The Aurora Institute's 2020 Federal Policy Priorities are an equity-driven and future-focused set of recommendations designed to ensure the nation's education system is fit for purpose. The priorities are intentionally constructed to support moving states and localities forward from their current state of education to future systems capable of…

In April 2015, U.S. House Representatives Luke Messer and Jared Polis introduced the bipartisan Student Digital Privacy and Parental Rights Act of 2015, designed to significantly restrict how online education vendors can exploit the personal data of students who use their products. For some, the bill does not go far enough. It is evident that…

This table identifies and briefly describes the following federal policies that safeguard and protect the confidentiality of personal information: (1) Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA); (2) Protection of Pupil Rights Amendment (PPRA); (3) Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA); (4) Children's Online Privacy…

Increasing public awareness of cyberbullying, coupled with several highly publicized youth suicides linked to electronic bullying, have led lawmakers and politicians to consider new criminal legislation specifically related to cyberbullying. However, little is known about how the police currently respond to cyberbullying, and it is not clear…

FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler, speaking at the International Consumer Electronics Show in January, called for an open Internet which would make sure that ISPs had economic incentives to build better networks while still protecting consumers and innovators. His specific recommendations were shared with the other members of the FCC in February. One of…

As parents and students struggle with increasing college costs, one issue receiving considerable attention over the past several years has been the rising price of textbooks. The question of whether a relationship exists between textbook pricing and the overall cost of college has attracted notice from consumer interest groups and, subsequently,…

In 2000, President Bill Clinton enacted the "Children's Internet Protection Act" (CIPA) which requires all K-12 schools and publicly funded libraries to use Internet filters to protect children from pornography and other obscene or potentially harmful online content as a stipulation for receiving E-Rate funding. The varying…

Diversity in the workforce can be attributed to both a popular, cultural shift and legislative intervention. Despite these forces, discrimination endures in all aspects of Western society from education to employment. Unequal pay and opportunities for promotion are symptoms of a systematic discrimination of individuals based on race and gender.…

This September, public universities in Texas will be required to post on their Web sites detailed syllabi for all undergraduate courses, a curriculum vitae for each regular instructor, a departmental budget report for each course offered, and reports of student course evaluations. According to a new state law, all of this must be "accessible…

Legislation introduced in Congress last month (the "Combating Online Infringement and Counterfeits Act") would take an aggressive and needed stand against online piracy, a growing problem that hurts American consumers and costs Americans jobs. Critics of the legislation argue that this bill would hurt free speech, encourage censorship in foreign…

There are recent indications regarding the use of online public services that force the government to focus on the more refined conceptualizations digital divide research has produced. This paper addresses one of the factors that appears to be important in several conceptualizations of how to approach the digital divide; the differential…

The present paper provides an overview of child sexual exploitation in Northern Ireland and related issues. It focuses on Barnardo's response to the problem of sexual exploitation and sets it in both a historical and a contemporary context. The paper considers the importance of recognising exploitation as child abuse and addresses specific myths…

This annual report of the National Council on Disability (NCD) describes major activities and accomplishments during fiscal year 1996 in its role of advising the President and Congress on issues concerning people with disabilities. The NCD conducted the first-ever National Summit on Disability Policy which gathered 300 people to develop more than…

This Primer is intended to help individual citizens and community leaders and organizers (1) better understand the complex nature of decision making in democracy and (2) identify strategies for having a larger voice and impact. This publication is predicated and draws upon the author's 40 years of extensive and hands-on experiences in varied…

This volume contains papers submitted to the 12th Annual International Conference of the Bulgarian Comparative Education Society (BCES), held in Sofia and Nessebar, Bulgaria, in June 2014, and papers submitted to the 2nd International Partner Conference, organized by the International Research Centre 'Scientific Cooperation,' Rostov-on-Don,…