In recent years, the federal Department of Education (ED), and state and local educational agencies (SEAs and LEAs, respectively) have been increasing the emphasis on the need to engage parents and families of students in their children's education. Initiatives have sprung up across the fifty states and Washington, D.C. to help officials at the…

This Issue Brief reviews general state practices to maintain safe schools and federal education programs that fund and shape some local school practices. Re-examining how school safety initiatives are implemented in states suggests the need for increased collaboration among states and new flexibility for states when it comes to the use of existing…

This report urges states to participate in the State Wage Interchange System (SWIS), as it can aide states in satisfying Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) reporting requirements, and help states better understand whether former participants in workforce training and education programs are finding good jobs. SWIS is a data sharing…

Many policies and initiatives have been proposed or implemented to address the unique needs of military families who face special challenges while supporting the service of their military member(s). Some of those policies and initiatives have sought to focus on military-connected children (MCCs) and the particular academic challenges they face.…

The purpose of this policy analysis was to examine the responses of selected states to the special education monitoring requirements of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act of 2004 (IDEA) with particular attention paid to the years after this most recent reauthorization. This study examined the legislative and litigative history of…

On September 8, 2011, the President proposed the American Jobs Act to Congress, including investments of $25 billion to renovate and modernize at least 35,000 of America's public schools; $5 billion to upgrade infrastructure at America's community colleges; and $30 billion to keep hundreds of thousands of educators in the classroom. This report…

As the United States continues to be a nation of immigrants and their children, the nation's school systems face increased enrollments of students whose primary language is not English. With the 2001 reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) in the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), the allocation of federal funds for…

Technological innovation is driving fundamental changes in all aspects of our lives. This is especially true of digital content, as our use of e-books, downloadable music, streaming television and movies, and online social networks has exploded. However, the explosive growth in our use of digital content seems so far to have eluded many of the 50…

The four papers in this series were commissioned for the first meeting of the National Commission on Adult Literacy, which met in Nashville on November 14, 2006. The first paper, "Adult Education and Literacy Legislation and Its Effects on the Field," provides the basic provisions of the Adult Education and Family Literacy Act (AEFLA,…

Recommendations to the House of Representatives for amending requirements for the provision of substance abuse education and prevention programs in elementary and secondary schools are presented in this committee report. Proposed revisions for the bill (H.R. 3614) include: authorization of appropriations; state allotment, programs, and…

Hearings were held in California, Illinois, Georgia, and Washington, D.C., to receive testimony concerning the Parental and Medical Leave Act of 1987, a bill intended to promote the economic security of many families by providing job-protected leave for parents upon the birth, adoption, or serious illness of a child, and temporary medical leave…

The 16 chapters in this book are intended to stimulate thinking about approaches to dealing with the substance of public assistance policy as it bears on coordination issues, organizational arrangements for policy development and delivery, and processes for building linkages between disparate but related programs. Part I, an introduction, contains…

Hearings were held in Massachusetts and Washington, D.C., to receive testimony concerning the Parental and Medical Leave Act of 1987, a bill intended to promote the economic security of many families by providing for job-protected leave for parents upon the birth, adoption, or serious illness of a child, and temporary medical leave when a child's…

This handbook is intended as a guide for individuals and groups to use in designing and carrying out activities to monitor their state and local educational agencies (SEAs and LEAs) for compliance with the 1976 Vocational Education Amendments and Title IX. (This legislation requires affirmative action for sex equity in vocational education.)…

This annual report concerning adult education and literacy in Illinois during Fiscal Year 1991 first defines the purpose of adult education, which is to provide adults having less than a high school education with continuing opportunities to function more effectively in society. A section on administration considers state, federal, public…