A growing number of states are interested in tracking the readiness of children entering kindergarten. In 2010, just seven states (Alaska, Connecticut, Florida, Hawaii, Maryland, Minnesota, and Vermont) collected Kindergarten Entry Assessment (KEA) data for the purposes of aggregating data at the state level. Since this time, most states report…

A state department of education requested information about other states' efforts implementing Kindergarten entry assessments (KEAs). Reviewing experiences from other states implementing KEAs will help inform stakeholder discussions and decision points as they procure a KEA tool; specifically, identifying key data points and reporting; and…

Public funding is believed to play an important role in the development of science and technology. However, whether public funding and, in particular, competitive funding from public agencies actually helps to increase scientific output (i.e. publications) remains a matter of debate. By analysing a dataset of co-publications between China and the…

While there has been a remarkable interest to make computer science a core K-12 academic subject in the United States, there is a shortage of K-12 computer science teachers to successfully implement computer sciences courses in schools. In order to enhance computer science teacher capacity, training programs have been offered through teacher…

We examined the diversity of environmental education (EE) in Texas, USA, by developing a framework to assess EE organizations and programs at a large scale: the Environmental Education Database of Organizations and Programs (EEDOP). This framework consisted of the following characteristics: organization/visitor demographics, pedagogy/curriculum,…

Increases in the frequency of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) within the postsecondary education system are now beginning to surface. Through a review of the literature this paper will focus on the persistence, retention and successful completion of autistics in the postsecondary education (PSE) sector. The author found no concrete statistics for…

This report provides important perspective on the distinctive and changing features of Milwaukee's K-12 education landscape. The authors conducted two comparative analyses of Milwaukee schools. The first, a trend analysis, traces how Milwaukee schools have changed in the past decade. The second, a peer analysis, shows how Milwaukee schools compare…

This paper notes that financing policy is potentially the most powerful policy tool states can use to influence how institutions, students, and employers behave in ways consistent with broader public purposes. It is often not wielded effectively. After identifying elements of financing policy and major issues that relate to these elements, the…

A study involving interviews with administrators at seven randomly selected Southern California community colleges was conducted to identify the marketing strategies undertaken by these institutions to increase student recruitment. During the interviews, respondents were asked to: (1) outline the functions of their public relations office; (2)…

A review of the literature on school effectiveness identifies elements at the system level and the building level that contribute to effectiveness. The literature also provides diagnostic tools for evaluating one of the most important components of school effectiveness, school culture and climate. (SLD)

Issues related to prison libraries are discussed in six articles. Topics covered include the history of American penitentiary ideology; standards for prison libraries; the controversy as to whether prison libraries should serve prisoners or be used as penological tools; and the lack of knowledge about prison libraries within the general library…

Two questions--how school boards might create more productive schools using the tools of the electronic age, and how they might create new learning opportunities and overcome some of the problems schools now face--were addressed at the national conference summarized in this document. The report reviews the current status of public education today…

This policy brief reports on the status of state policies and programs that relate to integrating community services for children and families. Problems with the current service delivery system are discussed, and guidelines for creating a profamily system through effective collaboration are outlined. Information from a questionnaire on early…

Decentralization is arguably one of the most important phenomena to come on to the educational planning agenda in the last 15 years. Why a country should decentralize its educational decision-making process and which decisions should be decentralized are two questions that many decision-makers raise. This booklet is intended to provide educational…

The thesis of this paper is that when a reform is initiated in the public schools, it is vitally important to understand the interplay between the culture of the specific reform model used and the school and classroom cultures. The paper reviews the literature covering many facets of school and classroom culture--including literature on school…