Education savings accounts (ESAs) are education funding mechanisms that allow for families to receive a deposit of public funds to a government-authorized savings account. Using student-level longitudinal data, this paper examines how families participating in the Florida Gardiner Scholarship Program use education savings account funds. Results…

Civic learning for all students seems like a reasonable and important aim for all schools to achieve. If we believe that the future of our American democracy depends on a citizenry that is informed, engaged, and responsible, what better place to create future citizens than in schools? The Campaign for the Civic Mission of Schools…

The following profiles address how the state departments of education are helping educators prepare for and implement the Common Core and aligned assessments through professional learning. The major professional development efforts around the Common Core were examined in order to understand the overall efforts of each state. An exhaustive list of…

Less than 25 percent of college students who take any developmental education courses earn a credential within eight years. Over the past three years, the six states in the Developmental Education Initiative have developed and enacted unprecedented changes in policy and practice in an effort to reverse these dismal outcomes. "Ahead of the…

This project assesses the feasibility of creating a voluntary, nationwide data dictionary that can be used to standardize the reporting of postsecondary accountability reporting requirements for the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act of 2006 (otherwise known as Perkins IV). Variables, field codes, and programming instructions,…

In November 1996, forty-five higher education technology leaders convened in Washington, D.C., to discuss the virtual university (VU). The Western Governors Association had announced establishment of the Western Governors University (WGU). As a result, VU initiatives were emerging from, or being contemplated by, almost every state-level higher…

By now people are all too familiar with the disheartening numbers: approximately 7,000 students drop out each day, which means nearly one-third of high school students will not graduate with their peers. The statistics are even more staggering for minority and low-income students, especially in the nation's largest urban districts, where less than…

Response to intervention (RTI) arose, in part, from the limited success of the pre-referral process, an approach advocated in the 1980s and 1990s, and accurately measuring the discrepancy between aptitude and achievement in young children. Reflecting these concerns, when the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) was reauthorized in…

Describes the conditions that led to Florida's initiative in compensatory education, the legal basis of compensatory education in Florida, the care taken not to violate federal regulations, and the cost relationships between compensatory education programs and the basic program offerings of school districts. (Author/IRT)

The authors describe environmental service-learning (SL) programs in Florida high schools and colleges through a statewide program census that explored (a) academic, service, and reflection program features; (b) effects of Furco's SL outcome domains on student outcomes; and (c) program partnerships. The results of the study reveal that secondary…

This technical assistance paper discusses the need for school-age child care and documents Florida's leadership activities in providing assistance to school districts seeking to meet the needs of school-age children who are unsupervised before and after school. The Florida projects described include: (1) the School-Age Child Care Incentive…

To address key policy and programmatic questions and help improve student and system performance, states must work to link data across the early childhood, postsecondary and workforce (P-20/workforce) spectrum and share this information with appropriate stakeholders. This issue brief highlights current efforts in California, Florida, Indiana, and…

Compares the results of the first and second years of testing in the Florida minimum competency program to show that the program is working. (IRT)

This final report of the Florida Research Coordinating Unit (RCU) for Vocational Education covers a period from December 1, 1966 to August 31, 1969. The RCU was established to coordinate, encourage, and assist in the preparation of studies needed to improve vocational education in Florida, and to disseminate the results. This report includes a…

Reported upon are a total of 40 projects funded in Florida under PL 91-230, Title VI, Part B, Education of the Handicapped Act, which provides funds to states to assist in the initiation, expansion, and improvement of programs and projects for the education of handicapped children at preschool through secondary levels. Project abstracts of the…