In Indiana, higher education and postsecondary degrees are not accessible to all. Indiana is one of eight states with legislation specifically prohibiting offering in-state tuition rates and state financial aid to immigrant students not legally residing in the country. (U.S. 2023). This makes college unaffordable for thousands of undocumented…

Over the past two years, the Indiana affiliate's Government Relations Committee (GRC) has undergone a metamorphosis. As co-chair, the author has had the opportunity to witness the once largely inactive committee grow by 250 percent. The affiliate has embraced storytelling as an important advocacy tool. In this article, the author shares a couple…

The Indiana Department of Education's (IDOE's) Accessibility and Accommodations Information for Statewide Assessments is intended for school-level personnel and decision-making teams as they prepare for and implement Indiana statewide assessments. Information is provided for school personnel as a reference to inform guidance on universal features,…

The National Center for Higher Education Management Systems (NCHEMS) and MHEC were awarded a competitive grant from the American Institutes for Research in 2019 as part of its National Research Collaborative on Postsecondary Competency-based Education and Learning (cberesearch.org). The grant objective was to specifically identify state policies…

Purpose: To systematically examine the institutional values and campus recreational policies and practices of all Big 10 institutions to determine whether equitable physical activity opportunities are being provided. Approach: Websites were systematically searched, and data extracted were analyzed using thematic analysis. Findings: Community…

University education partners have great potential to facilitate schools' moving from a school led traditional approach for family involvement to an asset based, empowerment approach to partnerships. On this journey, educators grapple with the cognitive dissonance of change as they engage their emerging multilingual families in the lives of their…

Addressing the widespread problem of sexual assault in college environments requires both prevention programming and policies addressing sexual misconduct in institutions of higher education. Through the Campus Sexual Assault Policy and Prevention Initiative, nine programs funded by the Office on Women's Health approached this problem within a…

In late 2020, Indiana's Ivy Tech Community College participated in a national study of community college workforce education. Indiana was one of 14 states where education authorities encouraged colleges to respond early enough in 2020 to receive preliminary statewide results in January 2021. This brief compares Indiana to the 14 states in this…

The purpose of this historical examination is to first understand the context of United States affirmative action legislation and its importance. It provides a spotlight on Indiana University Bloomington (IUB) during the civil rights movement and what led to the creation of policies that would forever impact the institutional makeup of IUB.…

With its focus on evidence-based instruction, the science of reading (SOR) is crucial to ensuring all students unlock strong literacy skills, the foundation for future success. This Spotlight will help readers get up to speed with the latest state initiatives; review a reading comprehension glossary highlighting the key components for success;…

Guided pathways are emerging as a strategy to help students complete a credential in a timely manner by encouraging or requiring them to select a program, and develop a degree plan or map, on a specified timeline. At a minimum, institutions may ask students to identify a meta-major, which is a broad area of academic programs with related courses…

Despite the importance of teachers, the preparation programs intended to train them and provide them with the foundational skills they need to grow into high-quality educators vary in format, curriculum offered, quality, and more. Alternative teacher certification programs that are run outside of institutions of higher education (IHE) are an…

As of 2011, 31 million adults in the United States had some college credit but had not earned a postsecondary credential, defined in this brief as a near-completer. This brief provides an overview of the 2017 near-completer policy landscape and a detailed review of three states implementing innovative outreach to this population. State example…

States are coordinating with two-year institutions on workforce programming for unemployed or underemployed residents. Reskilling residents is especially vital for states that endured historic unemployment rates as a result of COVID-19-related layoffs. Nationally, the federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES) is making…

Teacher shortages in some regions, schools and content areas have caused states to consider fast-tracking teachers into the classroom through avenues that include little or no clinical preparation. Teachers who enter the profession through these pathways are less likely to be prepared, less effective and less likely to remain in the profession…