In December 2014, then Secretary of Education Arnie Duncan announced that $226 million had been awarded to 18 states under the Preschool Development Grants (PDG) program. Duncan said that expanding access to high quality preschool programs was critically important, and that the states receiving funding would serve as a model for others. The goal…

Much of the currently available evidence on the causal effects of public prekindergarten programs on school readiness outcomes comes from studies that use a regression-discontinuity design (RDD) with the age cutoff to enter a program in a given year as the basis for assignment to treatment and control conditions. Because the RDD has high internal…

Calls for universal preschool programs have become commonplace, reinforced by President Obama's call for "high-quality preschool for all" in 2013. Any program that could cost state and federal taxpayers $50 billion per year warrants a closer look at the evidence on its effectiveness. This report reviews the major evaluations of preschool…

"Milieu teaching" is a practice that involves manipulating or arranging stimuli in a preschool child's natural environment to create a setting that encourages them to engage in a targeted behavior. For example, a teacher might place a desirable toy in a setting to encourage a student to request that toy (where requesting a toy is the…

Early childhood education and school readiness is essential to preparing children to succeed in an increasingly competitive global economy. Compared to other countries, however, the United States lags far behind on preschool, trailing a number of other countries in enrollment, investment, and quality. In February 2013, however, President Barack…

Over the past year, many national leaders have committed to reform education and reshape America's school system. With this goal in mind, the Obama administration created a competitive grant program entitled Race to the Top (RTTT), which was passed by Congress as a part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). RTTT features two grant…

This report portrays various performance indicators that are intended to facilitate an assessment of the postsecondary education system in Indiana. Descriptive statistics are presented for Indiana and five other comparison states as well as the nation. Comparison states were selected according to the degree of similarity of population…

This evaluation report, one of four volumes dealing with the CARE (Children's Agencies, Resources, Etc.) Linkages Project in Tennessee, describes the development, implementation, and results of the interagency committee model used in the project. The project's goal was to foster collaboration leading to more effective linkages between publicly…

The document reports on activities of the Urban Observatory Outreach Project, a program designed to provide screening, diagnosis, and followup services for preschool children with communication problems; to provide training and technical assistance to teachers of handicapped preschool children; and to disseminate printed and audiovisual materials.…

Plans for restructuring Tennessee public education have been interrupted by the prolonged national recession and a $276.4 million reduction in the 1991-92 state education budget. The state's 1991 Annual Joint Report identified 26 essential educational objectives. Although progress in some areas has been limited, Tennessee has achieved a 25 percent…

This annual report is designed to assess the efforts of Tennessee's State Board of Education and Higher Education Commission, to provide an overview of the challenges and prospects for public education in Tennessee, and to present a statement on educational plans and goals for the future. The report outlines 15 improvement initiatives for…

This 2006 Annual Joint Report of the State Board of Education and the Tennessee Higher Education Commission identifies four joint priorities and nine associated goals addressing areas of need in both student learning and educator development for the advancement of education in Tennessee. The joint priorities and initiatives focus on points of…