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The No Child Left Behind Act, enacted in 2002, aimed to improve learning and eliminate achievement gaps by raising accountability in schools. The new requirements also generated volumes of valuable long-term data on students and teachers—data that are now grounding and guiding education policy and allowing researchers to answer long-held questions about what leads to student success. Read more.

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Budgeting, the Next Generation: Federal and State Investments in Children after ARRA (Audio Podcasts / Thursday's Child)
The Urban Institute

Federal and state budgets are under unprecedented pressure: deficits are ballooning, programs are being cut back, and tax rolls are anemic, or worse. As part of the federal government's response to the severe recession, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) cushioned state budget cuts, particularly in education, and included investments in children and families -- yet next steps after ARRA are unknown. New research by Urban Institute and Brookings Institution analysts reveals how children -- collectively and at different ages -- fare in the federal budget and how federal and state spending mesh. Drawing on these forthcoming reports, a panel of distinguished experts will begin a vital and timely exchange on how the nation can, amid severe fiscal and budgetary challenges, make the wisest public investments in its children.

Posted to Web: January 14, 2010Publication Date: January 14, 2010

Strong Students, Strong Workers: Models for Student Success through Workforce Development and Community College Partnerships (Research Report)
Harry Holzer, Demetra Smith Nightingale

Low-income youth and adults have less access to and lower rates of completion in higher education in the US than do others. What are states and local community college systems doing to deal with these problems? In this paper, we review a wide range of efforts by community colleges and the states, with funding from private foundation as well as the federal government, to improve enrollments and completion rates among disadvantaged students. We review the extent to which such efforts are "proven" (based on rigorous evaluation evidence) or "promising" (with impressive outcomes that require strong evaluation). We then consider policies by states and the federal government that can advance opportunities for the disadvantaged in this area.

Posted to Web: December 23, 2009Publication Date: December 01, 2009

Reform Ideas in New Book Aim for Teacher Excellence (Press Release)
The Urban Institute

An unmistakable sense of urgency runs throughout Creating a New Teaching Profession, with the top scholars and practitioners who coauthor the book underscoring that current systems for training, hiring, retaining, and rewarding teachers not only are imperfect, but are detrimental to building the best teacher workforce possible. Contributors to the book propose such major reforms as remaking longstanding teacher training systems and using private-sector approaches to modernize recruitment and compensation.

Posted to Web: December 01, 2009Publication Date: December 01, 2009

Ambitious Reform Efforts Evaluated in New Book on America's High Schools (Press Release)
The Urban Institute

Eighteen education policy experts put the past decade's surge in high-school reform efforts to the test in Saving America's High Schools from the Urban Institute Press. Led by coeditors Becky Smerdon and Kathryn Borman, the team of authors size up national reform trends and draw on at least five years of research in Baltimore, New York City, Chicago, Ohio, and North Carolina.

Posted to Web: November 19, 2009Publication Date: November 18, 2009

Saving America's High Schools (Book)
Becky Smerdon, Kathryn M. Borman

Our educational system is in a continuous state of reform, yet outcomes are nowhere near what we can accept. Though the search for answers is perpetual, many efforts over the past decade have homed in on one feature of high schools—their size. If we simply reduce school size, the argument goes, students will gain a safer environment that can address their individual needs. It seems like common sense, but such changes alone have not proven a magic bullet. Saving America's High Schools offers quantitative research drawn from large-scale reform studies along with recommendations for federal, state, and district reform.

Posted to Web: November 17, 2009Publication Date: November 17, 2009

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