The purpose of this paper was to analyze the court case Pontiac v. Spellings, a legal challenge to the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act filed in 2005. The methodology was to examine and analyze the briefs filed and the court decisions to analyze the legal arguments made by the parties to the lawsuit. The results were that the U.S. Circuit Court for…

On Thursday, January 10, 2008, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger released his proposed budget for the 2008-09 fiscal year. The proposal attempts to address an estimated $14.5 billion deficit projected for the next 18 months by reducing 2008-09 State funding for most programs by an average 10% below the figure projected based on growth in workload and…

Scaling Effective Programs is a category of giving that is quite unique. Philanthropists have many different interests that guide their giving, but Scaling Effective Programs offers an approach that can produce lasting transformation. This guide speaks to funders who: (1) view their giving as venture capital that stimulates other giving; (2) want…

Examining the charitable behavior of 56,663 US households, this paper evaluates the distinctive characteristics of educational donors as compared with donors to noneducational charitable organizations and with nondonors. In general, educational donors had significantly greater income, wealth, and education than other donors. Educational donors…

International activities of FCS professionals take many forms, most often at the grassroots level making a difference in the daily lives of people and their communities, far from their own communities. A 2 1/2-year project, supported by the Monsanto Fund and an International Federation of Home Economics (IFHE) project grant, developed school…

The issue of education vouchers has been widely researched as they are seen by many people as an effective strategy for improving the quality of education services. Striving to enhance the quality of the kindergarten education service in Hong Kong, the government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region has committed a substantial sum of…

In this article, the author discusses the problems facing Ontario's community colleges' faculty as educators whose "craft" is to teach. The author contends that the problems educators face haven't really been the focus of the three constituencies that have dominated the conversations about the colleges: (1) college management; (2) the…

Thousands of children were deprived of schooling in the difficult aftermath of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq five years ago. During those times, more than 2 million Iraqis have fled their homeland, mainly to Jordan and Syria. Even though the schoolchildren who came to these neighboring Arab lands with their families are now given seats in…

This project examines the effects of Comprehensive School Reform (CSR) models on the achievement of students in Kentucky middle schools. Previous studies exploring the effects of CSR on schools and student achievement have rendered mixed results (Berends, 2000; May & Supovitz, 2006; May, Supovitz, & Perda, 2004; RAND, 2002; Zhang,…

Methodological rigor consists of a series of elements that, in combination, determine the confidence with which conclusions can be drawn from the evaluation results. These elements include evaluation design, conceptualization of constructs, measurement strategies, time frames, program integrity, and others. The authors examine the factors that…

This article examines the process of post-disaster recovery and rebuilding in New York City since 9/11 and in New Orleans since the Hurricane Katrina disaster (8/29). As destabilizing events, 9/11 and 8/29 forced a rethinking of the major categories, concepts and theories that long dominated disaster research. We analyze the form, trajectory and…

Choice in everyday decisions and in support-related decisions was addressed among 2,398 adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities receiving Medicaid Home and Community Based Services (HCBS) and Intermediate Care Facility (ICF/MR) services and living in nonfamily settings in six states. Everyday choice in daily life and in…

The authors review the unique characteristics of nonprofit organizations and explain how nonprofit organizations play a prominent role in providing today's public services. The authors describe how the field of professional evaluation developed in response to government performance-based management initiatives, noting that recent efforts at the…

With the nation's economy in turmoil and the government budget axe falling on educational programs, many corporations and private foundations are responding to what has become a pressing need for funding in K-12 education throughout the United States. According to the Washington, D.C.-based Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, as of June 2008,…

This article presents an analysis of data collected during an evaluation of a Carnegie initiative, Schools for a New Society, implemented in a large urban district in the South. Findings suggest that the initiative's four strategic assumptions have been addressed at least partially: First, school and community representatives have jointly…