In recent decades, communities across the globe have been transformed by the spread of technology to all corners of life. This transformation has extended to the world of work and has disrupted the skills that workers must develop to remain competitive. In a 2018 special report, "The New Foundational Skills of the Digital Economy: Developing…

In America today, families in almost every urban community have some kind of public school choice. This report focuses on "public school choice," under which families are able to choose from both an array of traditional public schools and public charter schools. Public school choice has grown rapidly in the past 20 years; new charter…

This paper examines thirty major American cities to determine how "choice-friendly" they are today. Selected for their size and geographic diversity, the cities reveal both the best and worst conditions for school choice to take root and grow. "School choice" is defined broadly to incorporate a wide range of public and private…

This study evaluates how welcoming thirty American cities--the twenty-five largest and five smaller "hotspots"--are to "nontraditional" problem-solvers and solutions. It assumes that the balky bureaucracies meant to improve K-12 education and hold leaders accountable are so calcified by policies, programs, contracts, and…

Dominated by street after street of granite federal office buildings, the DC was a place that just couldn't jump-start itself into world-class status. Of course, it offered free, topnotch museums, but everyone lived and breathed politics and the town was sorely lacking a throbbing urban pulse. The absence of a major league baseball team said it…

Looking for social studies adventures to help students find connections to democratic citizenship? Look no further! This book provides just the answer teachers need for engaging students in field trips as researching learners with emphasis on interdisciplinary social studies plus skills in collecting and reporting data gathered from field…

What happens when teams from 57 cities building afterschool systems gather to discuss two key system responsibilities--improving afterschool programs and using data for informed decision-making? Lots of rich discussion. This report covers a national afterschool conference held in February 2013. It details what mayors, program providers, system…

GUIDELINES ARE PRESENTED, BASED ON THE EXPERIENCES OF SEVERAL COMMUNITIES, FOR COMMUNITIES SEEKING TO ESTABLISH OFFICIAL HUMAN RELATIONS COMMITTEES. MANY HAVE FORMED BIRACIAL COMMITTEES BECAUSE THEY FACED A CRISIS IN HUMAN RELATIONS. NORTHERN COMMUNITIES HAVE GONE FAR BEYOND THE SIMPLE COMMITTEE STRUCTURE AND HAVE CREATED COMMISSIONS WITH…

Recently, a number of evaluations of private school voucher programs in the United States have reported achievement gains for voucher users, especially African Americans. These studies tend to be structured as Randomized Field Trials (RFTs), where participants are assigned to treatment (offered a voucher) and control (not offered a voucher) groups…

The Savoy/TMA Public Education Campus encompasses the 3.5 acres that includes the Savoy Elementary School and the former Nichols Avenue School, now the fully modernized Thurgood Marshall Academy Public Charter High School (TMA) and a recreation center sponsored by the Department of Parks and Recreation. As a part of public initiatives to better…

Explores the legacies of desegregation in cities that have a predominantly black municipal leadership. Focuses on policies in the District of Columbia and discovers a pattern relevant to similar cities. That pattern includes a tendency to isolate education issues from other municipal concerns and a reluctance to involve the courts. (MJP)

This is a transcript which documents 1980 hearings of the House of Representatives Committee on the District of Columbia. The transcript compares past and present conditions in Washington, D.C. and other American cities; surveys how Federal assistance has helped or hindered the ability of cities to confront urban problems; and explores how Federal…

This Kids Count fact book is the fourth to report on the well-being of children and youth in the District of Columbia. The report's Executive Summary presents overall findings, and the bulk of the report presents trends in eight areas: (1) economic security; (2) family attachment and community support; (3) child day care; (4) homeless children and…