Student participation in summer programming can be an effective way to address students' academic and developmental needs. When well implemented and well attended, summer enrichment programs, academic programs, and employment programs have demonstrated positive outcomes for youth in areas related to program content, including academic achievement…

As federal funding for summer learning as a pandemic recovery strategy phases out, state governments face decisions about their future role in supporting students' access to quality summer learning opportunities. This brief is based on the full report, "How States Are Expanding Quality Summer Learning Opportunities," and summarizes…

A Toolkit of Emerging Best Practices and Opportunities for Charter Support Organizations Approximately 6.4 million students--roughly 13 percent of the student population between ages 6-21--receive special education and related services in public schools every year. While students identified as eligible for special education require supports and…

Purpose: This article offers (a) an overview of the attention federal policy has invested in educational leadership with a primary focus on the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), (b) a summary of the critical role school leaders play in achieving the goals set forth within federal educational policy, and (c) examples of how states are using the…

The May 2012 State Educational Technology Directors Association (SETDA) report, "The Broadband Imperative: Recommendations to Address K-12 Education Infrastructure Needs," pushed educators and policy makers nationwide to increase high-speed broadband access in schools, with specific recommendations regarding access, funding, and policies…

In this Information Research Cadre, Teresa Blythe responds to the following research question: For those states that have residential schools for the Blind/VI and Deaf/HI students, have they developed policies and procedures for residential placement of these students? To develop this response Blythe conducted web research utilizing numerous…

Many reports on rural education give little attention to digital learning. At most, they tend to note either infrastructure needs or the potential of remote course access, with little focus on instruction, outcomes, or exemplars. This report intends to begin correcting that imbalance by connecting the dots between rural regions, rural education,…

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…

This is a collection of papers from a 2001 symposium at Harvard University entitled "State Merit Aid Programs: College Access and Equity." After a Foreword by Gary Orfield, the seven papers are (1) "State Merit Scholarship Programs: An Introduction" (Donald E. Heller); (2) "Merit Scholarships and College Access: Evidence…

Part of a three-volume report on the effects of school finance reform, this volume summarizes principal findings of the studies presented in the other volumes. The report summarizes school finance reforms enacted between 1972 and 1974 in California, Florida, Kansas, Michigan, and New Mexico. It recounts what happened to school taxing and spending…

Part of a three-volume report on the effects of school finance reform, this volume examines reform efforts in California, Florida, Kansas, Michigan, and New Mexico. Data on districts' tax rates, wealth, and number of pupils were obtained from state sources. Data on household income, percent urban, percent white, and percent poverty were obtained…

A central dream of American parents is sending their kids to college. What used to be unusual has now become a necessity if young people are to have a secure life in the middle class in a post-industrial economy. As such, one basic goal of higher education policy should be to make certain that this opportunity is not foreclosed by a family's…