This article presents an interview with Secretary of Education Arne Duncan. In this interview, Duncan talks about the goal for his work leading American schools and how merit pay, charter schools, and mayoral control would improve student learning.

This report, the third installment in the "New England After 3 PM" series, discusses after-school programs and support in Rhode Island. The Afterschool Alliance worked with the Rhode Island Afterschool Plus Alliance to survey mayors and other officials in each of the state's 39 cities and towns. The survey, distributed via the Internet…

This report sets out to estimate the total annual expenditures on children in New York City and to create a "fiscal map" to detail them. This fiscal map describes these expenditures according to a series of classifications, including age of child (early childhood, elementary, and high school); source of funding (public, tax-related, and…

This study investigates the recruitment and retention challenges, facing municipal government IT organizations in Southern California, by examining the relationships between worker demographics, competencies, experience levels, tenure, and training within the organizations. Utilizing a mixed method, non-experimental design, the study examines…

A funny thing happened while the District of Columbia Public Library (DCPL), already suffering from deteriorated facilities and systems, slogged through stasis (and three interim directors) after the 2003 departure of Director Molly Raphael. Mayor Anthony Williams presided over the city's economic turnaround--or, some charged, cozied up to…

In an age of globalization and privatization, local governments and municipalities are searching to define their social role and place. In an aging society such as Canada, arguing that promoting the legal rights of older persons should be part of the legal authority of the municipal government is not simple. It is easier to abide by the position…

This article uses biographical approaches to recover the contribution of hitherto neglected figures in the history of education and the political history of the Left in London. Place and location are important since it is important to grasp the uniqueness of the London County Council within the framework of English local government and of the…

This article presents one case study of public participation in urban planning: the "Face Your World" project that took place in 2005 in the suburban area of Slotervaart, close to the Dutch city of Amsterdam. "Face Your World" was a participation project that aimed at engaging both younger and immigrant inhabitants of…

Objective: High levels of domestic violence, mental illness, and alienation from authorities are associated with high incidence of children/adolescents living on the streets in low and middle income countries. The Equilibrium Project (Programa Equilibrio) was created to facilitate social reintegration through a virtual partnership between an…

Twenty-eight months after Hurricane Katrina forced the closures of more than a half-dozen New Orleans colleges and universities, many of them are still struggling to regain their enrollments and restore buildings damaged by floodwater and mold. Over all, college enrollment in New Orleans increased slightly in the fall of 2007, reaching 74 percent…

Comparative analyses of basic education financing among districts and counties within Shanghai municipality show that basic education in the developed city is as fiscally unequal as it is in other provincial administrative areas. But the tendency to expand education disparities in Shanghai has been reversed since 2005 owing to the education…

This article examines the process of post-disaster recovery and rebuilding in New York City since 9/11 and in New Orleans since the Hurricane Katrina disaster (8/29). As destabilizing events, 9/11 and 8/29 forced a rethinking of the major categories, concepts and theories that long dominated disaster research. We analyze the form, trajectory and…

The Uniontown, Alabama Community Health Project trained and facilitated Community Health Advisors (CHAs) in conducting a theory-based intervention designed to reduce the risk for cardiovascular disease (CVD) among rural African-American women. The multiphased project included formative evaluation and community organization, CHA recruitment and…

Big-city school systems face many problems, including high dropout rates, low academic achievement, and achievement gaps between middle-class and low-income children. Many big-city systems are also losing enrollment and facing financial deficits. These problems inevitably lead to criticism of the boards that govern urban school districts, and…

This is the second evaluation of the Donors' Education Collaborative's (DEC) grant making since its founding in 1995. The first evaluation was a cross-case study of three projects that embodied DEC's theory of action: lasting systemic school reform demands sustained funding to build organizational collaboration that simultaneously broadens and…