Some Teacher Incentive Fund (TIF) grantees are experimenting with the design and operation of teacher leader (TL) programs as part of their performance-based compensation systems (PBCS). Much of the impetus for this is the U.S Department of Education TIF 4 requirement that grantees' PBCS should provide for "additional responsibilities and…

Superintendents and school boards must balance state and federal mandates, requirements of new legislation, and policy changes as they search for best practices in education that will result in increased student achievement. Pressure has increased, with an emphasis on high stakes testing and accountability since the implementation of the No Child…

Qualitative research has moved from the margins to the mainstream in many domains of scholarship. Yet, biases against how qualitative methods can best address important research questions still persist. The present article provides reflections regarding my experiences of proposing and reviewing both qualitative and quantitative research grants for…

With many funding schemes around, a teacher needs to choose the one that suits the type of project he/she wants to do. Look carefully at the eligibility and judging criteria as this is what the applications will be assessed on. All the schemes mentioned here are open to primary schools, but some may need to involve other people as well. Some…

Thousands of schools across the country are chronically low performing, and they operate within districts and states that are struggling to help them improve. The School Improvement Grants (SIG) program is designed to channel federal funds to states and districts facing the task of turning around struggling schools. SIG, a part of the Elementary…

This study empirically examines a prominent justification for public subsidies of emerging technologies: that stimulating demand for them provides opportunities for learning by doing. Even if firms learn from their experience, subsidies are still second best to pricing negative externalities if firms can appropriate the benefits of learning. I…

Dr. Mae Jemison is the world's first woman astronaut of color who continues to reach for the stars. Jemison was recently successful in leading a team that has secured a $500,000 federal grant to make interstellar space travel a reality. The Dorothy Jemison Foundation for Excellence (named after Jemison's mother) was selected in June by the Defense…

The COVID-19 pandemic and the economic recession have disrupted the health and economic wellbeing of postsecondary students, families, and the nation's colleges and universities. A college degree can lead to good jobs with benefits--now and during the economic recovery--for students with low incomes, particularly students of color, opportunity…

In 2002 the Council of the Great City Schools and its members set out to develop performance measures that could be used to improve business operations in urban public school districts. The Council launched the Performance Measurement and Benchmarking Project to achieve these objectives. The purposes of the project were to: (1) Establish a common…

The Virginia Plan for Higher Education, now in its sixth year, charts a course to make Virginia the best-educated state by 2030. The State Council of Higher Education for Virginia developed The Virginia Plan as part of its statutory role to "advocate for and promote the development and operation of an educationally and economically sound,…

This is an update to the report "Deeper in Debt: Women and Student Loans." Americans today carry $1.54 trillion in student loan debt. That number has more than doubled over the last decade--increasing at nearly six times the rate of inflation. Women are particularly burdened, holding nearly two-thirds of all outstanding loans--around…

Since 2010, the State Higher Education Executive Officers Association (SHEEO) has periodically administered the "Strong Foundations" survey, which documents the content, structure, and effective use of state postsecondary student unit record systems (PSURSs). This report highlights the results of the fourth administration of the survey,…

In 2004 and 2005, the Pell Institute for the Study of Opportunity in Higher Education (Pell Institute), sponsored by the Council for Opportunity in Education (COE), published two editions of "Indicators of Opportunity in Higher Education." In 2015, the commitment to documenting trends in higher education equity was renewed by publishing…

The strengths and abilities children develop from infancy through adolescence are crucial for their physical, emotional, and cognitive growth, which in turn help them to achieve success in school and to become responsible, economically self-sufficient, and healthy adults. Capable, responsible, and healthy adults are clearly the foundation of a…

The primary source of federal aid to elementary and secondary education is the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA)--particularly its Title I-A program, which authorizes federal aid for the education of disadvantaged students. This report provides a brief overview of major provisions of the ESEA. It is organized by title and part of the…