As Washington prepares to welcome a new Congress in January 2023, incoming policymakers who want to improve education for every student and give parents more control over where and how their children are educated have many policy options at their disposal. New Members of Congress who want to protect taxpayers and rein in college costs also have…

Education advocates and the Obama administration are anxiously eyeing a series of across-the-board cuts set to hit a broad swath of federal domestic and military spending programs early next year, unless a sharply divided Congress can agree on a long-term plan to put the nation's fiscal house in order. Most education lobbyists expect such a deal…

Education reform proposals are not in short supply. Recent issues of the "Kappa Delta Pi Record" examined two of these: Common Core State Standards (Winter 2011) and Charter Schools (Spring 2011). Teacher pay for performance is another policy gaining traction in state legislatures and at the federal level. The Race to the Top (RTTT)…

Now that Republicans have taken control of the U.S. House of Representatives and bolstered their minority in the U.S. Senate, it remains to be seen if education is one area of federal policy that can avoid the partisan stalemate that many observers predict will paralyze Washington for the next two years. Republicans and Democrats famously came…

As the 112th Congress gets to work, its members face an important opportunity to make lasting changes to public education. With the pending reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA, also currently known as No Child Left Behind) lawmakers could enact significant improvements to strengthen early learning, as they also…

Skeptics question whether infusion of billions of dollars for education in the economic-stimulus bill before Congress would actually give a healthy jolt to the economy. The bill would help thousands of students pay for college and could give colleges money to fix crumbling buildings. Some members of Congress are calling for the removal of…

In a speech before a group of career-college executives and lobbyists, freshman Representative Jason Altmire hinted that he would look out for the sector's interests in a coming conference between the House of Representatives and the Senate on legislation to reauthorize the Higher Education Act. Referring to a provision in the bill that would…

Legislators are now drawing on information from online program assessment rating tools to determine funding allocations for government programs. Clearly, assessment is now a critical factor in education programs and the grants that support these programs. In this article, the author provides some key elements that an institution can implement to…

As congressional Democrats declared last week that federal efforts to help Gulf Coast schools with hurricane recovery aren't working, school officials from the region hit by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita last year urged lawmakers to provide more regulatory flexibility and more money. On April 26, 2006, House Democrats released a report criticizing…

The Council on Undergraduate Research (CUR) hosts an annual undergraduate research poster session on Capitol Hill to communicate to the US Congress the importance of undergraduate research and to express thanks for the federal funding of undergraduate research programs. At the "Posters on the Hill" event held on 19 April 2005 in the Rayburn House…

While the California State Department of Education (SDE) holds the primary responsibility for the success of the California educational system, the Federal Government also supports state and local educational activities. The intent of this document is to assist local educators in understanding federal education programs and communicating with the…

Federal appropriations for fiscal 1991 for projects involving specific colleges and universities has set an all-time record for such spending. Actual totals are probably even higher. Spending is for research facilities and varied projects. The increases may reflect lawmakers' impatience for an administration policy on promoting technology. (MSE)

Catholic University and Columbia University hired a public relations firm to help lobby their proposals for money from the Department of Energy's budget for new facilities. Discusses the successful outcome of their efforts, pointing out that some legislators are concerned that more colleges/universities will contact representatives to obtain…

Efforts of the 96th Congress to use evaluation data in considering whether to change policies about reimbursement for psychotherapy services. (Author/BW)

Educational policy decisions are political and are affected by demographic, economic, and social factors that influence policy-makers. As the number of federal government programs grew from the 1960's to the 1980's, so did the number of special interest groups lobbying in Washington, District of Columbia, to promote legislation, regulations, and…