Teacher benefits, once a sleepy question primarily of interest to actuaries, have become a flash point in the education debate. With individual states on the hook for tens or hundreds of millions in unfunded pension and health insurance obligations, state leaders are trying to determine the severity of the situation and the appropriate response.…

Although every state in the country has recognized the importance of government transparency by enacting open government provisions, few of those statutes require training programs to encourage records custodians to comply with the law. Ten states mandate training in how to legally respond to public records requests, and some mandates are stronger…

The federal government and private foundations for education have established postsecondary credential completion as a national imperative. Washington State's Integrated Basic Education and Skills Training (I-BEST) model was developed to increase the rate at which basic skills students advance to and succeed in college-level occupational programs,…

Students, a large percentage with disabilities, are at high risk for poor post-secondary outcomes in state agency education programs. This mixed-methods study describes the understandings of student transitions in state agency education programs from the perspectives of youth and administrators. Results indicated that: transition is more narrowly…

This study examines why 51 schools declined an invitation to participate in a state-funded educator incentive initiative, the Texas Educator Excellence Grant (TEEG) program. Using data from an ongoing evaluation of the TEEG program conducted by the National Center on Performance Incentives (NCPI) under contract with Texas Education Agency, this…

Interviews were conducted with 60 human-services-agency staff of the Child and Adolescent Service System Program in California and 67 parents of children with serious emotional disturbance regarding changes over the previous four years in their local children's service systems. Results indicate increased interagency collaboration and family…

Smart Start is North Carolina's partnership between state government and local leaders, service providers, and families to better serve children under 6 years of age and their families. Interviews were conducted to ascertain the impressions, attitudes, and advice of 55 key participants in the 12 pioneer Smart Start counties. The interviews were…

This study explored the experiences of faculty and staff at a Minnesota technical college involved in a statewide initiative to develop innovative models for providing equal opportunities to students with disabilities. The findings suggest meaningful change tended to occur when those involved saw themselves as authors of change rather than its…