U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, who says he plans to serve in the Obama Cabinet for the "long haul," has begun sketching out his priorities for the next four years. They include using competitive levers to improve teacher and principal quality and holding the line on initiatives he started during the president's first term. The…

This case study examines the changes that occur with respect to reflective practices as a result of participating in an action learning group through the identification of aspects/activities of action learning that contribute to such changes and the impact these aspects/activities had on the program participants at a department of the federal…

Washington is at crossroads on K-12 education policy. It can continue down the path of top-down accountability; devolve power to states and districts, thereby returning to the status quo of the last century; or rethink the fundamentals and do something different. In "Choice and Federalism: Rethinking the Federal Role in Education," the…

Patient-centered care is now front-and-center in health care reform. The federal government has established the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute to study this new phenomenon and health care delivery systems such as patient-centered medical homes. Where is the health education profession in all of this? Despite what it has to offer, to…

The forested land in the United States is an asset that is owned and managed not only by federal, state, and local governments, but also by families and other private groups, including timber investment management organizations and real estate investment trusts. The more than 10 million family forestland owners manage the largest percentage of…

Nearly half a century ago, the U.S. Congress passed the landmark Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) of 1965 during the 88th Congress. In October 2011, this committee passed a reauthorization of ESEA, preserving the reporting and transparency components of No Child Left Behind and continuing to emphasize strategies to close the…

Over the last two decades, there has been interest in developing federal policies that focus on student outcomes in elementary and secondary education. Perhaps most prominently, the enactment of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB; P.L. 107-110), which amended and reauthorized the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), marked a…

The transition from school to adulthood is a pivotal time in the lives of all students. For a student with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), change of any kind can be challenging, and a transition as momentous as this can seem especially daunting. Thoughtful planning, sound information, and open communication will help parents support young adults…

The birth of formal citizenship education in the United States emerged in the context of mass immigration, the Progressive Movement, and the First World War. Wartime citizenship education has been chastised for its emphasis on patriotism and loyalty, and while this is a trend, historians have minimised the ways in which the democratic goals of the…

A document from the U.S. Department of Education intended to clarify schools' responsibility to make sure students with disabilities have access to extracurricular sports has drawn sharply different opinions. Disability-rights advocates welcome the guidance, while critics say federal officials are pushing requirements that could place new…

As the United States entered the second decade of the 21st century, providing law enforcement services has been noted to be more complex than in any era in the nation's history. Piloting law enforcement agencies through the challenges ahead has been identified as requiring their senior leaders to possess the highest levels of leadership acumen. A…

This dissertation is a study of the impact of federal legislative proposals considered between 1997 and 2004 that offer protection to databases. It investigates the effect that the proposals had on the balance between the economic interests of owners and the right of the public to unfettered access to information. This identified legislation…

The Federal Direct Student Loan Program offers loans to students and their parents to help pay for postsecondary education. Under current law, about $1.4 trillion in new direct loans will be made to students between 2013 and 2023, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) projects. Analysts and policymakers have raised concerns about various features…

Since the founding of the Nation, science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) have been a source of inspirational discoveries and transformative technological advances, helping the United States develop the world's most competitive economy and preserving peace through strength. The pace of innovation is accelerating globally, and with…

Since the enactment of the "Education for All Handicapped Children Act of 1975" ("EHA"), Public Law (P.L.) 94-142 and its successor statute, the "Individuals with Disabilities Education Act" ("IDEA" or "act"), the secretary of the U.S. Department of Education (secretary) (and her predecessor, the…