The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 injected $7 billion into two of the Obama administration's signature competitive education grant programs: Race to the Top (RTT) and School Improvement Grants (SIG). While RTT focused on state policies and SIG focused on school practices, both programs promoted related policies and practices,…

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 injected $7 billion into two of the Obama administration's signature competitive education grant programs: Race to the Top (RTT) and School Improvement Grants (SIG). While RTT focused on state policies and SIG focused on school practices, both programs promoted related policies and practices,…

How can States address the continual and extraordinary challenge of sustaining and adapting the reforms they have implemented to improve student outcomes? What steps can States take to do so in the face of inevitably evolving conditions--such as a change in resources (for example, the end of a grant), leadership (a transition in personnel or…

The author reports on the largest-ever federal investment in fixing low-achieving schools that is now flowing to states, raising the pressure on district leaders to make tough--and quick--decisions about firing principals, replacing teachers, or shutting down schools entirely. Since March, the U.S. Department of Education has been sending states…

This paper examines the relationship between excellence scholarships and research productivity, scientific impact, and degree completion. Drawing on the entire population of doctoral students in the province of Quebec, this pa- per analyzes three distinct sources of data: students, excellence scholarships, and scientific publications. It shows…

Increased attention to proposed federal early childhood education (ECE) legislation has sparked a debate on what the future holds for state-funded ECE systems. This brief explores how the goal of universal preschool is being shaped by the federal agenda and examines state programs in various stages of development. President Obama's Preschool for…

This issue brief presents a plan to expand educational opportunities and care for children ages 0-5 years old by investing significant federal dollars to: (1) Make high-quality preschool universally accessible to all 3- and 4-year-old children; and (2) Enable more lower-income families to afford child care for children ages 0-3 years old. These…

During the 2008-2009 academic school year, nearly a million (956,914) students were reported by school districts as being homeless, a 41% increase over just a 2-year period year. The purpose of this article is to provide a brief overview of national legislative efforts to address the education of children who are homeless, with a particular…

The Children's Bureau has released the National Youth in Transition Database (NYTD) highlights from Federal Fiscal Year (FFY) 2012 (October 1, 2011 to September 30, 2012). During this second year of NYTD data collection, States reported information on all youth and young adults who received independent living services (the "served…

One has heard it before: time is money, especially when it comes to adding time for instruction to the school day. When budgets are tight and relief is nowhere in sight, how can schools afford to implement a reform as costly as adding instructional time? It's a daunting task, yet current federal educational priorities tied to federal funding…

Following the Department of Education's announcement of the $3.5 billion in Title I funding, 831 of the nation's "persistently lowest-achieving schools" received federal funding during the 2010-11 school year to embark on significant change in the form of a School Improvement Grant (U.S. Department of Education, 2010). The Department of…

The infrastructure for arts and cultural support in the United States is complex and adaptive. Citizens who enjoy the arts can choose from a wide array of drama, visual and media arts, dance, music, and literature available in formal and informal settings--theaters, museums, and concert halls, but also libraries, schools, places of worship,…

Each year, fourteen million households seeking federal aid for college complete a detailed questionnaire about their finances, the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). At 116 questions, the FAFSA is almost as long as IRS Form 1040 and substantially longer than Forms 1040EZ and 1040A. Aid for college is intended to increase college…

We use administrative data from five states to provide the first comprehensive estimates of the size of the for-profit higher education sector in the U.S. Our estimates include schools that are not currently eligible to participate in federal student aid programs under Title IV of the Higher Education Act and are therefore missed in official…

Latinos are the second largest student population enrolled in higher education and the majority are concentrated in a small number of institutions--Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs). Given the concentrated enrollment of Latinos at HSIs and the opportunity to increase Latinos' educational achievement, reviewing the link between capacity…