Education has been an evolving enterprise since Plato first sat at Socrates' feet. What sets the past few decades apart in the history of education, though, is the rapid pace of change. New technologies, workforce demands, consumer expectations, entrepreneurial innovations and public sensitivity to cost are increasing the pressure for accessible,…

Sexual violence on college campuses is a prevalent issue that has received recent, federal guidance for how colleges should facilitate their student conduct administrative processes. The purpose of this study was to examine student conduct administrators' perspectives, by higher education institution type, on contemporary federal guidance for…

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) provides services to students who have disabilities. These IDEA-funded services are afforded to students between the ages of 3 and 21 who attend not only public schools (including charter schools), but also private schools. IDEA contains comprehensive guidelines on 3 processes which, by…

Federal regulations require that all students in specified elementary, middle, and high school grade ranges participate in state assessments used for accountability. The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) requires that all children with disabilities are included in all general state and districtwide assessment programs with…

This hearing explores the accountability rule that the Department of Education proposed on May 31st. This goes to the heart of the law to fix No Child Left Behind. The Federal Government decided that math and reading test results would determine whether schools and teachers were succeeding or failing. The two main concerns of this hearing are: (1)…

Federal school finance policy over the past 30 years has focused on resource allocation within school districts. Regulations require equal staffing across schools, particularly Title I schools, which are designated based on the percent of low-income students enrolled. The requirement to equalize staffing levels creates a loophole where, even with…

With the cost of college soaring and the national six-year completion rate below 60 percent, the federal government's support for higher education is facing heightened scrutiny. What kind of regulation and accountability should Congress impose on what might be termed the world's largest voucher program--Washington's hefty funding of Pell grants…

This report is in a series examining the troubled history of for-profit higher education, from the problems that plagued the post-World War II GI Bill to the reform efforts undertaken by the George H. W. Bush administration to the regulatory relapse under George W. Bush. From President Dwight Eisenhower to President George H. W. Bush, Republican…

In recent years, there has been strong bipartisan interest at the congressional level to require annual federal student loan counseling. Given this interest, and the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators' (NASFAAs') commitment to being an active, helpful partner in reauthorization discussions, NASFAA convened a task force…

Theoretical discussions of evidence-based policy place primary importance on facts and values. However, there are situations in which policy must be made in the absence of facts and values. In this article, one such situation is investigated: the emergence of electronic cigarettes. This article reviews attempts to regulate e-cigarettes in…

Home visiting programs typically collect sensitive information about family characteristics, risk factors, and services received. States may choose to integrate these data with other early childhood data to learn more about the reach and effectiveness of the services and supports that families receive. As more states begin to integrate data across…

Kevin Carey, vice president for education policy and knowledge management at New America, notes that lawmakers charged with writing a new Higher Education Act (HEA) face a dilemma. Innovation in the higher-ed marketplace is badly needed to improve student learning and break the relentless cycle of increasing cost that puts college out of reach for…

Over the course of two short years and through quiet regulatory actions, many of which have not garnered many headlines, Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos has loosened accountability for U.S. schools and colleges, putting millions of students at risk of civil rights abuses and fraudulent financial schemes. Through aggressive use of its regulatory…

The William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan (Direct Loan) program makes several types of federal student loans available to individuals to assist them with financing postsecondary education expenses. This report presents a comprehensive overview of the terms and conditions that apply to federal student loans made through the Direct Loan program. It…

Can an academic institution be truly free if it relies on government funding? Federal dollars mean federal mandates, and those mandates grow increasingly draconian. More and more, they stifle debate on open questions, demand denial of verifiable scientific truths, eliminate due process for students accused of misdeeds by other students, or insist…