Geographical, economic, social and cultural barriers to accessing services in rural areas are widely reported. Less widely discussed are dilemmas posed by individual and community reluctance to address sensitive health issues. This article, focusing on the highly sensitive area of mental health, and employing a participatory action approach,…

From 2004-2007, the University of Memphis carried out the NSF-funded Tri-P-LETS (Three P Learning Environment for Teachers and Students) project to improve local high-school computer science curricula. The project reached a total of 58 classrooms in eleven high schools emphasizing problem solving skills, programming concepts as opposed to syntax,…

This descriptive analysis updates an earlier study of California's Title I school districts in program improvement (July 2008 "Characteristics of California School Districts in Program Improvement. Issues & Answers"), which was based on performance data for 2005/06, with another year of data. By 2006/07 more school districts were in…

This report uses the most recently available data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES 1999-2004) to provide a comprehensive picture of the diets of Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) participant children--the largest segment of the WIC population. The report examines nutrient intakes, diet quality, and food…

This descriptive analysis provides a statistical profile of California's Title I school districts in program improvement. As an independent analysis of these districts in the aggregate, it is intended to inform the context for district improvement as California rolls out and refines its district intervention strategies. A key finding of this study…

Since the 1993 Government Performance and Results Act, performance measurement systems based on short-term program outcomes have been increasingly used to assess the effectiveness of federal programs. This paper examines the association between program performance measures and long-term program impacts, using nine-year follow-up data from a recent…

This paper provides information about Minnesota's Graduation Required Assessments for Diploma (GRAD), comprehensive proficiency assessments of the skills and knowledge in mathematics, reading, and writing that are necessary for graduation. The Minnesota Comprehensive Assessments, Series II, into which the GRAD tests are embedded, measure…

This report synthesizes findings and draws lessons about the implementation and results of the "No Child Left Behind Act of 2001" ("NCLB") based primarily on two longitudinal studies funded by the U.S. Department of Education. Progress to date suggests that "NCLB's" ambitious goal of having 100 percent of U.S.…

The 2001 renewal of the United States' Title I program instituted the Supplemental Educational Services (SES) program, in which schools in their third year of failing to make Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) are required to offer out-of-school-time tutoring in core subjects to low-income students. This study synthesized provider effects reported in…

Head Start teachers and their aides (n = 24) were assigned to either the experimental or active control treatment in this preliminary investigation on the effects of Child Teacher Relationship Training (CTRT) on 52 disadvantaged preschool children identified with behavioral problems. CTRT is based on the principles and procedures of Child Parent…

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) affects an estimated 1% of children in the United States and yet many fundamental questions about the biology of ASD, potential risk factors, effective treatments and interventions, and impacts throughout life remain unanswered. Important advances have been made in understanding the complexity of ASD, but additional…

There are now nearly four million children born in the United States who have undocumented immigrant parents. In the current debates around immigration reform, policymakers often view immigrants as an economic or labor market problem to be solved, but the issue has a very real human dimension. Immigrant parents without legal status are raising…

This letter is submitted to comment on the U.S. Department of Education's (ED) proposed revisions to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act's (ARRA) State Fiscal Stabilization Fund (SFSF), as published in the September 23, 2011, Federal Register. Overall, the Data Quality Campaign believes the proposed changes strike a sensible balance: they…

The 2010 elections were good for Republicans in Ohio, who have traditionally supported the expansion of charter schools (and choice broadly). The authors were hopeful as lawmakers and the governor set about removing caps on charter schools, lifting the e-school moratorium, and suggesting other legislative changes that would improve charter quality…

There is often confusion about distinctions between growth models and value-added models. The first half of this paper attempts to dispel some of these confusions by clarifying terminology and illustrating by example how the results from a large-scale assessment can and will be used to make inferences about student growth and the value-added…