In 2011, the Arizona State Legislature adopted a law creating the first education savings account (ESA) in the United States. Following Arizona's lead, several other states, including Florida Tennessee,Mississippi and Nevada, have implemented ESA policies. Typical eligibility requirements include conditions such as a pupil's diagnosed disability,…

Parents expect school districts and schools to keep their children safe while they are in school. That expectation of safety and security also extends to the protection of their children's learning data. Therefore, it is critical that school districts and schools are open and transparent about their student data privacy practices, and that those…

In recent years there have been increasing efforts to use accountability systems based on large-scale tests of students as a mechanism for improving student achievement. The federal No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) is a prominent example of such an effort, but it is only the continuation of a steady trend toward greater test-based accountability in…

The State Educational Technology Directors Association is pleased to release its third annual Trends Report on educational technology. In addition to reporting trends on the third round (FY 04) of the No Child Left Behind, Title II, Part D, Enhancing Education Through Technology (EETT) program, the 2006 report also includes general state policy…

The State Educational Technology Directors Association (SETDA) is pleased to present the findings of the second annual National Trends Report. SETDA commissioned the Metiri Group for a second consecutive year to conduct a national survey in the fall of 2004 on the second year implementation of the No Child Left Behind, Title II, Part D, Enhancing…

Findings and recommendations regarding the regulation and provision of child day care in Virginia are reported. Most of the data in the report are based on recent Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission surveys of parents, child care providers, regulatory personnel, and child care programs in other states. In general, child day care in…

In the fall of 2003, the State Educational Technology Directors Association (SETDA) commissioned the Metiri Group to conduct a national survey on the first year of implementation of the No Child Left Behind, Title II, Part D, Enhancing Education through Technology program. The findings in this report represent 46 states and the District of…

A significant minority of teens and preteens suffer from anxiety disorders, depression and other mood disorders, behavior problems, and drug and alcohol addiction. Others have low self-esteem, difficulty coping, and feelings of insecurity. Given the harmful consequences of such disorders, policymakers and practitioners should be alert to teens…

A review of recent research in child language development examines how this research can be used to inform policy that will enhance the capabilities of English-speaking and non-English-speaking children to develop strong language skills and promote the success of at-risk children. Focus is on the research most applicable to policy planning. First,…

Work-based education (WBE), including traditional vocational education and other career-focused programs, was an important curricular component in American schools for most of the 20th century. The 1990s was a period of substantial change for work-based education (WBE). Spurred on by a concern about the international competitiveness of the…

In this report, we review current scientific knowledge on the topic of youth mentoring, including what is known about relationships and programs, and their interface with organizations and institutions. Two primary conclusions can be drawn from this review. First, mentoring relationships are most likely to promote positive outcomes and avoid harm…

The Maryland Department of Education formed a panel--known as the Visionary Panel--of educators and citizens to review the record of Maryland's public schools during the 1990s and to fashion a vision to make them better. The panel was aided by seven task forces, each with a specific focus: accountability, achievement gap, assessment, leadership,…

This paper presents a model of the approaches open to government to ensure that early childhood services are affordable to families. We derived the model from a comparative literature review of affordability approaches taken by government, both in Australia and internationally. The model adds significantly to the literature by proposing a means to…

Over the past 30 years, the rate of childhood obesity has more than doubled for preschool children aged 2 to 5 years and adolescents aged 12 to 19 years, and it has more than tripled for children 6 to 11 years of age (Institute of Medicine, 2005). At present, approximately 9 million children over 6 years are considered obese (Institute of…

The academic progress and self-concept of North York (Ontario, Canada) learning-disabled and educable retarded students were studied, with particular reference to the effectiveness of placement in mixed exceptionality versus single exceptionality programs. Information was gathered from the published special education literature, students' files,…