The purpose of this paper is to examine the status of employment of people with disabilities in the Federal Government and to make recommendations for improving federal hiring and advancement of employees with disabilities. The paper summarizes the legal authorities and policy guidance, the responsibilities of various federal agencies charged with…

The purpose of this article is to illustrate how a valid and reliable state accountability system could be developed that identifies effective schools and school districts in a comprehensive, understandable, and practical way. The author presents an overview of the strategy used in the analysis, discusses the use of education production functions…

Suggests that the most practical budgeting system for most managers is a formalized combination of incremental and zero-based analysis because little can be learned about most programs from an annual zero-based budget. (Author/IRT)

A federal committee has found that there is almost no evidence to judge whether the more than $3-billion the federal government spends annually to improve science and mathematics education is effective. The committee's report calls for greater assessment and coordination of such programs. The committee, known as the Academic Competitiveness…

The investigation of New York State's attorney general, Andrew M. Cuomo, into the questionable practices of lenders in federal student-loan programs has helped raise public awareness of one of the greatest scams in our government: The Federal Family Education Loan program, otherwise known as the guaranteed-student-loan program, is unnecessarily…

The Australian State of Queensland's "Smart State" policy is the Government's response to global conditions that require a new type of worker and citizen for a new knowledge economy. As a result the Government has produced a plethora of documents and papers in every aspect of its operation to progress Queensland as a "Smart…

In recent years, the National Council on Disability (NCD) Progress Report has been a retrospective review and analysis of Federal programs for people with disabilities. For this Progress Report, NCD members have chosen to depart from a retrospective approach, and, instead, will focus on the current status of the quality of life of people with…

The annual report reviews research priorities, major Institute of Education Sciences (IES) updates, and recent resolutions. National Board for Education Sciences (NBES) members conclude that the Institute has made important initial progress in transforming education into an evidence-based field in which decision-makers routinely seek out the best…

"International Education and Foreign Languages" reviews the Department of Education's Title VI and Fulbright-Hays Programs, which provide higher education funding for international education and foreign language programs. This book offers a timely look at issues that are increasingly important in an interconnected world. It discusses the…

Concern over Social Security's forecasted long-run deficit is occurring at a time when the program has a short-term surplus. One proposed strategy to address this forecasted deficit is to allow the investment of a portion of payroll taxes into private savings accounts (PSAs). The author analyzes recent proposals for PSAs and concludes that PSAs…

This paper examines labor market conditions and public employment policies in the United States during what some are calling the Great Recession. We document the dramatic labor market changes that rapidly unfolded when the rate of gross domestic product growth turned negative, from the end of 2007 through early 2009. The paper reviews the…

Background/Context: The U.S. federal government has been interested in improving the performance of students who come from low-income homes since the time of Lyndon Johnson's "Great Society" initiatives in the 1960s. The current administration strongly supports the belief that good schools can be created and has funded the Comprehensive…

In 2006-07, the federal government awarded over $13 billion in Pell Grants to more than 5 million undergraduate students (U.S. Department of Education 2007). The goal of the Pell Grant program is to help students with financial need enroll in and graduate from college by providing them with a basic foundation of financial aid, to which they may…