Download or read book Crs Report for Congress written by Congressional Research Service: The Libr and published by BiblioGov. This book was released on 2013-11 with total page 28 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the 108th Congress, numerous proposals have been made to establish federal programs designed to increase parents' opportunities to choose the elementary and secondary schools their children attend. A few of these proposals would create new school choice programs specifically designed to serve parents and students in the District of Columbia. On December 8, 2003, the House agreed to the conference report (H.Rept. 108401) of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2004 (H.R. 2673) which among other things would authorize the establishment of a scholarship program in the District of Columbia under the DC School Choice Incentive Act of 2003. The bill would create a competitive grant program under which the Secretary of Education would award grants to eligible entities for the operation of one or more scholarship programs in the District of Columbia. Grantees would award scholarships (also commonly referred to as school vouchers) of up to $7,500 per academic year to elementary and secondary school students, who are residents of the District of Columbia and whose family income does not exceed 185% of the poverty level, to enable them to attend private schools located in the District of Columbia. For FY2004, $14 million would be provided to fund and administer ...
Download or read book Proposals to Establish a K 12 Scholarship Or Voucher Program in the District of Columbia written by and published by . This book was released on 2003 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the 108th Congress, numerous proposals have been made to establish federal programs designed to increase parents' opportunities to choose the elementary and secondary schools their children attend. A few of these proposals would create new school choice programs specifically designed to serve parents and students in the District of Columbia. On December 8, 2003, the House agreed to the conference report (H.Rept. 108401) of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2004 (H.R. 2673) which among other things would authorize the establishment of a scholarship program in the District of Columbia under the DC School Choice Incentive Act of 2003. The bill would create a competitive grant program under which the Secretary of Education would award grants to eligible entities for the operation of one or more scholarship programs in the District of Columbia. Grantees would award scholarships (also commonly referred to as school vouchers) of up to $7,500 per academic year to elementary and secondary school students, who are residents of the District of Columbia and whose family income does not exceed 185% of the poverty level, to enable them to attend private schools located in the District of Columbia. For FY2004, $14 million would be provided to fund and administer the program. At present, the Senate has not voted on the conference report. Previously, the House and Senate considered establishing a scholarship program in the District of Columbia as part of FY2004 appropriations bills for the District of Columbia (H.R. 2765, S. 1583, and S.Amdt. 1783) or a separate bill reported by a House Committee (H.R. 2556). This report identifies and briefly discusses some of the issues that have led to a new federally funded school choice program being considered as a policy option for elementary and secondary education in the District of Columbia. It provides a brief description of the proposed scholarship program. The report then identifies and analyzes a number of policy issues that the 108th Congress may consider as it debates the proposal. Significant policy issues discussed in the report include: the potential effect of the proposed program on school choice in the District of Columbia; the potential of the program to affect the distribution of federal and local education funding in the District of Columbia; how nondiscrimination and civil rights laws might apply to grantees and participating schools; and how accountability of the program would be assured. This report will be updated consistent with significant legislative activity.
Download or read book The DC Opportunity Scholarship Program written by United States. Congress. House. Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. Subcommittee on Health Care, District of Columbia, Census, and the National Archives and published by . This book was released on 2011 with total page 128 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The District of Columbia Opportunity Scholarship Program written by Tyler P. Adison and published by . This book was released on 2011 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The District of Columbia School Choice Incentive Act of 2003, passed by Congress in January 2004, established the first federally funded, private school voucher program in the United States. The purpose of the new scholarship program was to provide low-income parents, particularly those whose children attend schools identified for improvement or corrective action with "expanded opportunities to attend higher performing schools in the District of Columbia". Over 8,400 students have applied for what is now called the DC Opportunity Scholarship Program (OSP), and rigorous evaluation of the Program, mandated by Congress, has been underway. This book describes the impacts of the Program at least four years after families who applied and were given the option to move from a public school to a participating private school of their choice.
