Tomorrow's inventors and scientists are today's curious young children--as long as those children are given ample chances to explore and are guided by adults equipped to support them. "STEM Starts Early" is the culmination of a deep inquiry by the Joan Ganz Cooney Center at Sesame Workshop and New America embarked on an exploratory…

The federal government's role in supporting higher education touches nearly every aspect of the work performed by American colleges and universities. Federal authorities control an immense amount of public resources that are used to strategically exert influence across a complex and differentiated postsecondary system. This report is intended to…

This Annual Plan presents the major initiatives and priorities the U.S. Department of Education (Department) Office of Inspector General (OIG) intends to undertake to assist the Department in fulfilling its responsibilities to America's taxpayers and students. The Department continues to face significant challenges in FY 2018 that impact its…

The introduction in England of the Pupil Premium Grant (PPG) provided a stimulus to ensure that beginning teachers understand the nature of poverty and critically examine strategies used by schools seeking to overcome the barriers to academic achievement that it presents. This article explores the effects of asking student-teachers within a…

The State of Wisconsin's YoungStar system was created by the Legislature and Governor in 2010 to "drive quality improvement in child care throughout the state." YoungStar uses a five-star system to rate child care providers based on several measures of quality, including staff education levels, learning environment, business methods, and…

The federal government has a long history of investing in early childhood care and education. As early as the 1930s, the government was supporting nursery schools for low-income children. Over time, the federal role in early childhood care and education has evolved, and today's federal investments in this area come in many forms. This report…

Student engagement in online learning remains a challenge for the design of effective coursework. Additionally, few analyses have focused on student-produced activities in the online mode or upon how such class activity affects student subgroups differently. We conducted a randomized design experiment with student video production at a large…

This First Look report presents selected findings about student financial aid during the 2015-16 academic year. These findings are based on data from the 2015-16 National Postsecondary Student Aid Study (NPSAS:16), a nationally representative sample survey of undergraduate and graduate students enrolled any time between July 1, 2015, and June 30,…

Given the changing landscape of higher education, the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education (OSRHE) established the Task Force on the Future of Higher Education in March 2017 to conduct a systematic review of higher education; examine existing initiatives and best practices; and report findings and recommendations on strategies that best…

The Every Students Succeeds Act (ESSA) provided states with newfound flexibility on accountability measures and school improvement strategies. Many policy experts have analyzed states' ESSA plans, which explain how states use their federal funds under various provisions of the new law, as well as the approaches states take to identify and rate…

Advanced education contributes to greater individual and regional prosperity, including increased earnings, improved economic growth, greater levels of community engagement and improved health outcomes. Rising costs to students and families combined with a student body that may require additional resources to ensure its success, however, may make…

The Indian Education -- Formula Grants to Local Education Agencies (Indian Education Formula Grant) program is authorized under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA), as amended by the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). It is the Department's principal vehicle for addressing the particular needs of Indian children. The program…

By providing training from the Central Sponsored Programs Office (SPO), departments, and colleges at Predominantly Undergraduate Institutions (PUIs) can increase compliance with grant requirements. PUIs usually do not focus on department- or college-level grants administration and lack monetary resources to support this function. However, at the…

This paper demonstrates how the application of New Public Management (NPM) and the accompanying rise of academic capitalism in allocating research funds in the German academic field have interacted with a change from federal pluralism to a more stratified system of universities and departments. From this change, a tendency to build cartel-like…

Despite public support, environmental education (EE) is rarely a priority for funders, even those interested in the environment or education. We examined reasons behind the paucity of EE funding, focusing on U.S. foundations, which are one of the largest sources of support for environmental efforts. We analyzed historical giving data and…