The field of youth development, long given over to discussions of youth as a time of storm and stress, raging hormones and problem behavior, has increasingly turned to look at the "sunny side" of youth--at their agency, insights, capabilities and contributions. Youth, we are now regularly told, are not problems but resources and assets. In this…

Across the 50 states, career and technical education (CTE) programs at the K-12 and postsecondary levels have seen enormous policy action - 2013 alone saw at least 78 substantive policy changes via legislation, state board rules and executive orders specific to CTE and workforce development. What are the drivers behind this sudden policymaker…

Amargosa Valley School in Nevada could be considered representative of almost any preK-8 school that serves a large proportion of socioeconomically disadvantaged students and is focused on turning around persistently low achievement. Like other schools supported by federal School Improvement Grants, Amargosa is beginning to implement a reform plan…

Since Lehigh University was founded in 1865, it has been inextricably tied to the City of Bethlehem in eastern Pennsylvania. Rich in history and steeped in cultural tradition, the area continues to be an outstanding home for the university. In the aftermath of the fall of Bethlehem Steel, Lehigh and community partners are working together to forge…

Early identification and intervention for children with disabilities can significantly improve longer term outcomes, but in developing nations like many in the Pacific Rim, such programs and practices can be expensive and must compete against other needs. We argue that early identification and intervention by schools leads not only to life…

Teachers matter. Educators, policymakers, and the general public alike agree that great teachers are vital to a thriving K-12 education system, yet the pathways to assembling a high quality teaching force remain elusive. This case study of Garden Grove Unified School District (GGUSD), winner of the 2004 Broad Prize for Urban Education,…

This issue brief presents a plan to expand educational opportunities and care for children ages 0-5 years old by investing significant federal dollars to: (1) Make high-quality preschool universally accessible to all 3- and 4-year-old children; and (2) Enable more lower-income families to afford child care for children ages 0-3 years old. These…

The post-16 examination field in England has changed radically over the past decade. The previously hegemonic A-Level has been joined by the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme, Cambridge Pre-U, AQA Baccalaureate, and the Government's own Diploma's. This has been attacked as a "cluttered" field and an unnecessary duplication of…

At present, India's education system turns out millions of young people who are ready to think, but not enough people with entrepreneurial or employment skills. As India faces increasing limits on its resources, both economic and natural, the competency and capability of human resources play a pivotal role in developing and sustaining the economy.…

The discourse on the internationalization of higher education emphasizes revenue generation while neglecting other diverse rationales pursued by governments and institutions. For countries that are seeking to venture into a knowledge economy or accrue greater competitive advantages under globalization, many policymakers view cross-border higher…

One of the main variables affecting the level of human capital positively is the improvements in health. The reduction in infant and under-five mortality rates and increase in life expectancy at birth are the basic indicators of improvements in health. One of the major sources of improvements in these variables is education. Theoretical literature…

Finding, keeping and supporting great educators presents the single biggest challenge to successful school turnarounds. Without teachers and administrators who bring the needed combination of skills and passion, nothing else will achieve the desired effect. The turnaround model supported by the U.S. Department of Education School Improvement Grant…

Sons (daughters) with criminal fathers have 2.06 (2.66) times higher odds of having a criminal conviction than those with noncriminal fathers. One additional paternal sentence increases sons' (daughters') convictions by 32 (53) percent. Compared to traditional labor market measures, the intergenerational transmission of crime is lower than that…

The aim of this paper is to build a capability-based framework, drawing upon the strengths of other approaches, which is applicable to the complexity of the urban-rural divide in education in China. It starts with a brief introduction to the capability approach. This is followed by a discussion of how the rights-based approach and resource-based…

The Department of Education Strategic Plan for Fiscal Years 2018-2022 describes the policy and operational priorities for the agency. The Plan details the Department's strategic goals and objectives over the next four years. The Plan also provides an overview of our Fiscal Year 2018-2019 Agency Priority Goals.