Download or read book District of Columbia Opportunity Scholarship Program written by Cornelia M. Ashby and published by . This book was released on 2007 with total page 98 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The D.C. School Choice Incentive Act created the first private kindergarten-through-grade-12 school-choice program supported by federal funds. The program was named the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program (OSP). The United States Government Accountability Office (GAO) was asked to assess the (1) accountability mechanisms governing the use of funds; (2) results of the grantee's efforts to meet the program's recruiting priorities and eligibility requirements and inform parents of their choices; and (3) extent that the evaluation of OSP reflects statutory requirements and the implementation of the program supported the detection of useful and generalizable findings. To assess the program, GAO analyzed financial, program, and evaluation data. GAO did not assess the performance of participating private schools nor did GAO evaluate the impact of the program. The GAO recommends that the Secretary of Education should direct the grantee to improve internal controls, continue to integrate its financial systems, improve monitoring, and provide accurate information to parents. The Secretary and the Mayor of the District of Columbia should ensure participating schools are in compliance with District requirements. The Secretary should ensure that programs are implemented in accordance with any required evaluation. The entities providing comments on this report generally agreed with GAO's recommendations but disagreed with many findings. The following are appended: (1) Scope and Methodology; (2) Laws Authorizing Related Voucher Programs; (3) Comments from the Office of the Mayor of the District of Columbia; (4) Comments from the Department of Education; (5) Comments from the Washington Scholarship Fund; and (6) Contacts and Staff Acknowledgment. (Contains 10 tables and 26 footnotes.) [This report was produced by the US Government Accountability Office.].
Download or read book Congressional Research Report written by and published by . This book was released on 2003 with total page 1082 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book District of Columbia Opportunity Scholarship Program written by U.s. Government Accountability Office and published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform. This book was released on 2017-08-03 with total page 80 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: " School vouchers, a school choice program designed to provide students with public funds to attend private schools, feature prominently in policy discussions about education reform. The OSP was reauthorized by Congress in 2011 by the Scholarships for Opportunity and Results Act, and has garnered national attention as the first federally-funded voucher program. Since the program's inception in 2004, Congress has provided almost $152 million for the program benefitting almost 5,000 students, currently providing scholarships of about $8,000 for grades K-8 and about $12,000 for grades 9-12. As requested, GAO examined (1) the extent to which the Trust provides information that enables families to make informed school choices, (2) whether the Trust's internal controls ensure accountability for OSP, and (3) how Education and District agencies responsible for overseeing OSP have performed their stated roles and responsibilities. To conduct this work, GAO visited 10 participating schools; interviewed school officials; conducted discussion groups with 14 parents of scholarship students; analyzed key program documents; reviewed generally accepted guiding documents for internal controls; and interviewed officials at Education, relevant District agencies, and the Trust. "
Download or read book Evaluation of the DC Opportunity Scholarship Program written by Patrick Wolf and published by . This book was released on 2009 with total page 35 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The District of Columbia School Choice Incentive Act of 2003, passed by the Congress in January 2004, established the first federally funded, private school voucher program in the United States. The purpose of the new scholarship program is to provide low-income parents, particularly those whose children attend schools identified for improvement or corrective action under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, with "expanded opportunities to attend higher performing schools in the District of Columbia" (Sec. 303). As part of this legislation, the Congress mandated a rigorous evaluation of the impacts of the Program, now called the DC Opportunity Scholarship Program (OSP). This paper presents findings from the evaluation on the impacts 3 years after families who applied were given the option to move from a public school to a participating private school of their choice. (Contains 12 tables, 2 figures and 25 footnotes.) [This paper was prepared for School Choice and School Improvement: Research in State, District and Community Contexts.].
Download or read book Flaws and Failings written by People for the American Way, Washington, DC. and published by . This book was released on 2005 with total page 23 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This special report discusses the new federally mandated school voucher program in the District of Columbia, which is the first federally-funded voucher program in the country. The voucher program is being run by the U.S. Department of Education ("DOE") in cooperation with the Mayor of the District of Columbia, and administered by a private organization called the Washington Scholarship Fund. Under this program, for five years beginning with the 2004-05 school year, federal taxpayers will subsidize the tuition of low-income students in the District of Columbia who can gain admittance to religious and other private schools, up to a maximum of $7,500 per year per student. For fiscal year 2004, more than thirteen million dollars have been appropriated for the voucher program. According to the voucher law, the primary purpose of the voucher program is to allow low-income students in D.C.'s public schools most in need of improvement (as defined by the federal law) to leave those schools and attend "higher-performing" schools. However, there is no requirement in the law that the private schools participating in the voucher program demonstrate that they are in fact "higher-performing" (e.g., by subjecting themselves to the same criteria applied to public schools under federal law). To the contrary, the Senate rejected an amendment offered by Senator Mary Landrieu that would have required private schools participating in the voucher program to be subject to some of the same requirements as public schools under the No Child Left Behind Act. Ironically, the voucher legislation uses the No Child Left Behind Act to define which public schools in D.C. are most in need of improvement and whose students are therefore given priority in the voucher program. Moreover, although the voucher program is supposed to provide educational "choice" to low-income students, the law does not prohibit private schools from imposing admissions tests or other admissions requirements on voucher students, or from charging them tuition in excess of the maximum voucher amount of $7,500 per year if in fact their tuition rates are higher. And while the vast majority of private schools participating in the D.C. voucher program are religious schools, there is also no provision in the law protecting voucher students who attend religious schools from being required to participate in religious worship or other religious activities that may be contrary to their own beliefs, or from prohibiting those schools, now funded with public monies, from discriminating against employees on the basis of religion. (Contains 49 footnotes.).
