The COVID-19 pandemic has posed an unprecedented education equity crisis in California. K-12 schools continue to remain closed and it is yet unclear if they will re open in the fall. Similarly, the University of California and California's Community Colleges have not yet announced a systemwide decision, but the California State University's…

This guide outlines the careful considerations and illustrative cases that help board members and campus leaders better understand the flash points surrounding freedom of speech, academic freedom, and the tensions between these free expression rights and diversity, equity, and inclusion in the present campus environment. It offers governing boards…

The COVID-19 pandemic has posed an unprecedented education equity crisis in California. Since mid-March, almost all California schools and colleges have closed in response to the pandemic, requiring education leaders and administrators to stretch their resources to create or improve distance learning plans, support students' basic needs, and…

While issues of higher education access, opportunity, and impact are hotly debated on the floors of Congress and in state legislatures, it is the state's higher education executive officer (SHEEO) who is expected to be an innovative policymaker, an astute political actor, an all-seeing fortune-teller, and a rapid problem-solver. These…

The focus of this brief is on the education of unaccompanied immigrant children arriving from Central America and Mexico, fleeing violence and poverty in their countries. Upon arrival, these children encounter a complicated immigration legal system, while having to navigate a new society within an anti-immigrant sociopolitical context. In recent…

The increasing need for highly-skilled employees in the workplace has policymakers and higher education leaders focused on innovative ways for students to access postsecondary education. These access points can include online programs, prior learning assessments and, the subject of this snapshot, competency-based education. The National Center for…

For the past 12 years, the Cowen Institute has published the "State of Public Education in New Orleans" ("SPENO") on a near annual basis. During that time, the purpose, content, and audience of the report have evolved. This edition of the report is a snapshot of public education in the current academic year using aggregated…

The work of state higher education system boards is changing. By "system boards," the author means governing boards for all of higher education in a state, governing boards for certain kinds of institutions (such as the Louisiana Community and Technical College System and the California State University system), and state coordinating agencies…

This study examines the role of governors in the P-16 education reform movement through their influence in the adoption of policies creating statewide P-16 councils. Network theory is used to distill three sets of hypotheses to predict how leadership influences of governors, the structure of state educational governance organizations, and…