Congress's role in defining and promoting equality of educational opportunity has evolved over the past 55 years since "Brown v. Board of Education." Most recently, all three branches of the federal government have focused more on equality of educational opportunity for "individual" students rather than for protected classes.…

The history of American early education is one of changing roles and goals. As federal engagement in early childhood has shifted in response to social, political, and economic needs, few policy efforts have focused on long-term planning or coordination. The authors identify the appropriate roles of federal, state, and local governments and make 13…

This book tracks the dramatic outcomes of the federal government's growing involvement in higher education between World War I and the 1970s, and the conservative backlash against that involvement from the 1980s onward. Using cutting-edge analysis, Christopher Loss recovers higher education's central importance to the larger social and political…

Last Thursday, the House of Representatives passed the College Opportunity and Affordability Act in a vote of 354-58. This legislation, H.R. 4137, moves Congress one step closer to the long-awaited reauthorization of the Higher Education Act of 1965, which governs federal student financial aid and other programs that promote access for low-income…

The introduction to this historical survey notes that the Federal educational legislation of 1965--the Elementary and Secondary Education Act and the Higher Education Act--did not in fact represent the kind of "breakthrough" claimed for these two measures. The Federal government had been involved in educational legislation even before…

The reauthorization of the Higher Education Act seeks to expand access to postsecondary education by recognizing the changing demographics of the campus community and by increasing potential funding for crucial programs. Other major changes enacted during the reauthorization process are discussed. (MLW)

International education is seen as standing on the verge of a major breakthrough in Congress. Several events have triggered interest: the President's Commission on Foreign Language and International Studies, the new Department of Education, Middle East crises, and reauthorizations of the Higher Education Act and the National Defense Education Act.…

A report from the Committee R on Government Relations of the American Association of University Professors is presented. The Department of Education, federal budgets, reauthorization of the Higher Education Act, intelligence legislation, truth-in-testing legislation, amending the National Labor Relations Act, and the presidential election of 1980…

The position paper of the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers, submitted to the Title IX/Title XI Reauthorization Task Force of the higher education community in anticipation of the legislation's reauthorization process in 1997, addresses the federal role in graduate education and explains the importance of…

Every six years or so, reauthorization of the Higher Education Act of 1965 provides the opportunity for Congress--and the nation--to examine the current conditions and consider the future needs of higher education. While reauthorization tends to focus on funding and on "fixing" postsecondary education's most visible problems, the…

This article presents arguments in favor of the federal government providing loans directly to higher education students (without intermediate lenders and secondary markets). It explains loan funding, processing, fund dispersal, college responsibilities, and remaining legislative hurdles. It attempts to dispel myths, such as that direct loans…

Evidence indicates that a higher education system operates among the federal government, state and local governments, and institutions. The three components share common goals and program interdependencies, especially in student and institutional aid. Recognizing a system exists and strengthening it through reauthorization of the Higher Education…

At this hearing, part of a series of hearings on the reauthorization of the Higher Education Act of 1965, the Secretary of the Department of Education, Lamar Alexander, gave testimony designed to present the Bush administration's recommendations on reauthorization of the Act to the Congress. Before the Secretary's testimony the following…

The Title IV student assistance programs of the Higher Education Act are the principal vehicle by which the federal government has intervened in the process called post-secondary education. The 1972 amendments also placed major emphasis on student assistance--emphasis further reinforced by recent budgetary trends. Title IV contains six student…

This study was conducted to assess undergraduate and junior college libraries and to consider future development. Major trends are seen as: resources not increasing as rapidly as the college population, increased demands on libraries due to changes within colleges, new technology, changing characteristics of library materials, increased pressure…