With the deepening understanding of the importance of the early years for preparing children to enter and then succeed in school, federal, state, and local policymakers in the United States have been increasing the public-sector investment in early care and education (ECE) programs, both on a targeted and a universal basis. The state of Vermont…

Education Commission of the States researched Statewide Longitudinal Data Systems (SLDS) policies in all states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico to provide this comprehensive resource. Over the course of six rounds of funding, the National Center for Education Statistics awarded SLDS Grants to 47 states, the District of Columbia and…

Education Commission of the States (ECS) researched Statewide Longitudinal Data Systems (SLDS) policies in all states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico to provide this comprehensive resource. States create their SLDS through a variety of means. The main methods examined in this 50-State Comparison are: statute/legislation, executive order,…

Education Commission of the States researched Statewide Longitudinal Data Systems (SLDS) policies in all states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico to provide this comprehensive resource. For the purposes of this 50-State Comparison, an SLDS is defined as one with formal connections across two or more of these core agencies. States with at…

To learn more about how nonprofits, educators, employers, and policymakers can work together to upskill the limited English proficient (LEP) workforce, Jobs for the Future (JFF) interviewed students and instructors who had participated in the pathbreaking and innovative bilingual training program known as Growing Opportunities in America for…

There has been considerable discussion among policymakers and school leaders in recent years about the need to prepare students as early as junior high and high school for the demands of the 21st Century knowledge economy. Efforts to provide this combination of knowledge and skills often fall under the label of "Career and Technical…

The evolution of programmatic childcare since the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of early 2009, as well as the increasing diversity of childcare recipients, call urgently for novel insight into the morphology of the childcare sector. This paper attempts such elucidation, focusing especially on the structure, accessibility, delivery…

There has been considerable discussion among policymakers and school leaders in recent years about the need to prepare students as early as junior high and high school for the demands of the 21st Century knowledge economy. Efforts to provide this combination of knowledge and skills often fall under the label of "Career and Technical…

The Early Learning Challenge (ELC) program awarded more than $1 billion in four-year grants to 20 States to implement comprehensive and cohesive high-quality early learning systems that support young children with high needs and their families. A key lever in making these improvements was the enhancement of States' Quality Rating and Improvement…

People aged 55 and older are one of the fastest growing demographic groups in much of the developed world. While they have seen tremendous changes in technology and everyday living over their lifetime, some of the biggest societal changes are those that they themselves are helping to make. In the U.S., these mature individuals can expect to live…

Many argue that childcare costs limit the labor supply of mothers, though existing evidence has been mixed. Using a child's eligibility for public kindergarten in a regression discontinuity instrumental variables framework, I estimate how use of a particular subsidy, public school, affects maternal labor supply. I find public school enrollment…

The Pathways to Advancement initiative was launched by the National Governors Association Center for Best Practices (NGA Center) to help governors and their policy advisors examine options and develop strategies for expanding working adults' access to and completion of postsecondary education. In September 2003, the NGA Center issued a request for…

Over the next five years, more than a million new teachers will enter public school classrooms. But the system in place to produce these teachers--supported by an ever-expanding set of federal financial aid programs and multimillion-dollar federal grants--offers no guarantees of quality for anyone involved, from the college students who often…

The secular increase over the past several decades in the number of families where both the husband and wife work in the paid labor force, coupled with the surge in labor force participation of single mothers in the 1990s, has heightened policy focus on child care options for working parents; federal and state governments are now major players…

This presentation describes the mission, programs, and organization of Oregon's Department of Community Colleges and Workforce Development (CCWD). Together with the State Board of Education, the CCWD distributes state aid to community colleges, approves new programs and courses, and adopts rules for the general governance of community colleges.…