This hearing serves as a first in a set of hearings focusing on early learning. In his opening statement, Senator Tom Harkin, Chairman of the Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, strongly encouraged members of this committee on both sides of the aisle to hold roundtables and have discussions on early learning in their local…

How at moments of dramatic change and a shifting social context do political actors alter their public identities? Put differently, how do political figures respond when positions with which they have been closely identified are no longer morally and electorally defensible and must be altered? Responses to identity challenge within institutional…

This article discusses the effort of U.S. Rep. James Clyburn to help historically overlooked constituents and disadvantaged students get to go to college through his annual Rudolph Canzater Memorial Golf Classic. Elected to Congress in 1992 after a nearly 20-year stint as an appointed state official, he worked his way through the Democratic Party…

This article presents an interview with two child care providers who are also legislators, Representative Shannon Erickson and Representative Mary Jane Wallner. Shannon Erickson is a Republican member of the South Carolina House of Representatives, representing District 124 in Beaufort County. While coming to office in a special election in…

The Southern Regional Education Board (SREB) follows education budgets and legislation during regular and special legislative sessions. Current actions are found in Legislative Reports that are released on a timely basis during the months that SREB state legislatures are in session, usually from January through July. These reports follow education…

The Southern Regional Education Board (SREB) follows education budgets and legislation during regular and special legislative sessions. The Legislative Reports follow education and budget issues from governors' proposals through final legislative actions in each of the 16 SREB states. The reports include bill numbers and legislative Web site…

This dissertation addresses the consequences of political influence on state higher education funding at the committee level. The State of South Carolina has a long history of using a formula to determine the appropriate amount of funding that is to be allocated to its colleges and universities. I use the funding level implied by the South…

The Southern Regional Education Board (SREB) follows education budgets and legislation during regular and special legislative sessions. The Legislative Reports follow education and budget issues from governors' proposals through final legislative actions in each of the 16 SREB states. The reports include bill numbers and legislative Web site…

Although the second youngest person of those who would sign the U.S. Constitution, Charles Pinckney stood out as one of the most active members of the Constitutional Convention, and over 30 of the U.S. Constitution's provisions can be traced to his pen. This booklet on Pinckney is one in a series on Revolutionary War soldiers who later signed the…

The nation faces a youth citizenry that is disengaged and lacks the necessary knowledge, skills and dispositions to participate in and carry out their civic duties. This ECS Policy Brief summarizes the state-level goals and accomplishments of the Youth Legislative Engagement project and is intended for state policymakers, education leaders and…

A 1996 survey of state policymakers and public college representatives in states with performance funding (Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, Kentucky, Minnesota, Missouri, Ohio, South Carolina, Tennessee) is presented. Although differences exist across states in a number of areas, findings challenge the assumption of an irreconcilable gap between…