Problem: Sexual minority youths are youths who identify themselves as gay or lesbian, bisexual, or unsure of their sexual identity or youths who have only had sexual contact with persons of the same sex or with both sexes. Population-based data on the health-risk behaviors practiced by sexual minority youths are needed at the state and local…

The purpose of this mixed methods study is to ascertain how and why parents select an alternative public educational setting for secondary students in the state of Minnesota a state with school choice options. Three research questions address this purpose, including why parents do not send their children to the local public high school, why…

This issue brief is focused on state efforts to improve education in science, technology, engineering, and math--collectively known as the "STEM" disciplines. The brief is largely based on a March, 2009 American Youth Policy Forum (AYPF) field trip to Columbus and Dayton, Ohio, and describes Ohio's success in advancing STEM education…

Southern Regional Education Board's (SREB's) "High Schools That Work" ("HSTW") initiative works with more than 1,100 schools in 30 states and the District of Columbia to improve school and classroom practices and prepare more students for success in postsecondary studies, training and careers. This brief report analyzes student…

Using a probit and censored ordered probit model of school completion we identify some state-specific factors influencing primary and middle school graduation probabilities of male and female children in two north-Indian states: Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. We find that education of the parents, economic and social status of the household and the…

When not sleeping, working, or tending to other duties, Arizonans keep busy, spending personal time on a wide array of different activities, from high culture to casual pastime. Reported data create a picture of a busy, active population sharing a lot of interests, particularly outdoor activities, while also containing discernible subgroups…

"Evaluation Science Briefs" summarize the findings and implications of a recent study evaluating the effects of an early childhood program or environment. This Brief evaluates the study "An Effectiveness-Based Evaluation of Five State Pre-Kindergarten Programs" (V. C. Wong, T. D. Cook, W. S. Barnett, and K. Jung.) States have high aspirations for…

The latest national report card on higher education, as in the past, handed out a lot of "incompletes." Like the student who keeps forgetting to turn in that lab report, the grades can't be computed without all the data. There's a lot policy makers don't know about their states' higher-education performance, and the gaps in information limit the…

This review of state English language arts (ELA) and mathematics standards is the latest in a series of Fordham evaluations dating back to 1997. It comes at a critical juncture, as states across the land consider adoption of the Common Core State Standards. These are the authors' major findings: (1) Based on their criteria, the Common Core…

Since 2002, the Center on Education Policy (CEP), an independent nonprofit organization, has been studying state high school exit examinations--tests students must pass to receive a high school diploma. This is CEP's ninth annual report on exit exams. The information in this report comes from several sources: CEP's survey of states that have…

The National Research Center on Career and Technical Education has supported four studies on one of the major components of Perkins legislation: programs of study. In this article, we present qualitative data linking the research center's longitudinal projects based on programs of study, via a one-time cross-case study of sites deemed highly…

The State Higher Education Finance (SHEF) report is produced annually by the State Higher Education Executive Officers (SHEEO) to broaden understanding of the context and consequences of multiple decisions made every year in each of these areas. No single report can provide definitive answers to such broad and fundamental questions of public…

In fiscal year 2008, about 31 million children participated in the National School Lunch Program and more than 10 million children participated in the School Breakfast Program each school day. The U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) spent $11.7 billion on the school meal programs in that year. The majority of…

This paper addresses the possible content and organization of a National Assessment Governing Board (NAGB) "Mega Report" based on the most populous five states and the largest metropolitan areas in each of them, namely California, Florida, Illinois, New York, and Texas. It is not a "design" but is much more than an outline,…

This article examines the role of student demographic characteristics in standardized achievement test scores at both the individual level and aggregated at the state, district, school levels. For several data sets, the majority of the variance among states, districts, and schools was related to demographic characteristics. Where these background…