High-quality, stable child care and early education (CCEE) can have lasting, positive impacts on children. However, the challenges of recruiting, strengthening, and retaining the CCEE workforce are well documented. CCEE educators typically have low levels of formal education and compensation; limited opportunities for education, training, and…

As a social species, humans have an inherent need to feel connected to others and to feel like we belong with others. Existing medical research demonstrates that social isolation--defined as the perceived absence of feeling socially connected--during childhood and adolescence has both concurrent and longterm negative mental and physical health…

The Montana Office of Public Instruction administers the Montana Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) every two years to students in grades 7 through 12. The purpose of the survey is to help monitor the prevalence of behaviors that not only influence youth health, but also put youth at risk for the most significant health and social problems that can…

The Montana Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) is administered by the Montana Office of Public Instruction every two years to students in grades 7 through 12. The purpose of the survey is to help monitor the prevalence of behaviors that not only influence youth health, but also put youth at risk for the most significant health and social problems…

The 2020 State Policy Survey analyzes the partnerships, goals, data, accomplishments and challenges that the coordinating bodies of the State Children's Cabinet Network navigated in the past year. This biennial survey is the nation's only survey of state child and youth policy coordinating bodies--offering detailed insights to those who work to…

The Montana Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) is administered by the Montana Office of Public Instruction every two years to students in grades 7 through 12. The purpose of the survey is to help monitor the prevalence of behaviors that not only influence youth health, but also put youth at risk for the most significant health and social problems…

Once considered a strategy to support working parents with child care needs, the majority of states now view access to high-quality preschool programs as a critical long-term economic investment in the future workforce. For the third year in a row both Republican and Democratic policymakers made significant investments in state-funded pre-K…

Almost half of Tennessee's students are not on grade level in reading and math by the time they complete third grade, and very few of those students achieve proficiency in later grades. To combat this trend and support the skill development and academic achievement of all students, Tennessee has adopted a framework for addressing individual…

The purpose of the "Indiana K-12 & School Choice Survey" is to measure public opinion on, and in some cases awareness or knowledge of, a range of K-12 education topics and school choice reforms. The Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice developed this project in partnership with Braun Research, Inc., who conducted the live phone…

Though California's English Learner (EL) policies were developed in response to civil rights struggles for language access and equal educational opportunity, they are also conditioned by the history of U.S. settler and overseas conquest. This article presents a Critical Policy Analysis (CPA) of the California EL classification policies and…

The physics bachelor's class of 2016 represents yet another all-time high. There were 8,432 bachelor's degrees conferred, an increase of 4% from the previous year and a 131% increase from the recent low in 1999. First-year graduate physics student enrollments have remained at about 3,200 students for the last 5 years. The number of physics PhDs…

The Tennessee Educator Survey, created in partnership with the Tennessee Education Research Alliance at Vanderbilt University (TERA), aims to take the pulse of teacher perceptions, monitor school climate and culture across the state, and include educators' voices in the policy discussion. The survey offers a snapshot of where Tennessee is--and…

The Montana Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) is administered by the Montana Office of Public Instruction every two years to students in grades 7 through 12. The purpose of the survey is to help monitor the prevalence of behaviors that not only influence youth health, but also put youth at risk for the most significant health and social problems…

District costs for teachers' health insurance are, on average, higher then employer costs for private-sector professionals. How much of this is attributable to collective bargaining? This article examines the question using data from the National Compensation Survey (NCS) of the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) and the state of Wisconsin. In…

Child and youth coordinating bodies are systematically changing the fragmented ways that state and local governments do business for children and youth. Sometimes known as councils or commissions, children's cabinets are typically made up of the heads of all government agencies with child- and youth-serving programs. They meet regularly to…