The start of kindergarten signifies the beginning of elementary school and everything that may come with it: a new building, new teachers, new expectations, and a different routine and culture. These new students transition into kindergarten from different settings, bringing with them a variety of assets and experiences. From a holistic…

The U.S. Department of Education required each state to submit a reopening plan outlining how they were using and planned on using Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) funds. The Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP) conducted an analysis of 37 state plans to better understand if and how schools were prioritizing Tier 1…

The Middle-Grades Leadership Development (MLD) Project was designed to develop principal leaders and leadership teams who create high-performing middle-grades schools. Designed by the National Forum to Accelerate Middle-Grades Reform, the four-year project was funded from 2013 to 2017 by a U.S. Department of Education Investing in Innovation (i3)…

This study explored approaches to collaborative grant proposal writing to gain a comprehensive understanding of the details and range of variation in the processes that are currently employed by professionals in pursuit of Federal grant funding. Findings were used to identify and suggest practical strategies for organizing and managing group…

Home visiting is one tool used to prevent child abuse and improve child well-being by providing education and services in families' homes through parent education and connection to community resources. This toolkit provides state policymakers and advocates with strategies for extending and expanding access to state- or federally-funded home…

As governors and state legislators gear up for a new year of budget action and policymaking, the federal Race to the Top competition is helping drive a flurry of measures nationwide aimed, at least in part, at making states stronger candidates for a slice of the $4 billion in education grants. Those efforts emerge as a priority in the 2010…

This paper describes the activities of the Michigan Department of Education and local districts in establishing a statewide plan for using microcomputers in education. Components of the plan include the design of a computer literacy grant program known as TIME (Technology in Michigan Education); the establishment and funding of a statewide network…

The U.S. Department of Education recently held a competition for grants to support states in their efforts to build longitudinal data systems to track and analyze student and school performance. The Value-Added Research Center (VARC) at the Wisconsin Center for Education Research, University of Wisconsin-Madison, proposed a Tri-State Partnership…

This handbook offers guidance to library personnel in planning and evaluating Library Services and Construction Act (LSCA) grant programs. It was developed for use in the intermediate stages of identifying uses for real or potential funds, rather than as a tool for preliminary needs assessment or for preparing an LSCA grant application. The steps…

A seminar convened by the Policy Analysis Service brought together state and federal student aid officials, representatives of higher education associations, and analyst-researchers to address a number of issues related to the impact of the federal Basic Educational Opportunity Grant program on the states. Formal presentations included a…

In accordance with the stated provisions of the Library Services and Construction Act (LSCA), as amended, and related regulations, this basic state plan contains criteria for determining adequacy of public library services for persons residing in areas without services or with inadequate services, disadvantaged persons residing in areas with high…

In the fall of 1996, Congress passed the Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) as part of the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Bill. The bill challenges librarians to become more collaborative, encourages resource sharing and cooperation among all types of libraries, and shifts the focus of federal funding to technology. This report describes…

This document presents testimony and statements from one of a series of Congressional field hearings intended to critically review all the programs associated with the Higher Education Act of 1965. Issues addressed in the testimony and prepared statements include: how the United States can maximize the number of students, including non-traditional…