, until recently, the Food Stamp Program) caseload increased by half. As the Great Recession unfolded, the SNAP caseload grew even more rapidly. Further, over the past two decades the composition of the caseload has shifted sharply away from families combining food and cash…

American community colleges are much like the nation that invented them. They offer an open door to opportunity to all who would come, are innovative and agile in meeting economic and workplace needs, and provide value and service to individuals and communities. Little wonder that they are increasingly emulated around the world and have become the…

In recent decades, much attention has been focused on student achievement in the United States. Many policy initiatives have been attempted in an effort to bolster achievement, including increasing school revenue, decreasing class size, expanding early childhood programs, and introducing vouchers and charter schools, to name a few, but not all of…

Over 42 million meals--31.2 million lunches and 11 million breakfasts--were served on a typical school day in fiscal year 2009 to children through USDA's National School Lunch and School Breakfast Programs. School food authorities (SFAs) operate local school feeding programs and deliver the meals to the schools. SFAs must serve appealing,…

This paper analyzes the impact of the local availability of Head Start, a public preschool program for low-income children, on the participation of immigrant children. We use propensity score methods to flexibly control for numerous individual and neighborhood characteristics and availability of other services aimed at low-income families. We find…

This study examines the extent to which location influences school foodservice costs per meal. It does not examine the effects of cost variation on financial solvency of an school food authority (SFA) or the adequacy of the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) meal reimbursements. Higher per meal costs do not necessarily indicate that an SFA is…

This historical study examined the Civilian Conservation Corps as an educational endeavor during the New Deal era. Specifically, it considered the CCC as an organization which utilized educational technologies of the day, while also serving as a mass medium to communicate what was possible through the New Deal to the American public at large. In…

We provide an assessment of the French ZEP (Zones d'Education Prioritaire), a program started in 1982 that channels additional resources to schools in disadvantaged areas and encourages the development of new teaching projects. Focusing on middle-schools, we first evaluate the impact of the ZEP status on resources, their utilization (teacher…

Both economic and environmental factors are affecting the further development of liquid metal fast breeder reactors. Rising costs of plant production and the possible environmental effects of the breeder system have caused the U.S. to consider carefully this method of energy production. Alternative energy sources are being studied also. (MA)

In the past 150 years, educational systems have expanded and become integrally linked with economic, political, and social status in modern nation-states. As the stakes for education have risen, so has the call for more and improved use of scientific evidence as a basis for educational policymaking. Evidence from averaged scores on international…

Data on the amount of government funding for research and development operations from 1966 through 1974 are provided. (DT)