The Early Childhood Block Grant (ECBG) distributes state funding for preschool and birth-to-three programs in Illinois. The authors conducted a case study in Evanston, a city in north Cook County, Illinois, interviewing community representatives and analyzing ECBG program data to discern how ECBG funds are used to provide early childhood services.…

Section 12 of the Indian Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009 (the RTE Act) states that 25% of the entry-level places in all private schools should be free and reserved for students from economically and socially disadvantaged families. The Indian State governments will pay schools a per-child fee based on costs in the…

Although parents, high school students, and most civic leaders in this country and around the world see a college degree as important, this perspective has been attacked over the last five years. Once the Great Recession began in December 2007, there were far fewer good jobs available for new college graduates. The soaring price of college had…

This article examines the balance found in Portugal between faith-based schools' freedom of educating with a religious perspective and the State's supervisory role of schools that receive state funding (government oversight of religious State funded schools). The research is a case study of four Catholic schools entirely funded by the State.…

The 16 Race to the Top district winners, pushed by $400 million in federal grants that put a premium on personalized learning, are embarking on vastly different makeovers of the classroom experience--from districtwide approaches to a narrower blueprint focused on middle school math. Despite the divergent approaches, a review of the winning…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationships between the changes in Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment Program (TCAP) scores and the changes in Per Pupil Expenditures (PPE) after the enactment of "First to the Top Act of 2010" and the receipt of $501,000,000 in federal Race to the Top (RTTT) grant monies. Half of that…

In February 2009, the United States government passed into law the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (HITECH) and the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) providing incentive money for hospitals and care providers to implement a certified electronic health record (EHR) in order to promote the adoption and…

The Race to the Top State competitions provided incentives to States to adopt bold and comprehensive reforms in elementary and secondary education and laid the foundation for unprecedented innovation. A total of 46 States and the District of Columbia put together plans to implement college- and career-ready standards, use data systems to guide…

The 2013 federal Budget was delivered ironically the same day as the Parliamentary Budget Officer was in court seeking more information about the impact of the government's $5.2 billion in spending cuts announced last year. The lack of budgetary transparency and accountability has become a hallmark of the Conservative government. Anyone expecting…

The Federal Direct Student Loan Program offers loans to students and their parents to help pay for postsecondary education. Under current law, about $1.4 trillion in new direct loans will be made to students between 2013 and 2023, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) projects. Analysts and policymakers have raised concerns about various features…

This annual report for 2012-2013 features a collection of stories from individuals in the school-based health care movement who have been affected by the work of the School-Based Health Alliance. At the 2013 National School-Based Health Care Convention in Washington, DC, the new name, logo, and tagline for the organization: School Based Health…

For 40 years, federal money has sustained higher education while enabling its worst tendencies. That is about to change. The end may have come on February 12, 2013, when President Barack Obama delivered his State of the Union address. "Skyrocketing costs," the president said, "price way too many young people out of a higher education, or saddle…

"Straight A's: Public Education Policy and Progress" is a biweekly newsletter that focuses on education news and events both in Washington, DC and around the country. The following articles are included in this issue: (1) You Take the High Road and I'll Take the Low Road: As Appropriations Process Begins, Different Spending Approaches Likely to…

The battle over public access to federally financed research is heating up again. The basic question is this: When taxpayers help pay for scholarly research, should those taxpayers get to see the results in the form of free access to the resulting journal articles? Actions in Washington this month highlight how far from settled the question is,…

The use of standardized test results to drive school administrator evaluations pervades education policymaking in more than 40 states. However, the results of state standardized tests are strongly influenced by non-school factors. The models of best fit (n = 18) from this correlational, explanatory, longitudinal study predicted accurately the…