Since 2005, the Chinese government has vigorously extended influence over American education. While well-researched in some areas, that influence is merely noted elsewhere. This report fills a gap in previous work by examining the role of Mandarin education in Communist China, how the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) developed language as a tool of…

For many non-traditional candidates, the path into teaching is riddled with bumps and detours. They must pay for increasingly expensive coursework and certification costs, attend classes that conflict with work schedules, and forgo wages to complete unfunded student teaching requirements. These roadblocks can deter valuable local…

In recent years, competition for K-12 enrollment in Wisconsin among traditional public schools, charter schools, and private schools using the state's voucher programs has intensified. Because elementary and secondary education finance in the state primarily is driven by enrollment, this has presented increasingly difficult fiscal conditions for…

This topic paper details how dual and concurrent enrollment programs can help states overcome workforce readiness and postsecondary access and completion challenges and how governors can strengthen these programs by using their bully pulpit, agenda setting authority and budgetary authority to do so. It concludes with a number of examples of how…

The May 2012 State Educational Technology Directors Association (SETDA) report, "The Broadband Imperative: Recommendations to Address K-12 Education Infrastructure Needs," pushed educators and policy makers nationwide to increase high-speed broadband access in schools, with specific recommendations regarding access, funding, and policies…

A task force was created by the Minnesota state legislature to study two primary questions: who should oversee the private proprietary school sector and what standards should be used to regulate it. The task force met to review information, hear testimony, discuss issues and concerns, and vote on recommended courses of action. Two primary issues…

In the past, rural America often relied on Washington for policy responses to its challenges, but federal policy has been slow to adapt to the broad changes taking place in so many rural communities. New approaches to rural policy have taken root in some states. Georgia's OneGeorgia Authority will oversee a series of economic development programs…

This brochure presents indicators and strategies for Minnesota's early childhood system. It was created for the following uses: (1) Focus resources, strategies, and accountability to increase family and child well-being and children's school readiness; (2) Help coordinate activities across state departments, hold government accountable, and…

The well-being of a large portion of American children is distressingly low. Integrated service delivery--which provides the broadest range of education, health, housing, and social services--is viewed as one way to remedy the failure of public and private institutions to deliver effective services that can ameliorate or reverse these problems and…

This article outlines the significant legal decisions regarding collective bargaining in Catholic schools, identifies the governance structures employed in Catholic schools and the methods of translating these governance structures into documents required by civil law, and concludes with the citation of two recent court decisions that demonstrate…

This document reviews programs and policy options for states concerned with methods of financing medical education. An introductory section considers the current climate for medical education and the health care workforce, noting the rapid movement to managed care and the need to increase the number of primary care physicians. The next section…

This monograph examines adult education issues in Minnesota, such as the proper role of the Federal Government, institutions of higher education, the business sector, the non-profit sector, labor unions, the public schools and community education, teachers, public school administrators, and learners in the fight against adult illiteracy in the…