Passage of the "Strengthening Career & Technical Education for the 21st Century Act" (Perkins V), which reauthorizes federal legislation funding career and technical education (CTE), brings the opportunity to improve the quality and accessibility of CTE for adults with low incomes; English learner adults; out-of-school youth; and…

Head Start is an essential part of the programs and funding streams that provide early care and education (ECE) services to young children in the U.S. Head Start focuses on supporting children and families with low incomes, but also contributes to the broader effort to expand access to high quality ECE for all young children. Programs and…

Because of the need for a system designed to continuously evaluate State and local programs of occupational education relative to the relevancy of educational training and accountability of funds, the Illinois Three Phase System for Statewide Evaluation of Occupational Programs was formulated to evaluate both program product and program process…

This policy brief examines the fundamental principles that undergird the current Total Quality Management (TQM) movement, describes application examples and discusses application problems particular to higher education. An opening section reviews the basic premises of TQM and differentiates between two perspectives on the approach: the first see…

Alternative early childhood education policies that states might consider are discussed in this five-part report. Likely consequences, and pros and cons of each alternative are outlined. Section I presents various funding options, including the funding of existing programs, voucher mechanisms, project grants, and formula funding. Section II…

These standards are provided to promote the achievement of excellence in Maryland's public school prekindergarten programs. To that end, this document delineates standards of quality and provides a list of indicators that concretely describe what a program will look like if the standards are being met. The standards and indicators address seven…

This pilot study of facilities from which the Texas Department of Human Services (TDHS) purchased day care services gathered and analyzed data for use in developing day care service control standards by means of which the quality of purchased day care services could be systematically assessed. Random samples were selected from contract centers,…

In order to improve desegregation of the elementary schools, and the low achievement level of elementary schools with high concentrations of poor and minority students, the Massachusetts Board of Education placed a coordinated approach to improving urban schools first among its objectives. The following educational objectives were set for each…

This paper reviews the economic and political science literature, and the literature on Chapter 1/Title I in order to identify policy options that retain adequate fiscal accountability as well as insure program quality. Chapter 1 of the Education Consolidation and Improvement Act of 1981 is the successor to Title I of the Elementary and Secondary…

The directors of adult education from the 50 states, the District of Columbia, and the territories met to discuss implementation of the National Literacy Act and Adult Education Act (AEA) and to begin the process of developing recommendations regarding reauthorization of AEA in 1995. The forum discussions centered around the following aspects of…

However defined, the quality of services under Chapter 1 of the Education Consolidation and Improvement Act is heavily dependent on the setting in which those services are delivered. Working definitions of the following aspects of program delivery are presented as a means of establishing evaluation criteria: (1) the resources applied to a local…

Providing a cross-cultural perspective on governmental involvement in the provision of day care services, this study explores early childhood programs in five countries. Chapter 1 is a brief introduction, Chapter 2 describes state supported child care in Denmark. Chapter 3 describes playgroups in England. Chapter 4 concerns state and municipal…

Career and technical education (CTE) in Nebraska prepares individuals at the secondary, postsecondary, and adult level for entry, advanced, technical, and managerial positions in business and industry. The Department of Education is the designated agency for administration of CTE and the Carl D. Perkins Vocational and Technical Education Act of…

In 1995, efforts to develop Australia's vocational education and training (VET) system focused on implementing Australia's first national strategy for VET, Towards a Skilled Australia. All stakeholders in VET worked to advance Australia's national strategy for VET, which revolved around the following four themes: responsiveness (maximizing…

In accordance with a mandate included in the 1990 amendments to the Perkins Act, a national evaluation of Tech-Prep implementation was conducted. The evaluation had two main objectives: to determine how effectively Tech-Prep is being implemented and to identify useful implementation practices and challenges. Data were collected from the following…