Federal Resources

This report presents the findings from the third and final follow-up survey of the Educational Longitudinal Study of 2002, developed by the The Department of Education's National Center for Education Statistics. The report uses data collected in 2012 to describe educational, career, family, and financial outcomes of a cohort of young people, approximately 10 years after their sophomore year in high school.   

This website, Readiness and Emergency Management for Schools (REMS), provides information that can help school leaders plan for any emergency, including natural disasters, violent incidents and terrorist acts.

The fight against sexual violence on college campuses is gaining momentum with the growth of many new programs and initiatives that increase awareness, educate students, and increase pressure on universities to re-evaluate sexual misconduct policies. This blog post outlines federal and local efforts to prevent domestic, dating, and sexual violence, and provides resources that can assist schools and communities in their efforts to build safe and healthy learning environments.

Early Warning, Timely Response: A Guide to Safe Schools offers research-based practices designed to assist school communities identify these warning signs early and develop prevention, intervention and crisis response plans.

The Department of Education has created a website dedicated to providing information and resources to young people who have recently arrived in the United States and young adults who have received, or plan to apply for, Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA). 

The Department of Education’s National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) released the report, "Federal Education Tax Benefits: Who Receives Them and to What Extent Do They Shape the Price of College Attendance?” that details how many undergraduate students receive tax benefits, how these benefits affect the cost of college, and how family income plays a role.

This report illustrates the findings from the 2012 administration of the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) financial literacy assessment (PDF, 3 pages), which assessed students’ knowledge and understanding of fundamental elements of the financial world. The average score for the United States was 492, which was not measurably different from the overall average of 500, but the United States performed lower than the average in seven education systems.

The Federal TRIO Programs are educational opportunity outreach programs designed to motivate and support students from disadvantaged backgrounds. TRIO includes six outreach and support programs targeted to serve and assist low-income, first-generation college students, and students with disabilities to progress through the academic pipeline from middle school to post-baccalaureate programs.

As part of the Administration’s efforts to improve college access and affordability, the Department of Education has created an online “one-stop shop” Financial Aid Toolkit that consolidates financial aid resources and content into a searchable, online database. Aimed at guidance counselors and other advisers, such as staff or volunteers at community-based organizations, the goal of the Toolkit is to make it easy for these individuals to quickly access the information they need to support their students as they help them through the process of selecting and financing their higher education.

ED has created an interactive map of family and community engagement resources offered by state education agencies. Users can click on a state to view and access a list of resources and more information. 

This blog post offers ideas for students who have received federal, state, and institutional financial aid resources, but are still struggling to cover the cost of college. 

The Federal Resource Center for Special Education supports the work of the six OSEP-funded Regional Resource Centers (RRCs) that provide technical assistance (TA) to assist states in complying with IDEA and to implement evidence-based educational practices.

Many schools and districts are turning to multi-tiered systems of support (MTSS)—a framework for implementing a cohesive set of evidence-based programs and practices—to promote students’ social, emotional, and mental health. This REL Northeast & Islands blog post highlights five fact sheet designed to support educators' use of MTSS. Topics cover: 

1. What are Multi-Tiered Systems of Supports?
2. Meeting Social, Emotional, and Mental Health Needs with MTSS 
3. Data is Key to Taking an MTSS Approach 
4. Don't Forget about Educator Well-being 
5. MTSS Efforts Thrive When Equity is at the Core

This blog post discusses an approach that colleges can take in planning and implementing student support services that can increase the impact of these programs on student success. 

Developed by the National Center on Safe Supportive Learning Environments, this training module can help school nurses, school counselors, and school psychologists in identifying and responding to signs of teenage dating abuse.

This report presents the findings from a national cross-site evaluation of the Safe Schools/Healthy Students Initiative, a collaboration by the Departments of Health and Human Services, Education, and Justice that aims to help students feel safe at school, avoid drug use and violence, and access mental health services.

Developed by the Equity and Excellence Commission, a federal advisory committee, to advise Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, this report highlights the need to eliminate educational disparities and provides recommendations for how the federal government can address these disparities.

This discretionary grant program is designed to increase the number of low-income students who are prepared to enter and succeed in postsecondary education.

The United States Department of Education (ED) and the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) collectively issues a guidance to explain how, within existing law, postsecondary institutions can voluntarily consider race to achieve diversity.

The Department of Education is asking the public for help to spread the word to students, parents, and educators about the importance of completing the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). The Federal Student Aid Financial Aid Toolkit (DOC, 5 pages) contains sample Facebook posts, tweets, blogs, videos, photos, and infographics that can be used to deliver the message through social media channels. 

The United States Department of Education (ED) and the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) collectively issued this guidance to explain how, within existing law, elementary and secondary schools can voluntarily consider race to achieve diversity and avoid racial isolation.

The Departments of Education and Justice released joint guidance (PDF, 40 pages) reminding states, school districts, and schools of their obligations under federal law to ensure that English learner students have equal access to a high-quality education and the opportunity to achieve their full academic potential. Resources accompanying the guidance include:

• A fact sheet in English (PDF, 4 pages) and in other languages about schools’ obligations under federal law to ensure that English learner students can participate meaningfully and equally in school
• A fact sheet in English (PDF, 2 pages) and in other languages about schools’ obligations under federal law to communicate information to limited English proficient parents in a language they can understand
• A toolkit (PDF, 11 pages) to help school districts identify English learner students, prepared by the Education Department’s Office of English Language Acquisition. This is the first chapter in a series of chapters to help state education agencies and school districts meet their obligations to English learner students

CFBNP has developed a step-by-step guide for faith leaders, neighborhood associations, and community-based nonprofits on the college enrollment and financial aid process for high school students. The goal of the guide is to provide information to these community leaders to help them become active stakeholders in promoting college access and completion.

This guidance, released by the Department of Education, provides states with information to implement the Uninterrupted Scholars Act, making it easier for caseworkers, child welfare agencies, and tribal organizations responsible for the placement and care of children and youth in foster care to have direct access to their education records. 

The Higher Education Center for Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse & Violence Prevention is designed to help college and community leaders develop, implement, and evaluate programs and policies to reduce student problems related to alcohol and other drug use and interpersonal violence.