For over 100 years, Cooperative Extension has served communities through local Extension agents with expertise in such topics as agriculture, youth development, and family and community health. In 2008, the Oregon State University Extension Service launched a pilot (Open Campus and Juntos) to broaden Extension's reach by placing agents with…

State postsecondary education data systems are vital assets for policymakers, researchers, and the public. The State Higher Education Executive Officers Association's (SHEEO) Communities of Practice project builds upon SHEEO's efforts to measure the capacity and effective use of state postsecondary data systems and provides states with…

The study evaluates the location and prominence of Chicana/o/x Studies courses on community college campuses nationally according to their websites and public-facing resources through content analysis methodology. To date, the research on Chicana/o/x Studies and on Ethnic Studies programs in community colleges, in general, has been limited, so…

Studies have shown that student engagement in undergraduate research experiences leads to considerable gains in a wide range of skills important for success in postsecondary education and career development. However, recent research suggests that high-impact practices like undergraduate research are disproportionately available to students from…

Despite focused efforts by many colleges and universities, the racial and ethnic composition of college faculty has not increased significantly in more than twenty years. To provide an educational environment that promotes the success of students of color, it is imperative to develop structures that promote the retention and success of faculty of…

In this study, we sought to contribute to research about the high-impact practice of undergraduate research from the understudied faculty perspective. We relied on focus group data from faculty members (N = 41) across five institutions to better understand the supporting and inhibiting factors that contribute to faculty members' engagement in…

A striking convergence of research, documentation, commentary, and policy in the past five years strongly suggests that an almost exclusive focus on academic knowledge and skills is an incomplete solution. Additional behaviors, skills, and mindsets--sometimes called metacognitive skills or 21st-century skills--are just as necessary for academic…

This issue of "Policy Insights" provides a review of the past five years of the cost and value of higher education, which have gained increased policymaker, consumer, and media attention. The Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education (WICHE) has worked with four of its member states (Hawai'i, Idaho, Oregon, and Washington) to…

This report provides a new resource for understanding the state of urban public schools in the U.S. Geared specifically toward city leaders who want to evaluate how well traditional district and charter schools are serving all their city's children and how their schools compare to those in other cities, the report measures outcomes for all public…

The nature of the American academic workforce has fundamentally shifted over the past several decades. Whereas full-time tenured and tenure-track faculty were once the norm, more than two-thirds of the professoriate in non-profit postsecondary education is now comprised of non-tenure-track faculty. New hires across all institutional types are now…

The nation's 1,200 community colleges are well positioned to strengthen the workforce of one of America's most critical sectors--health care. They can provide training and credentialing for incumbent workers in health care and to prepare new workers to succeed in and meet the workforce demands for this sector--expanding individual opportunity and…

Postsecondary education has been linked to improved access to employment opportunities for individuals with and without disabilities. The purpose of this study was to determine factors associated with increased employment outcomes for Vocational Rehabilitation consumers enrolled in community college short term occupational skill training programs.…

If there's one quality that WICHE's home region, the West, is famous for, it's endurance in the face of crisis. And if there's another, it's the ability to find--and make--opportunities even in tough times. Over the last fiscal year, WICHE has done just that. The organization has been highly successful in terms of developing new projects and…

While the Milwaukee region's economic base is rooted in its manufacturing history, many believe that the region's future prosperity will be tied to its ability to successfully transition its economy into one that is based on knowledge and innovation. Indeed, fostering innovation has become the call to action for business and political leaders…

The Pathways to Advancement initiative was launched by the National Governors Association Center for Best Practices (NGA Center) to help governors and their policy advisors examine options and develop strategies for expanding working adults' access to and completion of postsecondary education. In September 2003, the NGA Center issued a request for…