What is the impact of the minimum wage on the college wage premium? I show that job-ladder models imply that the effect should be small on impact--raising only the wages of workers bound by the minimum wage--and grow over time as workers slowly move up the job ladder. Guided by my theory, I present evidence that these dynamic effects are present…

Literature on returns to education and labour market outcomes has been increasingly focusing on skill missmatch with regard to migrants' integration and adaptation processes. Researchers have studied the efficacy of official validation of prior skills as well as participation in training and vocational programmes as valid resources to expand…

This paper aims to identify neighborhood institutional resources (e.g., nonprofit organizations, libraries, and labor market conditions) that promote Mexican-origin high school students' progress in the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) pathway into postsecondary education. A nationally representative, longitudinal sample of…

Some say that there are too many people going to university, and others have spent many years lamenting that they cannot find the graduates they need. What is the actual state of the graduate labour market? How many graduates actually are there? How is a graduate job defined, and how many people are there in them? And what does the future hold for…

In this article, we draw from a recent empirical study to consider how a person's classed trajectory impacts students from different class backgrounds in higher education (HE). Students face rapidly evolving social and academic circumstances and must build reasonable strategies to navigate their trajectory from education to work. In these…

In a prior study, MDRC researchers found that Small Schools of Choice, a SIG-approved high school reform initiative, markedly and consistently increased high school graduation rates in New York City when it was implemented in 100+ high schools between 2002 and 2008. A four-year follow-up study found that the initiative increased students'…

Existing research generally confirms a countercyclical education enrollment, whereby youths seek shelter in the educational system to avoid hardships in the labor market: the "discouraged worker" thesis. Alternatively, the "encouraged worker" thesis predicts that economic downturns steer individuals away from education because…

Card and Krueger (1992a,b) used labor market outcomes to study the productivity of school spending. Following their lead, we examine effects of post-1990 school finance reforms on students' educational attainment and labor market outcomes. Using a state-by-cohort panel design, we find that reforms increased high school completion and…

All students deserve to attend programs and institutions that meet high quality standards. But different program goals, investments of time, and eligibility criteria make it difficult to set specific standards that will apply equally well to all types of programs and institutions. This report sets out principles for developing an accountability…

The Council for Adult and Experiential Learning (CAEL) developed the Adult Learner Leaders for Institutional Effectiveness (ALLIES) Framework to help guide institutional policies and practices in their work to support adult learners. This document begins by describing the Framework's series of planning and operational domains through which…

The past year highlighted and heightened California's key challenges. Millions of Californians lost jobs and income during the COVID-19 crisis; low-income families, communities of color, and women were hit hardest. As schools and universities shifted rapidly to remote learning, educators and parents scrambled to provide all students with…