Supplemental Educational Services: Non-Regulatory Guidance
www.ed.gov/policy/elsec/guid/suppsvcsguid.doc
The US Department of Education released this non-regulatory guidance in response to confusion about responsibility for implementing supplemental service requirements of the No Child Left Behind Act.  This guidance updates and expands upon the Supplemental Educational Services Guidance that the Department released on August 22, 2003.  It includes a number of new questions that address issues that were undeveloped or unaddressed in the 2003 guidance, and it responds to inquiries the Department received from State and local officials on issues subsequent to issuance of the 2003 guidance.

 

 

Head-Start Impact Study:  First Year Findings
www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/opre/hs/impact_study/reports/first_yr_finds/firstyr_finds_title.html
This study was conducted by Westat on behalf of the Department of Health and Human Services.  Researchers began following 5,000 three- and four-year olds in the fall of 2002; the children all applied to Head Start and were randomly assigned to a Head Start or non-Head Start early childhood program.  This report outlines the first year findings using "a partial set of preliminary indicators."  The report found that students in the federal pre-school program had small to moderate improvements in pre-writing, pre-reading, and vocabulary.  Researchers found no significant gains in early math learning, oral comprehensions, or social competencies.

 

 

Chasing the Blues Away: Charter Schools Scale Up in Chicago
www.ppionline.org/documents/chicagocharter_0601.pdf *
This report, which was commissioned by the Progressive Policy Institute's 21st Century Schools Project, is the eighth in a series that analyzes state and urban experiences with charter schooling.  The report examines the history, status quo, challenges, and future of charter initiatives in Chicago.  A similar analysis of charter schools in Washington, DC. will be issued by the 21st Century Schools Project later this year.

 

 

Getting Honest About Grad Rates: How States Play the Numbers and Students Lose
www2.edtrust.org/NR/rdonlyres/C5A6974D-6C04-4FB1-A9FC-05938CB0744D/0/GettingHonest.pdf *
This report, released by the Education Trust, examines the graduation rates that states were required to provide to the US Department of Education in January 2005 reported by states. It analyzes the reported rates in relationship to state goals for No Child Left Behind and compares them to independent analyses of graduation rates.

 

 

civilrightsproject.harvard.edu/research/dropouts/dropouts_south05.pdf*
This report uses the Cumulative Promotion Index (CPI) to examine graduation rates in five Southern states: North Carolina, Georgia, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Florida.  The report also presents graduation rates by gender and race and notes that neither the states nor the federal government have many provisions in place to hold schools accountable for low graduation rates.

 

 

Moving Toward Success: Framework for AfterSchool Programs
www.publicengagement.com/Framework/images/framework_61505.pdf*
This  Framework is a working document developed  by a committee of researchers, evaluators and program experts with funding from the CS Mott Foundation. The framework provides overall recommendations and guidelines to after-school staff and others about why such a framework is important in developing and sustaining an effective program. It describes a theory of change approach to help guide the thinking and implementation of program goals and elements, outlines a broad range of desired participant outcomes to consider, and discusses conditions most suitable for achieving positive results that meet the needs of the after-school participants.

 

 

A Shared Responsibility: Staffing All High-Poverty, Low-Performing Schools With Effective Teachers and Administrators, A Framework for Action
www.learningfirst.org/publications/staffing/
This Framework, developed by the Learning First Alliance, offers a systemic set of actions for addressing a long-standing problem: Our most vulnerable students, those in high-poverty, low-performing schools, are far less likely than their wealthier peers to attend schools with the most qualified teachers, administrators, and other school staff.

 

 

 

One-Third of A Nation:  Rising Dropout Rates and Declining Opportunities
www.ets.org/research/pic/onethird.pdf*
This Educational Testing Center Report calls attention to the nation's rising dropout rate, cites exemplary practices for retaining students, discusses the limitations of "second-chance" educational opportunities for students who drop out, and present the challenges faced by dropouts in today's economy.

 

 

The Condition of Education 2005
nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/
The Condition of Education is an annual, congressionally mandated report compiled by the National Center for Education Statistics.  The report provides education statistics on key indicators and summarizes important developments and trends in education. This year's version also contains a special analysis that describes the teacher workforce and the movement of teachers into and out of this workforce.

 

Early Childhood Investment Yields Big Payoff
www.wested.org/online_pubs/pp-05-02.pdf
The author argues that a nationwide investment in a high-quality, publicly-funded early childhood development program, especially for children living in poverty, will: 1) improve the academic performance and quality of life of millions of our nation’s children, 2) reduce crime, 3) make the workforce of the future more productive, and 4) strengthen our nation’s economy. The paper outlines the characteristics of such a program and discusses the benefits of a large-scale program on federal, state, and local government budgets, the economy, and crime as far as 50 years into the future.