In recent years, the federal Department of Education (ED), and state and local educational agencies (SEAs and LEAs, respectively) have been increasing the emphasis on the need to engage parents and families of students in their children's education. Initiatives have sprung up across the fifty states and Washington, D.C. to help officials at the…

The federal government's ongoing adoption of cloud technology has been costly, time-consuming, fragmented, and challenging, due to mitigating issues and barriers across legal, technological, procurement, and organizational boundaries. Government-led research has examined such challenges and specifically identifies cultural change, or lack thereof,…

There is a growing call to reconsider current approaches to national and state assessment system policies and practices. State and local education agency leaders, educators, community leaders, and advocates have voiced concerns that current state assessment systems--defined primarily by end-of-year multiple-choice tests--are unable to meet…

Economically discriminatory zoning policies--which say that people are not welcome in a community unless they can afford a single-family home, sometimes on a large plot of land--run counter to American ideals and yet are pervasive in America. In most U.S. cities, zoning laws prohibit the construction of duplexes, triplexes, quads, and larger…

Can an academic institution be truly free if it relies on government funding? Federal dollars mean federal mandates, and those mandates grow increasingly draconian. More and more, they stifle debate on open questions, demand denial of verifiable scientific truths, eliminate due process for students accused of misdeeds by other students, or insist…

When the novel coronavirus forced school buildings to close, causing a massive disruption in the delivery of these services, it exposed the extent to which schools function as an essential component of a comprehensive health system, particularly for children in low-income communities. In response to the closures, state and federal decision-makers…

The Department of Justice Appropriations Act, 2015 (Pub. L. 113-235) provides $75 million for the Comprehensive School Safety Initiative (CSSI). This Initiative, originally launched and funded at the same amount in FY 2014, is overseen by the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) within the Office of Justice Programs (OJP), U.S. Department of…

The Committee on Education and Labor met to hear testimony on "Examining the Policies and Priorities of the United States Department of Education." The U.S. Department of Education was making a budget request for Fiscal Year 2022 and the Committee wanted to examine the Department's priorities to support students, educators, and…

The issue of student retention and graduation from postsecondary institutions has grown in stature over the past decade. While the last 40 years of federal and state policies have focused largely on access to college, there is now a very real interest in not only getting students into college but also helping them earn baccalaureate and other…

There is growing unease about suspension and expulsion of children at the preschool level. Preschoolers are expelled at three times the rate of K-12 students (Gilliam, 2005). Boys--particularly African-American boys--comprise a disproportionate number of these cases, a fact that has caused concern among parents, policymakers, and advocates alike.…

In this article, the process of obtaining state authorizations for distance education at George Mason University is presented. The purpose of the paper is to provide guidance to those four-year public universities that deliver distance education programs. In order to attract students from multiple states, the U.S. Department of Education…

This brief policy analysis describes how four states, Kentucky, Missouri, New York and Virginia ensure a quality review process within their educational data system. Each state case study provides a brief description of their data system, how the data is used, how the state ensures quality data, and the benefits and challenges to development of…

Council for American Private Education (CAPE) is a coalition of national associations serving private schools K-12. "Outlook" is published monthly by CAPE. This issue contains the following articles: (1) House Panel Approves Two ESEA Reauthorization Bills; (2) President Obama Proposes Budget for 2013; (3) Charter Schools Causing Collapse…

On June 24, 2010, the Virginia Board of Education unanimously adopted a statement expressing its continuing commitment to Virginia's Standards of Learning (SOL) and opposition to making participation in federal grant and entitlement programs contingent on word-for-word adoption of the newly developed Common Core State Standards in reading and…

President Obama has announced the availability of more than $4 billion in discretionary funds to reform the nation's K-12 education system. These funds are part of what Secretary of Education Arne Duncan calls the "Race to the Top" and are part of the economic stimulus legislation enacted shortly after the president took office in…