This directory provides information on federal and state programs and national organizations that serve migrant farmworkers and their families. Section 1 covers federal programs that provide services related to nutrition, housing, education, health and human services, immigration, agricultural employment, and environmental protection. Federal…

This report by the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights examines federal funding of programs intended to assist Native Americans at the Department of Interior, Department of Health and Human Services, Department of Housing and Urban Development, Department of Justice, Department of Education, and Department of Agriculture. The report reveals that…

Current debates about welfare reform center on the upcoming reauthorization of the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) legislation. The provisions of TANF include the elimination of the entitlement to cash assistance, block grant funding to the states, mandatory work requirements, sanctions, a 5-year limit on cash assistance, and…

This brief document provides information about the nationwide reading initiative, Reading First, in the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. Reading First is a focused effort to improve reading skills of students in kindergarten through third grade. First, information is provided on unique characteristics of the Reading First program and requirements…

This report analyzes the first year of the Federal Alternative Financing Program (AFP), a program designed to help individuals with disabilities who need to purchase assistive technology (AT) find a way to pay for the equipment. The program receives funding under Title III of the Assistive Technology Act of 1998 and provides low-cost financing for…

This commentary focuses on the role of the Canadian federal government in early childhood development policy. The commentary begins by exploring the twin pillars of Canada's family policy, income support and services, then asserts that policy must move beyond these traditional provisions to offer early childhood development initiatives that will…

This study examined the use of private education loans at high-cost private colleges and universities. Responses were received from 100 of the 381 institutions who reported undergraduate tuition and fees, or professional school tuition and fees, of $14,000 or higher in 1996-1997. It was found that on most campuses private student loans play a…

This report summarizes the educational highlights of a workshop sponsored by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the University of Kentucky's Cooperative Extension Service, and the Kentucky Department of Agriculture aimed at boosting the use of locally produced fresh food in school feeding programs. The workshop was designed to provide a forum for…

This White Paper on child care is the second of four to be published by the Action Alliance for Virginia's Children, and focuses on the affordability and availability of quality child care in Virginia. The paper states that despite federal attempts to simplify funding, funding remains complicated due to differences in the federal and state fiscal…

The federal Class-Size Reduction (CSR) Program, P.L. 105-277, begun in Fiscal Year 1999, represented a major federal commitment to help school districts hire additional qualified teachers, especially in the early elementary grades, so children would learn in smaller classes. The CSR program also allowed funds to be spent as professional…

Gaps in academic achievement between students from various racial and ethnic groups and from low-income families are a cause for national concern. The advent of high stakes testing and the increased awareness of high dropout rates have rekindled the search for ways to help all children succeed in school. Many strategies to address lagging…

The purpose of this report is to highlight some of the more interesting and compelling research on arts education. The focus is on two major reports: "Champions of Change: The Impact of the Arts on Learning" and "Critical Links: Learning in the Arts and Student Academic and Social Development." Together, these provide enough…

This bulletin presents brief stories of the functions and, in some instances, of the accomplishments of the various offices of the Federal Executive Departments which have printed matter of interest to libraries. With regard to the office of the Chief Executive, the President of the United States, the only publications distributed are the…

For a period of more than 25 years, this series of publications has provided an authoritative and reasonably comprehensive source of information about Federal activities in education. The present bulletin, Federal Funds for Education, 1958-59 and 1959-60, is the 15th in the series. It describes educational programs supported by the Federal…

Discusses instances of federal intervention in education that failed to live up to expectations (support of curriculum reform in the 1960s, civil rights legislation, and equity policy). Suggests that the success of such interventions depends on (1) understanding of the causes underlying the problem under consideration, and (2) relevance of…