As cities across the country and globe continue to generate new solutions to a wide variety of vexing problems, sharing information about what works and what doesn't has become more important than ever. Yet, outside of a few prominent policies, the vast majority of successful municipal experiments never reach a national audience or, for that…

This article examines arts participation as a context for youth to develop purpose. Two analyses were conducted of interviews with arts-involved youth to explore the relationship between their arts participation and purpose, which was defined as an "intention to accomplish something that is both meaningful to the self and contributes to the…

This report provides a new resource for understanding the state of urban public schools in the U.S. Geared specifically toward city leaders who want to evaluate how well traditional district and charter schools are serving all their city's children and how their schools compare to those in other cities, the report measures outcomes for all public…

Over the last several years, public education in the U.S. has experienced a remarkable growth in the number of schools that have expanded their schedules beyond the conventional calendar of 180 6.5-hour days. Spurred by significant policy activity at the federal, state, and local levels, more and more educators have capitalized on opportunities to…

Teaching entrepreneurship--how to create, grow and run a business or organization--is one potential means to increase college and career readiness skills. Learning how to start a business can improve critical thinking, communication and collaboration (Gallagher, Stepien, & Rosenthal, 1992; Hmelo, 1998), which are key qualities for academic as…

In this brief, Christine Patton and Justina Wang, from Harvard Family Research Project, look at ways of helping to make the transition into kindergarten a positive experience that will serve as a foundation to help children reach their full potential throughout their school years. The brief highlights promising practices in six states--New Jersey,…

The extent to which postsecondary access and choice are promoted by the scholarship and grant programs in California, New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania is examined. Findings: these programs induce a substantial number of students from low-income families to attend, are particularly helpful to women, and are responsible for the attendance of…

This booklet, which is designed to clarify facts regarding the minimum wage's impact on marketplace economics, contains a total of 31 questions and answers pertaining to the following topics: relationship between minimum wages and poverty; impacts of changes in the minimum wage on welfare reform; and possible effects of changes in the minimum wage…

This document contains reports summarizing the highlights of seven state forums that were held in fall 1994, modeled after the 1993 national forum on "Hard Truths/Tough Choices: An Agenda for State and Local Reform." The following conferences are summarized: "Reinventing New Jersey: Innovative Approaches under Fiscal Pressure"…

Because of the increased interest in and current publicity given to the problems of agricultural migrant workers and their families, there has been a growing concern in the Nation regarding the lack of educational opportunities offered to migrant children. Since the programs for the education of children of migrant workers vary from State to…