Thousands of 911 calls come in every day to over 5,000 Emergency Communications Centers (ECCs) across the country. For each call, 911 professionals face a difficult question: Does this call have a behavioral health component to it? To help solve this problem, The Council of State Governments Justice Center collaborated with ECCs, law enforcement professionals, national 911 experts, 988 liaisons, and alternative responders throughout the country to develop guidance on how to start, improve, and sustain efforts to collect better data on behavioral health calls for service. This guidance includes working with partners from local agencies to understand current data limitations, clarify what behavioral health information is needed and why, and determining the technology available. Also, standardizing data collection practices can alleviate concerns that calls are not being recorded consistently or with efficacy. Further, structured quality assurance practices can mitigate inaccurate data, missed opportunities for learning, and difficulty identifying trends in behavioral health calls. Regular review can be used to hold staff and managers accountable, as well as show where more training and support is needed. Lastly, by promoting an organizational culture that is receptive to better data collection practices within an agency, it can demonstrate the positive impacts on both staff and the community.

Fourth Amendment protections limits the power of the police to seize and search people, their property, and their homes. Entering the curtilage of a property, the area immediately surrounding a dwelling where the dwelling occupant enjoys a reasonable expectation of privacy, normally requires a warrant unless the entry is within an implied license. This article presents the results of three empirical studies, involving 600 participants each, in which members of the public were asked what places count as curtilage and what visits to homes are covered by implied license. In the first two studies, survey participants were shown a series of images of various properties with an officer present and answered whether the officer was inside or outside the curtilage. In the third study, participants were given a set of home-visit scenarios and answered whether each visit was within or outside the implied license. The surveys covered the facts of both Supreme Court cases and prominent lower court decisions to see if the courts have it right. The research team found that the courts have curtilage wrong but implied license right. In the doctrine, curtilage is limited to the area immediately around the home. But the public disagrees. To most people, privacy in the home extends to the entire property. If it’s part of the property, it’s private. In short, the public has a far more expansive conception of home privacy than courts allow. On the other hand, public perceptions of implied license very closely align with the caselaw.

Nationally, public school current spending per pupil rose 6.6% from $16,526 in Fiscal Year 2023 to $17,619 in Fiscal Year 2024, according to new data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2024 Annual Survey of School System Finances . The states with the highest current spending per pupil were New York ($31,918), the District of Columbia ($31,529), Vermont ($28,818), New Jersey ($27,234) and Connecticut ($26,316). The states spending the least per pupil were Idaho ($11,060), Utah ($11,347), Arizona ($12,003), Oklahoma ($12,162) and Mississippi ($12,324). Other highlights include that eight out of nine states in the Northeast region ranked among the top 10 in current per-pupil spending in Fiscal Year 2024; the remaining state in the region — Pennsylvania — ranked 12th. The South accounted for half of the 20 states with the lowest per-pupil spending. Miami-Dade, Florida ranked third among states per pupil amounts for current spending of the 100 largest public elementary-secondary school systems in the U.S. Among the 100 largest school systems (by enrollment), New York City School District in New York ($35,796) had the highest current expenditures per pupil in Fiscal Year 2024, followed by the District of Columbia Public Schools ($31,529), Atlanta School District in Georgia ($26,117), Los Angeles Unified in California ($25,631) and San Francisco Unified in California ($25,173).

In recent years, corequisite models have emerged as a promising alternative to the traditional prerequisite model as a means to help students stay in and graduate from college. In a prerequisite model, college students with developmental education needs are typically required to take a non-credit-bearing course before progressing to college-level courses. Under a corequisite model, students enroll in a college-level course and concurrently receive related academic support, often in the form of a separate course section. Many states and institutions are also reexamining how students are placed in courses, moving from standardized test-based placement policies to placement policies that incorporate multiple measures of academic preparedness, such as high school grade point average, high school course-taking patterns, and noncognitive assessments. This report explores eight community colleges across the country's current placement policies and develops and implements a new placement system. Key findings include that corequisite models aim to help students succeed in college through targeted support and skill building, but they can fall short of meeting the diverse needs of all learners. Researchers also found that revising placement policies at the participating colleges cost about $5 per student and consisted wholly of faculty and staff member time. Most of these one-time costs were associated with redesigning and implementing the new placement criteria for the first semester.

