Background/Context: Postsecondary education plays a central role in income and wealth mobility (Chetty et al., 2017) and in buffering individuals from the negative effects of economic downturns (see recent evidence from BLS, 2019; BLS, 2020). Much of the policy and programmatic focus around college completion has centered on increasing the share…

The Covid-19 pandemic has vividly illustrated the centrality of frontline workers to the everyday functioning of the American economy and daily life. But while some articles have mentioned the high proportion of immigrant workers in these roles, there has been much less attention paid to the high number of English learners in particular. The…

Virginia's LEAF Program incorporates educational opportunities with heritage experiences and technology to advance forestry education in the Commonwealth. Statewide heritage-based outdoor classrooms use an integrated outdoor learning system to provide both formal and informal education. Online learning modules are coupled with the classrooms to…

To fulfill their religious and educational missions, PS-12 Christian schools should properly equip teachers to design and deliver instruction of the highest quality that incorporates sound pedagogical approaches. Research indicates that a key element for making this happen in classrooms is to offer professional development opportunities that…

Nationally adjunct faculty comprise almost 70% of all two-year institution faculty while in the Virginia Community College System (VCCS) adjunct faculty teach 60% of the community college courses, and should past trends continue, the number of adjunct faculty members is expected to grow 10% within the next fifteen years (Caliber, 2007; Phillipe…

The Virginia Tidewater Consortium's effort to reach out to the community began twenty-seven years ago when it received an Educational Opportunity Center (EOC) grant from the U.S. Department of Education. The EOC was specifically designed to work with adults from low socioeconomic backgrounds, most of them minorities. In southeastern Virginia,…

This paper provides an overview of MDC's Connecting People to Jobs program, which uses a partnership approach to move people into living-wage jobs. The paper includes lessons learned and recommendations for grantmakers. (Contains 11 footnotes.)