Poor retention and completion outcomes cast doubts about the ability of higher education to provide a return on the money, time, and resource investment. Accountability for the quality of higher education has been an increasingly significant national issue in higher education over the past decade. As pressures for accountability increase, so does…

Using a sociological framework this article explores the emergence and possible consequences of the 2015 U.S. Department of Education's proposed federal regulatory policy on teacher education programs and alternative route providers. After describing the key features of the policy, we examine the research literature looking for evidence of the…

The steadily growing body of literature on universities' contribution to democracy and civil society has repeatedly called for a re-examination of the nascent purposes of higher education and the nature of higher education's compact with society. Although more faculty and administrators explore ways to produce public scholarship, infuse their…

Spurred by the promise of $350 million in Race to the Top money for improved tests--as well as an opportunity to strengthen bids for part of the federal fund's larger $4 billion pot--states are scrambling to join consortia to develop common assessments. Six state consortia are now engaged in discussions about common tests, and the multiple…

Washington is at a crossroads on K-12 education policy. Policymakers can (1) continue down the path of top-down accountability; (2) devolve power to states and districts, thereby returning to the status quo of the mid-1990s; or (3) rethink the fundamentals, do something different, and empower parental choice. This article discusses how the federal…

The U.S. Department of Education (Education) manages one of the largest discretionary appropriations of any federal agency, and plays a key role in supporting efforts to meet the nation's education goals. While Education managed a discretionary appropriation of over $160 billion in fiscal year 2009 and was responsible for administering about 200…

Early last week the U.S. Department of Education announced an unexpected 16 finalists for the first round of Race to the Top (RTT) funding--a veritable traffic jam in the Race to the Top. The finalists have requested a total of $6.5 billion in funds, but only $4.3 billion is up for grabs, and that needs to be spread over two rounds of competition.…

In a move that could reshape academic assessment in nearly every corner of the country, the U.S. Department of Education has awarded $330 million in grants to collaboratives of states to design better ways of measuring student learning. The grants, awarded Sept. 2, went to two groups of states that sought the money under the federal Race to the…

The U.S. Department of Education recently announced the finalists for the second round of the Race to the Top (RTT) competition, with the winners to be announced in September. Round one of the competition yielded just two awards earlier this year, with Delaware and Tennessee claiming approximately $600 million of the available funds. Thirty-five…

Many education reporters are drawn to the beat because of its complexity and rich variety. Few topics provide such a wealth of political, business, human interest, breaking news, feature, and investigative stories. A reporter's day can start in a classroom with 4-year-olds struggling to learn to read, and end at a school board meeting with…

Presenting a brief historical profile, program descriptions, synopses of political issues, and a policy statement (1973), this 1975 annual report on the National Indian Youth Council includes: (1) Programs (NIYC/Comprehensive Employment and Training Act manpower development; Investigative Journalism Training Project; Ex-Offender Program; San Juan…

The history of U.S. Federal policy relative to the American Indian is traced from its beginnings in 1755 to its recent posture in the early 1970's in this monograph. Federal attitudes and resultant legislation are documented in a chronological examination of: the "removal policy" (the Indian Removal Act of 1830); the beginnings of Indian…