During the 2010, 2011, and 2012 legislative sessions, a combination of federal policy incentives and newly elected governors and legislative majorities in many states following the 2010 elections sparked a wave of legislation addressing teacher effectiveness. More than 20 states passed legislation designed to address educator effectiveness by…

After years of non-stop increases--national k-12 per-pupil spending is up by "one-third" in inflation-adjusted dollars since 1995--schools now face the near-certainty of repeated annual budget cuts for the first time since the Great Depression. In some states and districts, reductions will be dramatic--well into the double digits. And…

Policy makers confronted with the need to introduce health and safety regulations often wonder how to value the benefits of these regulations. One way that a monetary value could be placed on reductions in health risks, including risk of death, is through understanding how people are compensated for the different risks they take. While there is an…

The knowledge, skills, and practices of early childhood care providers and teachers are critical factors in their delivery of high-quality developmental and educational experiences to young children. However, studies have found that the majority of professionals that make up the current early childhood workforce are not adequately prepared. Recent…

To inform policymakers as they deliberate over the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) reauthorization, this guide reviews what states have done with the flexibility afforded them by the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act. The first section examines how states have shaped their welfare reform strategies…

This report is the fifth in a series issued reviewing policies and compensation levels for public higher education and community college executives. The report presents summary information about community colleges for: chancellors and presidents of multi-college districts and superintendent/presidents of single-college districts. In its comments,…

The trend toward greater state regulation of public higher education is discussed, along with alternative structures or models for state financing of public institutions. The situation in Washington State is briefly described as an illustration. It is proposed that interests of the state, college, and student can be enhanced by allowing colleges…

This report suggests how West Virginians might improve public policy in ways that positively affect all classrooms in the state and describes an approach to improve teacher education. Ten areas of responsibility are discussed: (1) upgrading teacher education programs to make the academic area of study more rigorous and effective; (2) streamlining…

This book presents papers from a national symposium conducted by the Forum for College Financing, offering a perspective on how higher education institutions will finance their operations in the future and the challenges that lay ahead. A paper by Richard Anderson and Joe Meyerson, "A Changing National Environment," introduces the other papers in…

Recommendations for national child care policy are offered. It is recommended that the Federal Government, in partnership with the states, expand subsidies to support low-income families' use of high quality child care programs and arrangements. In partnership with the states, the Federal Government should expand Head Start and other compensatory…

A staff report to the California Postsecondary Education Commission analyzes the California governor's 1989-90 budget and describes provisions for postsecondary education. Topics of the report are: factors constraining the budget; proposed educational expenditures (for public school expenditures, University of California, California State…

Most female workers in developing countries do not have wage jobs. However, the preponderance of female workers in non-wage jobs is not consistent across all developing countries. It is highly likely that the proportion of non-wage female workers in developing countries is greater than is suggested by the statistics. Consequently, mothers in the…

Education in the arts and humanities has always been important to the United States' arts and culture and to its competitiveness in a global economy. Providing all students with a complete education in the arts and humanities can help them cope with, and master, the fast-paced technological advances, forces of globalization, and major demographic…

Analysis of the costs of employing older workers indicates that some types of employment costs do vary by age and that overall compensation costs increase with age, largely because of increasing employee benefit costs. There is, however, no statistical evidence that direct salary costs increase by age on an economy-wide basis. The belief that…

The federal policy shift from skills training and toward work first strategies has come about, in part, from a misconception that "training does not work." A more comprehensive look at existing research reveals the documented effectiveness of skills training. A growing number of studies have shown skills training can increase earnings;…