Scholars, education practitioners, and the media have raised concerns about the diminishing role of full books in schools. This report draws on data from the spring 2025 American Instructional Resources Survey, a nationally representative survey of public school teachers in kindergarten through grade 12, to examine the questions of whether secondary English language arts (ELA) teachers assign full books to students, how many books they assign, and how assignments vary by teachers’ curricula and context. Survey data suggest that most secondary ELA teachers did assign at least one full book to students during the 2024–25 school year. Survey results also suggest that full-book reading remains peripheral in most secondary ELA classrooms; 9% of teachers did not assign any full books, and about two-thirds of teachers assigned only one to four books. Teachers’ reports also suggest inequities in accessing full books: Teachers who served more historically disadvantaged students consistently assigned fewer full books—a pattern that begins as early as elementary school. On average, only about half of the assigned books came from teachers’ required or recommended curriculum materials, suggesting limited instructional resources for full-book instruction. Researchers offer several recommendations, including that curriculum developers could include more full books in ELA curricula, organizations that support curriculum selection should provide more information about which full books and how many books are in curricula, and literacy researchers should continue to investigate how full-book reading can enhance literacy instruction and student outcomes.

The U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) manages one of the largest property portfolios within the federal government. This includes over 700,000 facilities with a replacement value of about $2.2 trillion, as of Fiscal Year 2023. DOD has faced longstanding challenges in optimizing its use of this property. This report examines the extent to which the military services consistently and accurately report the use of their facilities and challenges they face in managing and, when appropriate, disposing of facilities at selected installations. The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) found that the military services have not fully followed guidance provided by DOD and are reporting inconsistent and inaccurate real property data. For example, the Air Force uses a standard methodology to calculate utilization rates for each facility, but the Navy and Marine Corps report average utilization rates across a set of similar facilities. The GAO also found that military services have taken steps to improve efficiency in managing space utilization within DOD real property. For example, the Army is piloting a tool to improve visibility of space utilization in properties measured by square footage. However, the services continue to face challenges in optimizing space given the need to support unexpected requirements and maintain temporary facilities. For example, some installations are using relocatable structures, such as trailers, to fulfill immediate needs until permanent facility space is identified. Lastly, other installations are maintaining older buildings at increased costs because replacement or demolition funds are insufficient, or because the buildings are historic and are required to be preserved.

In the U.S., about 11% of people ages 18 to 64 living in the community have a disability. Health conditions that cause disability can negatively affect the human capital development of children and the ability of adults to engage in the labor force. Adults ages 16 to 64 with disabilities have a substantially lower rate of labor force participation than their counterparts without disabilities. The low employment rate contributes to high rates of poverty among working-age adults with disabilities relative to their non-disabled peers. Numerous federal programs can help people who experience the onset of a disability establish, maintain, or return to economic self-sufficiency. This report presents a landscape of policies and programs available to people with disabilities, including information about who the programs serve and how their rules may help or hinder participants' progress towards economic self-sufficiency. Researchers found that despite the many programs that can support people with disabilities on a path to self-sufficiency, such programs highlight several systems-level challenges. These challenges include fragmentation of services, limited services to help workers stay connected to the labor force, low awareness, and structural disincentives associated with Supplemental Security Income and Social Security Disability insurance work incentives, and limited evidence on the effectiveness of programs supporting economic self-sufficiency for people with disabilities.

