How can local education agencies (LEAs), elementary schools, and teachers make sure the kindergarten year deepens and builds on children's previous learning? What are the best ways to keep children and families connected to school and engaged in learning? And how can LEAs, schools, and classroom teachers provide the smoothest transition possible…

Federal funding for early childhood education and care promotes three overarching policy goals: (1) increasing children's access to services; (2) raising the quality of early childhood programs; and (3) fostering greater coordination among the many providers--public schools, center-based child care, home-based child care, Head Start, and more--of…

There is growing unease about suspension and expulsion of children at the preschool level. Preschoolers are expelled at three times the rate of K-12 students (Gilliam, 2005). Boys--particularly African-American boys--comprise a disproportionate number of these cases, a fact that has caused concern among parents, policymakers, and advocates alike.…

A study of the introduction of the block grant in England in 1981 and concerns over increases in government control of education found little direct intervention in educational concerns but shifts in overall Local Educational Authority funding. (MD)

The new federalism is explained, and reaction to block grants in California is described. Some alternatives to current proposals and programs, effects on research in the social sciences and human services, and conclusions about the prospects for the new federalism proposals are discussed. (MSE)

The ways in which governments in different countries determine the amounts of money to be provided to individual institutions of higher education institutions vary considerably. This paper explains how government funds are allocated in Canada, focusing on grants in support of core operations to universities located in Nova Scotia. It examines how…

This paper discusses policies to improve fiscal relations between levels of government to better meet the needs of citizens, an objective of the government's "Roadmap for Decentralisation". Although local government accounts for around half of total government spending, they have little autonomy and fiscal resources vary sharply between…

Four types of federal grants used to address national concerns of educational equity are examined and evaluated: general aid to education, categorical grants for educational equity, block grants for specific groups of equity programs, and matching grants for educational equity. (CT)

This guide outlines strategies to be used by rural school districts when applying for grants in New York State. The first section addresses the impact of recent federal program reductions and restructuring that have significantly reduced overall federal spending on state education programs. Both federal and state governments are moving away from…

This report describes the role of the California Department of Education (CDE) in the administration of a federal block grant to provide child care and development services to disadvantaged children in California. Part 1 outlines the legal assurances that CDE has provided to the U.S. Department of Education in regard to the administration of child…