Career and technical education (CTE) has existed in the United States for over a century, and only in recent years have there been opportunities to assess the causal impact of participating in these programs while in high school. To date, no work has assessed whether the relative costs of these programs meet or exceed the benefits as described in…

As students throughout New England head back to school this fall, tens of thousands of them have a head start on a bright future through a Children's Savings Account (CSA). These investments in children's future postsecondary education are offered in cities and states throughout the region--and beyond--and all share a goal of boosting…

Purpose: Through case studies of five states with varying facilities policies, this study examines the factors contributing to expanded state investment in equitable public school facilities and how those factors can be leveraged to encourage states that make minimal investments to expand their support for facilities funding. Methods: Data…

Through case studies of five states with varying facilities policies, this study examines the factors contributing to expanded state investment in equitable public school facilities and how those factors can be leveraged to encourage states that make minimal investments to expand their support for facilities funding. Data collection consisted of a…

Presidents, trustees, and senior administrators at New England colleges and universities all feel the pressures: keep tuition down, be competitive academically, and make sure the physical campus draws talent from a shrinking pool of traditional high school graduates and new nontraditional students. Given resource limitations, something's got to…

New York's workforce system is a complicated entity that engages nearly a dozen state agencies and myriad funding streams originating at the federal and state levels, and operates on the ground in ten economic development regions, 33 designated workforce investment areas, community-based organizations, labor unions and 62 counties. This report…

Public education funding relies on revenues from a variety of sources, from local taxpayers to federal programs targeting students with specific needs. The vast sum of funding collected--in excess of $600 billion annually--often masks which entities fund the education of our nation's youth. Questions of funding adequacy and equity across school…

Most special education administrators do not get the chance to network regularly with professional peers to discuss job challenges and strategies. School-district special education directors routinely juggle complex, difficult, time-consuming, and emotion-laden job demands, but when things get tough, they usually find themselves solving problems…

The Green Loan Fund at Harvard University has been an active source of capital for energy efficiency and waste reduction projects for almost a decade. This case study examines the revolving fund's history from its inception as a pilot project in the 1990s to its regeneration in the early 2000s to its current operations today. The green revolving…

Almost 7 million young Americans (age 16-24) are insufficiently attached to school or work. Based on conservative estimates, we can generate over $1 billion just by helping a mere 0.1 percent earn a high school credential and complete their first year of college through Back on Track Designs. This brief lays out the cost of setting up these GED-…

In the late summer of 2008, after the 2007-2008 fiscal year's books had closed, the nation's wealthiest universities were confronted with an unfamiliar sight: single-digit endowment returns. Not since 2003 had Harvard University (Cambridge, Massachusetts), Princeton University (Princeton, New Jersey), or Stanford University (Stanford, California)…

Does investing taxpayer money in higher education lead to major payoffs in economic growth? State legislators and policy makers say yes. They routinely advocate massive appropriations for university education and research, even in poor economic times, on the grounds that taxpayers will be rewarded many times over. The investment of federal funds…

This paper is about the funding status of teachers' retirement pension schemes. Its goal is to relate the accounting for the funding of these pension obligations to the endemic, systematic, and fundamentally fraudulent system of accounting our country uses to assess the financial positions of federal, state, and local government as well as many…

Developing school leaders who are equipped with the knowledge, skills, and dispositions needed to effectively lead low-performing schools has become a critical goal for local school districts intent on dramatically improving student outcomes. Given the current criticism surrounding leadership preparation programs and the changing nature of school…

Used wisely, academic technology empowers students to take responsibility for their own learning. "In Leonardo's Laptop," Ben Shneiderman provides teachers with a powerful framework, "Collect-Relate-Create-Donate" (CRCD), for designing student-centered learning opportunities using computers. Shneiderman developed his model by…