Download or read book Family Reflections on the District of Columbia Opportunity Scholarship Program written by Thomas Stewart and published by . This book was released on 2009 with total page 84 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: During the spring of 2004, the first federally funded voucher program--the District of Columbia Opportunity Scholarship Program (OSP)--was established. The School Choice Demonstration Project (SCDP) recognized that publicly-funded school vouchers represent a relatively new and unstudied approach to school choice and education reform. To address this need, the SCDP requested and received funding from the Annie E. Casey Foundation to capture the "Parent and Student Voices on the OSP." A total of 110 families, representing 180 students, that applied during the first two years of the Program volunteered to participate in this study. As the last installment in a four-part annual series that began in 2005, this report summarizes key findings from the previous reports and provides a general overview of the respondents' "reflections" upon their three or four years in the Program. Using a phenomenological approach, which includes focus groups, personal interviews and keypad polling information gathering techniques, participants were given multiple opportunities to share or describe their experiences. A consumer framework was often used to contextualize the families' experiences. Their insights continue to shape the scope and direction of the OSP, and they will help inform other efforts to provide low income families with access to quality school options. Appended are: (1) Calendar and Composition of Focus Group Sessions, 2004-2008; (2) 2004 Fall Parent Focus Group Moderator's Guide; (3) 2005 Parent Personal Interview Moderator's Guide; and (4) 2008 Focus Group and Polling Questions. (Contains 26 exhibits.).
Download or read book Failure written by Vicki E. Alger and published by Independent Institute. This book was released on 2016-06-01 with total page 412 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The relationship among the federal government, the states, and parents with regard to education is increasingly dysfunctional. Parental control over their children's education has gained impressive momentum in recent years at the state level. Meanwhile, states have been increasingly willing to relinquish sovereignty over education in exchange for more federal dollars. Failure would help bring clarity to these issues by examining whether students and the country better off after 30 years with the Department of Education and suggesting alternatives to an ever-expanding federal education bureaucracy. Part I would begin by examining the development of the current Department of Education, including the legislation that gave rise to it, and the pressure groups that have shaped it. Additional chapters would examine related issues including the arguments for and against the creation of a national education department, its origin, current structure, spending, and growth over time. Part II would examine the results to date against the education department's own standards. These include overall student achievement nationally before and after the advent of the Department of Education as well as international comparisons of U.S. student achievement. Outcomes of some of the largest Department of Education programs would also be considered in this section, along with some of the lesser-known department programs and initiatives. Part III would examine truly federal alternatives to the current tug-of-war between the national and state governments in light of the growing parental-choice movement. Included in this section would be chapters examining a strict-constitutionalist model, which denies any federal authority in education. Another alternative model examined would be the National Bureau of Education model, inspired by the original 1867 precursor to the current Department of Education, whose primary mission was to serve as a repository of information so schools nationwide could emulate best practices. In addition, this section would seek to include cross-country comparisons of education systems of top-performing Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries.
Download or read book Congressional Record written by United States. Congress and published by . This book was released on 2011 with total page 1948 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Improving Educational Opportunities for Low income Children written by United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Labor and Human Resources and published by . This book was released on 1997 with total page 100 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Congressional Record Index written by and published by . This book was released on 1997 with total page 1412 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Includes history of bills and resolutions.
Download or read book Congressional Record written by United States. Congress and published by . This book was released on 2003 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Congressional Record is the official record of the proceedings and debates of the United States Congress. It is published daily when Congress is in session. The Congressional Record began publication in 1873. Debates for sessions prior to 1873 are recorded in The Debates and Proceedings in the Congress of the United States (1789-1824), the Register of Debates in Congress (1824-1837), and the Congressional Globe (1833-1873)
Download or read book Journal of the House of Representatives of the United States written by United States. Congress. House and published by . This book was released on 2010 with total page 1646 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Some vols. include supplemental journals of "such proceedings of the sessions, as, during the time they were depending, were ordered to be kept secret, and respecting which the injunction of secrecy was afterwards taken off by the order of the House".
Download or read book Congressional Record written by and published by . This book was released on with total page 1440 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