Reaching Independence through Survivor Empowerment (RISE) is a transitional-to-permanent housing program in the District of Columbia that provides survivors of domestic violence with safe housing, home-based case management, and referrals to government and community resources for services such as financial literacy training, employment counseling, and trauma-informed care. This brief offers exploratory insights into the effects of $500 monthly cash transfers on the well-being of parents and children in households participating in RISE. Service providers and scholars focused on improving survivor safety, stability, and autonomy and child well-being may further explore economic support services and policies for improving short- and long-term outcomes. Most of the participants reported spending the $500 monthly payment primarily on basic needs (e.g., food, clothing, and household items), utilities, transportation, and special things that enhance children’s lives or education (e.g., toys, uniforms, and afterschool activities).More participants were able to meet basic needs over the course of the program than at the start of the program. The number of participants reporting anxiety and depression dropped notably from the start of the program to the one-year follow-up. However, at the two-year exit, improvements in anxiety had faded, while improvements in depression had diminished but remained. This may be due to concerns about the impending loss of cash assistance. More participants reported that their children received the child care and health care they needed within the last 30 days at the one-year follow-up and the two-year exit than at the start of the program.

Poor sleep health (including sleep difficulties) has been linked to detrimental health conditions, including obesity and depression. The American Academy of Sleep Medicine recommends at least 7 hours of sleep or more in a 24-hour period for adults, but more than one-quarter of American adults sleep less than 7 hours. Sleep health may also be impacted by sleep difficulties, including having trouble falling or staying asleep. Key findings from this report include that in 2024, 30.5% of adults slept less than 7 hours on average in a 24-hour period. Asian non-Hispanic adults (61.5%) were more likely to wake up well-rested compared with other race and Hispanic-origin groups. The percentage of adults who had trouble falling asleep decreased with increasing age, from 18.3% among adults ages 18–34 to 12.8% among adults 65 and older. Women were more likely to have trouble staying asleep compared with men.

Family caregivers are a foundational, yet under-recognized, part of the U.S. health care system. As the older population grows, the need to recognize them as part of the health care team and provide them with support increases. Caregiver Training Services (CTS) under Medicare represent a new avenue for supporting family caregivers. CTS are structured, condition-specific training interventions provided by health care providers to equip family caregivers with the skills and knowledge needed to safely and effectively care for someone with a medical condition. In 2024, the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services introduced CTS billing codes in the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule, establishing a formal reimbursement pathway for providers who deliver CTS as part of care for Medicare beneficiaries. This report examines the early adoption of CTS codes in Medicare and explores the policy, operational, and cultural shifts necessary to increase their adoption and maximize their effectiveness. Key findings include that CTS code utilization is limited. Many stakeholders reported still becoming familiar with codes and how to use them. In addition, there are five key enablers for CTS code adoption across health care payers, providers, and other stakeholders: clear guidance and communication, open access, aligned incentives, integrated infrastructure, and provider capacity.

Twelve million Indian adolescents live in slums, where access to mental health care is limited, a problem compounded by multiple stressors. The present trial seeks to address a critical gap in extant research involving community-based adolescent mental health care with a specific focus on low- and middle-income countries. Specifically, this trial uses a multimedia anti-stigma campaign against stigma related to mental illness directed to adolescents and a primary care health worker–led digital intervention to identify and treat adolescents at high risk of depression or self-harm. Sixty slums participated, yielding a total study cohort of 3,739 adolescents, 1,761 (47.1%) of whom were at high risk of depression or self-harm. Researchers found that behavior scores (assessed via anticipated behavior toward others with mental illness) were higher (suggestive of improvement) at 12 months in the intervention vs control clusters. Researchers also found that among those at high risk of depression or self-harm, remission was higher at 12 months in the intervention vs control clusters, but the difference was not significant. The findings demonstrate that the anti-stigma campaign positively impacted knowledge, attitude, and anticipated behavior related to mental health among adolescents, and the model of training primary care professionals had a positive impact on mental health outcomes.