This report, co-authored by the National Governors Association (NGA) Center for Best Practices and Manpower Demonstration Research Corporation (MDRC) is based largely on a roundtable meeting conducted in April 2000 by both organizations to discuss expanding postsecondary opportunities for low-income working parents and welfare recipients.

After-school programs can play an important positive role in the academic and personal development of young people, especially in an era when many parents work full time. Launched in 1997, the Extended-Service Schools (ESS) Initiative helped establish after-school programs in 17 communities across the country, each of which adapted one of four program models to local circumstances and needs. In this report, Public/Private Ventures and MDRC present the findings from their joint evaluation of the initiative, focusing on ESS programs in six cities where intensive data collection was conducted. Among the themes examined in the report are the programs' implementation, quality, and cost and their effects on students' after-school participation and attitudes toward school.

Because meaningful improvements in literacy require more hours of instruction than most adult learners receive, low student persistence is a critical issue for providers of adult education. This interim report from the Literacy in Libraries Across America persistence study describes adult students' characteristics and patterns of participation in nine library literacy programs and examines new strategies developed by the programs to raise persistence. Based on an implementation analysis and a look at participation levels before and as the strategies were put in place, the findings highlight public libraries' advantages as providers of literacy services and point to lessons for program design and implementation.

Examining federal, state, and institutional programs, the paper presents a framework for understanding challenges to securing comprehensive financial assistance for low-income working students. The paper identifies promising approaches for supplementing student financial aid based on a range of programs implemented in the past and planned for the future. It also raises issues that bear consideration in designing a program that would be both effective in ways that can be measured through random assignment studies and replicable.

From the National Center for Children in Poverty, this article highlights effective programs, policy opportunities, and other strategies to improve educational outcomes for children. This brief is to inform policymakers and other stakeholders on strategies to promote the healthy educational development of children.

From the Brookings Institution, this policy brief reviews the impact of a universal preschool policy on economic growth. Authors conclude that a universal policy would cost the government $59 billion; however, would have the potential to add $2 trillion to the national GDP by 2080.

This report from the Brookings Institution reviews the role of education in helping low-income children advance economically. Authored by Isabel Sawhill, she concludes that the U.S. education system tends to reinforce rather than compensate for differences in family background, and in order to strengthen opportunity for America’s children, more effective investments in education need to be made.

This first Issue Brief from the National Center for Children in Poverty's (NCCP's) Project THRIVE identifies ways for States currently planning early childhood comprehensive care systems to use Federal and State fiscal resources more effectively to promote well-being of the most vulnerable young children in the country preparing for school readiness.

From the Annie E. Casey Foundation, this Summer 2006 report highlights information from the Kids Count Data Book. Specifically, this newsletter provides an overview of the importance of family-based child care for children and a State-by-State comparison.

This paper considers four programs--Medicaid and the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), food stamps, child care subsidies, and the earned income tax credit (EITC)--that form the core work support system in the United States. It highlights differences in program funding, eligibility, and delivery systems. It describes trends in participation and synthesizes research knowledge about the observed differences in program participation. The paper concludes that these programs do not form an effective system. Each program operates under different rules that many low-income working families find daunting. A few recent state innovations offer potential for improving the system.