Students enter postsecondary institutions to change their lives in some way, with degree pursuits providing opportunities to grow academically, socially, and professionally. However, significant numbers of students are unable to meet the goals they had set for themselves when they entered college. Developed by the What Works Clearinghouse™ (WWC)…

At its most effective, advising is a collaborative process between a student and an advisor designed to help the student realize their educational potential. Most postsecondary institutions have historically used advisors to help students select and register for courses, but postsecondary institutions are increasingly asking advisors to play an…

STEAM education can be described in two ways. One model emphasizes the arts and is not as concerned about the accuracy of the STEM fields. In the second model, STEM content is the prevailing force with a focus on accuracy, and the arts are used in limited and secondary resources for the teaching of the content. However, in order to promote…

The WICHE Cooperative for Educational Technologies (WCET) has long been interested in multi-institutional consortia and systems that help their member institutions share resources with the goal of increasing the institutional capacity for technology-enhanced courses, programs, and student support services. WCET's Consortia Group has focused on the…

Competing in a new global economy is a top national priority. Citing declining student performance in core subjects, policymakers are calling for solutions that give students an edge. The Association of American Educators (AAE) knows that a growing network of professional educators will be instrumental in building the bridge between sweeping…

In early 2015, this author wrote an article for "The New England Journal of Higher Education," titled "Living with Abundant Information: What's a College to Do?" In that article, he described the sources and impact on colleges and universities of newly developed abundant information, elaborating on five areas that an…

The COVID-19 pandemic has revealed the reality of life in all aspects of human endeavors. The education sector was not spared--the school system was uprooted and procedures had to be made quickly for the safety of students and faculty. As a result, educators struggled with keeping students engaged academically during online learning and the stress…

This Semiannual Report presents the activities and accomplishments of the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Inspector General (OIG) from April 1, 2022, through September 30, 2022. The report highlights the audits, investigations, and related work issued during this time frame. Sections include: (1) Pandemic Relief Oversight; (2) Disaster…

Neither a traditional college education nor specific occupational training is enough to ensure long-term career success. Today, individuals also need workplace experience before they enter the labor market on their own, to prepare them to navigate the world of work. COVID-19 has put the availability of these critical career readiness experiences…

Schools watch their students. Nearly every responsibility that schools shoulder includes an element of surveillance--from ensuring that preschoolers do not wander off, to keeping third graders on task, to stopping bullying and sexting. These responsibilities are not new, but schools' increased ability to monitor students continuously is. Despite…

Interested in managing existing work-based learning schemes by incorporating monitoring and evaluation methods? Following a brief discussion of the concept of work-based learning, this handbook presents the rationale for monitoring and evaluation as part of good governance. The functioning of work-based learning schemes is represented by a process…

The UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning (UIL) has just published its fifth policy brief, entitled "Making Large-Scale Literacy Campaigns and Programmes Work." The brief provides policymakers with a set of recommendations based on an analysis of adult literacy campaigns and programmes that took place around the world between 2000 and…

As part of both the 2020 Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES) and the recently passed 2021 Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act (CRRSA), the U.S. Department of Education (USED) made available almost $4.2 billion for the Governor's Emergency Education Relief Fund (GEER). Governors across the nation…

The 2016 Education Choice and Competition Index (ECCI) is the fifth release of an annual compilation of data on the condition of K-12 school choice in the geographical areas served by the nation's 100 largest school districts. The ECCI captures information on: (1) the extent of choice; (2) the characteristics of the process by which parents and…

When the COVID-19 pandemic forced the closure of schools across the nation, many K-12 schools moved from in-person to remote education, increasing their dependence on IT and making them potentially more vulnerable to cyberattacks. Education Facilities, including K-12 schools, is one of the nation's critical infrastructure subsectors. Several…