This report sheds a new light on the history of the U.S. Department of Education (ED), its abuses of policy, and recommendations for a path forward. The report's evidence, and the long-term political dispositions of America's citizenry, supports the wholesale reform of ED, but not its elimination. The authors have structured their report in this…

Forty years after its opening, Americans must reconsider the efficacy of a federal, Cabinet-level Department of Education. Rescinding agency status, eliminating duplicative, ineffective, and inappropriate programs, and re-organizing remaining programs under a restored Office of Education within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services…

Police organizations routinely train their officers on the use of deadly force policy and procedures. The topic addressed in this study is that deadly force policy training may be inadequate in combining policy along with discretion in shoot or no shoot situations often resulting in improper use of deadly force. The problem is the training that…

This report offers information and advice to assist all levels of government in its work to establish evidence-based policies, programs, and practices across the life cycle of disasters. This report provides examples of effective community efforts with respect to people with disabilities, and evaluates many emergency preparedness, disaster relief,…

Passage of the Clinger-Cohen Act (CCA) of 1996 was in direct response to Congressional inquiry into the perceived lack of proper management and oversight of information technology (IT) in the federal agencies. This current qualitative phenomenological study explored the lived experiences and perceptions of 20 IT professionals to determine if the…

The commissioning and provision of mental health services for people with intellectual disability is often complex and characterised by different service delivery models. This paper looks at the current situation 7 years after the White Paper, Valuing People (From words into action: London learning disabilities strategic framework, Department of…

Public engagement is increasingly advocated and applied in the development and implementation of technological innovations. However, initiatives so far are rarely considered effective. There is a need for more methodological rigor and insight into conducive conditions. The authors developed an evaluative framework and assessed accordingly the…

The policy agenda of the UK government has repositioned the voluntary sector as a key player in the delivery of locally responsive, "bottom up" services to address the complex problems of social exclusion, reaching out to sectors of the community which are beyond the grasp of traditional state or market providers. This has drawn many…

IDEA mandates that all rights accorded to parents transfer to students when they reach the age of majority, unless their competence is questioned. Using case studies, this research examined the concern that when competence is challenged, guardian appointments may occur, thus negatively impacting the self-determination of school-aged young adults…

Evaluators sometimes wish for a Fairy Godmother who would make decision makers pay attention to evaluation findings when choosing programs to implement. The U.S. Department of Education came close to creating such a Fairy Godmother when it required school districts to choose drug abuse prevention programs only if their effectiveness was supported…

For decades sociologists, criminologists, political scientists and socio-legal scholars alike have focused on the symbolic and instrumental dimensions of law in examinations of the effects of social reform and policy implementation. Following in this tradition, we focus on the relationship between hate crime policy and hate crime reporting to…

The transition to adulthood can be difficult for youth, particularly those who have disabilities severe enough that they receive Supplemental Security Income (SSI), Social Security Disability Insurance (DI), or other disability program benefits. Besides the issues facing all transition-age youth, young people with disabilities face a host of…

In this assessment of federal legislation and programs affecting coordination of services to people with disabilities, actions are addressed which can lead to a more comprehensive and coherent service delivery system. Past coordinative efforts have attempted to resolve problems occurring at both the policy level and in program administration.…

In 1996, Congress passed the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (welfare reform), which, using the mechanism of the existing state Human Resource Investment Councils (HRICs) created by the Job Training Partnership Act Amendments of 1992, held out the promise of improving effective coordination among and across…

The National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI) is the U.S. Government's crosscutting program that coordinates Federal research and development (R&D) activities in nanoscale science, engineering, technology, and related efforts among various participating agencies. The Federal Government launched the NNI in FY 2001 with an initial $500 million…