California's Employment Training Panel Program (ETP), the largest state-funded customized training program for incumbent workers in the nation, has had a positive impact on the economy of California, and its success has policy implications for other state programs. The impact of ETP on trainees includes the following: they are more attached to the…

In 1989, the Kentucky Supreme Court ruled that Kentucky's education system was unconstitutional and invalidated the entire body of school law. In response, the General Assembly passed the Kentucky Education Reform Act of 1990 (KERA), a completely new educational system. This report upon the 10th anniversary of KERA's passage documents how key…

More than at any time in our nation's history, mayors are playing an active role in mobilizing these local community and civic interests to act collectively on behalf of children and youth. These leaders see a vital link between their cities' capacity to prepare young people for successful adulthood and long-term civic vitality. More than any…

Schools continue to face a wide array of issues as they seek to improve student achievement and strengthen the community. While community schools have been identified as an important model for addressing these issues, the challenges to creating and sustaining them cannot be overlooked. They are complex systems that must be established carefully…

With the support of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the authors' goal was to produce an analysis that would allow educators and policy makers to set priorities "across" categories of support (e.g., the relative importance of expectations as compared to information and awareness) and "within" categories (e.g., whether…

Explains how teachers differentiate their teaching practices to support inclusive classrooms. Discusses system of democratic governance, culture of collaboration, commitment to and capacity for professional growth, strong leadership, and concern about equity and the success and well-being of individual students as factors for transforming school…

The UK-I-Can Program is an adaptation of the Amer-I-Can Program, introduced in 1988 to help individuals meet their full potential and improve the quality of their lives. The focus of the program is equipping young people with life management skills necessary to lead fulfilling and productive lives, based on the belief that individuals' self-esteem…

In 2003, with funding from The Wallace Foundation, a national team of researchers organized by Stanford University and The Finance Project set out to find and examine a set of exemplary pre- and in-service professional development programs for principals, along with the policy contexts in which they operate. The purpose of the study was to…

Nearly one-quarter of students in community colleges leave school during the first year of enrollment for reasons other than transfer or credential completion. Generally, nontraditional community college students drop out within their first year at higher rates than do traditional students. Using data from Achieving the Dream: Community Colleges…

Using data from Achieving the Dream: Community Colleges Count, this issue looks at changes in cohort composition. The analysis addresses the changing composition of the Achieving the Dream student cohorts from 2002 to 2005. The data show that at Achieving the Dream colleges, the percentage of Hispanic students increased over the four cohorts…

This monograph provides an overview of the characteristics, attributes, and behaviors that define and identify elementary school students who are at risk of not succeeding in mathematics. The monograph is divided into seven sections that report research to support early intervention procedures to prevent problems from developing and suggest…

This 6-year project sought to develop programs to impact student academic success and retention. Three separate programs were developed to serve the learning improvement needs of different constituents and situations. All programs were offered at a large, land-grant research university. The Residential Success Program was designed to provide…

The report of the 25-member National Advisory Council on Rural Development, appointed by the Secretary of Agriculture, defines rural needs and sets forth strategies for rural development in the 1980's. A review of the decade between 1970 and 1980 discusses rapid economic growth of rural areas, social progress, and changes in public service, and…

The physical facilities of 700 colleges and universities of the United States were studied by the National Center for Education Statistics in the fall of 1977. The primary study objectives were to: (1) develop a reliable estimate of what American colleges and universities must spend to make their programs accessible to the mobility impaired, as…

The fundamental principles underlying the "No Child Left Behind" (NCLB) Act of 2001" focus on high standards of learning and instruction with the goal of increasing academic achievement--reading and math in particular--within all identified subgroups in the K-12 population. One of these subgroups is the growing population of English…