Since the 2016 U.S. presidential election, increasing attention has been paid to rural communities. For our study, we used a multicase study approach that included five states to study the difference between the rhetoric about the need to focus more attention on rural communities soon after the 2016 election and the practiced reality of state…

Nearly all states and the District of Columbia have policies requiring schools to address prevention of alcohol or drug use and abuse in high school health education curricula, according to National Association of State Boards of Education's (NASBE's) State Health Policy Database. But with the added concerns about the pandemic's impact on youth…

Improving low-achieving schools is a critical challenge facing urban education. Recent national policy shifts have pressed states to take an expanded role in school improvement efforts. In 2009, a federal grant competition called Race to the Top (RttT) compelled states to improve their capacity to implement ambitious education reform agendas.…

While policy-makers and researchers in the field of early childhood education and care (ECEC) often seem to speak different languages, overwhelming research evidence on how quality ECEC can play a key role in alleviating the effects of disadvantage can be extremely relevant for policy-makers. In this article, we focus on how philanthropic…

Local governments play an important role in improving substance abuse and mental health services. The structure of the local learning collaborative requires careful attention to old relationships and challenges local governmental leaders to help move participants from a competitive to collaborative environment. This study describes one county's…

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the role of universities and other institutions in successful entrepreneurship. Insights are obtained following a literature review approach. Case studies from the United States (New York startup), Spain (Mondragon), and Germany provide strong evidence that universities are very instrumental in the creation,…

More than 60 years after the ruling in "Brown v. Board of Education" was handed down, its promise remains unfulfilled. In many respects, America's public schools continue to be "separate and unequal." Indeed, the growing re-segregation of American schools by race and ethnicity, compounded by economic class segregation, has…

Around 30 percent of families across New York State now speak a language other than English at home, resulting in 240,000 English language learners (ELLs) in the state's primary and secondary schools who speak nearly 200 different languages. This report looks at New York State's redesign of policies and practices to better support the education of…

The "Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965" ("ESEA") is the nation's key policy driver for elementary and secondary education, shaping federal, state and district efforts to promote effective school systems and improve educational outcomes, particularly for students in high-poverty schools. The most recent…

This report describes the use of Lead Turnaround Partners (LTPs) in the current School Improvement Grant (SIG) program and provides the results of document review, surveys, and interviews with eight State Education Agencies and seven Lead Turnaround Partner organizations. The study focuses on the implementation of the transformation and turnaround…

In this speech the Assistant Attorney General of the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice notes that although progress has been made against racial and sex discrimination, there is an area in which civil libertarians have only recently become involved. This area concerns the rights of the mentally retarded and the mentally ill. A…

Investigated by this study were effects--at state, county, and family levels--of federal cuts and changes on day care services in New York State, focusing on areas outside New York City. At the state level, the study examined policies shaping delivery of day care services to the poor and state systems for tracking changes in funding and children…

Discusses the issues facing New York State public libraries regarding preservation of materials. Highlights include a review of related literature to examine the history, preservation methods, control of the library environment, education and training, organization, and government involvement; and results of a questionnaire that surveyed directors…

"English Only" and "Official English" are two terms that are used to describe the movement to declare English the official language of the United States. Sixteen states have laws declaring English their official language; 14 of these laws have been passed since 1981. This report decribes the effect of the movement in New York…

Relations between the public and private sectors of higher education are discussed. In the first chapter, John W. Gardner provides a historical perspective to the recent conflict in some states between public and private colleges and universities. In addition to discussing the pluralism and diversity that have characterized U.S. colleges and…