Earning a college degree has long been critical to unlocking many high-paying jobs -- and, as a result, to economic mobility and security. Increasingly, however, the traditional "norm" of a college student--one who enrolls straight out of high school, receives some support from their parents, lives on campus, and does not have…

Early care and education providers are subject to monitoring by multiple agencies and organizations. In this brief provides an overview of monitoring and the major early care and education monitoring systems. It then offers possible goals for a coordinated monitoring system and describes some approaches to addressing those goals. Eleven dimensions…

Amid a recession that's squeezing state budgets and pushing more families into poverty, teams of officials from 39 states gathered near Washington last week to explore ways to better meet the educational and health needs of young children. The Sept. 16-18 meeting, sponsored by the National Governors Association, came as the U.S. House of…

State child care policies--including licensing, subsidy, and quality enhancement strategies--can promote the quality and continuity of early childhood experiences and foster the healthy growth and development of babies and toddlers in child care settings, especially if they are informed by research. One of the policy levers states may use to…

This hearing was held to discuss issues related to the reauthorization of Project Head Start and the dependent care programs. Witnesses expressed the current administration's support for a 3-year reauthorization of Head Start, discussed the impact of the Gramm-Rudman-Hollings legislation, and described the Department of Health and Human Services'…

Federal rules allow states to use Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) block grant funds to help pay for a child care tax credit. States also have the option to count a portion of the cost of a child care tax credit toward their "maintenance of effort" requirements under the TANF program. There is an important limitation on…

This document focuses on how states can use Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) funds to support early childhood education initiatives. It draws on CLASP's previous report, "Financing Universal Pre-Kindergarten: Possibilities and Technical Issues for States in Using Funds Under the Child Care and Development Fund and Temporary…

Discusses federal and state initiatives to enhance child care quality and child care teachers' compensation. These initiatives have resulted from the passage of the Child Care and Development Block Grant in 1990. (BB)

This report provides information on the proposed Child Care and Development Block Grant Amendments Act of 1995, which reauthorizes and amends the Child Care and Development Block Grant Act of 1990. It also makes changes in the 1990 law to give states greater flexibility in designing their child care system, provides greater emphasis on parental…

The Chapter 2 program, originally authorized as Chapter 2 of the Education Consolidation and Improvement Act of 1981 and reauthorized as part of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (1988), represents a substantial investment of Federal education funds to support general educational improvement. Funds are made available to states and local…

Chapter 2 of the Education Consolidation and Improvement Act places responsibility for the design and implementation of programs using Chapter 2 funds in the hands of local education agencies, and it assigns responsibility for administering the regulations to state education agencies. No formal mechanism exists, however, for coordinating the…

In response to proposed reforms designed to replace many federal child welfare programs with block grants to states, this report describes a study of recent trends foster care, resources for foster care and child welfare services, and state responses to current foster care and child welfare service needs. The study reviewed research on foster care…

This congressional report contains testimony given at an oversight hearing on the termination of the Community Services Administration (CSA) and the subsequent transition to the community services block grant program. Among those organizations and agencies represented at the hearing were the following: the National Community Action Agency; the…

This report provides an overview of major differences between current law and the House and Senate versions of educational legislation (H.R. 5) expected to be considered early in the second session of the 100th Congress, as well as a side-by-side comparison of the current and proposed legislation. Program areas covered in both the overview and the…

This report focuses on the new intergovernmental relationships developing between cities, States and the Federal government as funds are "block granted." The first chapter discusses the historical background of federalism and the redistributive role of government, and puts the "new federalism" in perspective. The following…