Making sound decisions in funding youth-serving organizations can be greatly enhanced by implementing a comprehensive and inclusive learning process that embraces the perspectives of and input from a variety of stakeholders, including program staff and leadership, various community partners, and, most important, the youth. Youthprise effectively…

In contrast to typical National Science Foundation program evaluations, the Utah State Math Science Partnership-Research, Evaluation and Technical Assistance Project (MSP-RETA) provided technical assistance (TA) in two forms: direct TA for up to 10 projects a year, and professional development sessions for a larger number of project staff. Not…

Throughout the 1920s and early 1930s, the quality of education for school children in Texas was inconsistent and control of public schools resided with local communities. As a result, teachers' salaries across the state were inequitable among the races, as well as among different divisions within a single district. School district spending was…

This article presents the state education finance and governance profile of West Virginia. West Virginia is the 41st largest state in the United States, with an area of 24,231 square miles. The total population of West Virginia in 2008 was 1,814,468, making it the 37th most populous state in the United States. Current expenditures per pupil are…

This overview provides a synthesis of a comprehensive survey of school finance programs in the 50 states conducted in 2006-07. Information was provided by chief state school finance officers or persons with expertise in a state's public school funding-allocation system. Brief descriptions of the major Pre-K-12 funding formulae, district-based…

This article presents Louisiana's education finance and governance profile. Louisiana witnessed a 3.9% decline in population during the period from 2000 to 2007. Poverty persists both in urban and rural areas of the state, as demonstrated by visible poverty both in the agricultural parishes and in major cities such as New Orleans and Shreveport…

This article presents the state education finance and governance profile of Alabama. The state is home to 1,538 public schools distributed across 67 county school systems and 64 city school systems. State spending is allocated via two separate budgets, "the general fund" for all noneducation related expenditures and the Education Trust…

This article describes opinions about what ails U.S. schools. The Thomas B. Fordham Foundation has a lot to say about education in the United States--what's wrong with it and how to fix it. A national authority on charters and an unabashed champion of the idea, the Fordham Foundation is getting a grounding in reality and appears to be the only…

The "Closing the Achievement Gap" series explores the Casey Foundation's education investments and presents stories, results, and lessons learned. This publication presents stories about two successful charter efforts and Foundation contributions. Contributions include: (1) Supporting a variety of activities and programs; (2) Financial…

This article provides information on Maryland's state education finance and governance. The state provides a foundation funding program, which guarantees a minimum or foundation level of per-pupil expenditures for children in all the state's school systems; this is done through a combination of state aid and local revenue. In 2002, Maryland…

Four years ago, federal officials launched an initiative to study mathematics and science cognition. Since then, that program has begun to exert its influence through the relatively modest but steady flow of public funding it provides for scholarly research. In this article, the author features the federal center entitled, Program on Mathematics…

Partnerships among schools, families, and community organizations can reconnect urban schools to their communities and improve results for young people and their families. This report provides an overview of Casey's investment philosophy and strategies, and its approach to defining and documenting grantmaking results. The report highlights the…

Since its inception in 1992, the University of the North's, Science Foundation Year (UNIFY) Programme has provided access to higher education to over 1500 previously disadvantaged students. However, there has always been doubt about whether the concept of a foundation programme is a worthwhile endeavour. To date, government has not yet fully…

Most of New Jersey's charter schools are located in the state's poorer, urban school districts, or "Abbott" districts, and exclusively serve students from those communities. A number of other schools are located outside of the Abbott districts but enroll students from these districts. Specifically, of the 50 charter schools operating in…