Performance funding in higher education ties state funding directly to institutional performance on specific indicators, such as rates of retention, graduation, and job placement. One of the great puzzles about performance funding is that it has been both popular and unstable. Between 1979 and 2007, 26 states enacted it, but 14 of those states…

This qualitative research study was based on interviews with 17 persons who had traditional-age undergraduate students currently attending college. The purpose was to explore the parents' perception of the parent-student relationship regarding their degree of parental involvement with their college students' experiences and to explore if that…

The Department of Education oversees various programs to help students pay for the costs of postsecondary education. This Congressional Budget Office (CBO) study focuses on the two largest student loan programs created under the authority of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (as amended): (1) The Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL) program, which…

Since the adoption of Georgia's HOPE (Helping Outstanding Pupils Educationally) scholarship program, seven additional Southeastern states have adopted similar merit-based financial aid programs, most of which are also funded by state lotteries. This study examines why North Carolina after adopting a state lottery in 2005 did not allocate its…

Over the past three decades policymakers have been seeking new ways to secure improved performance from higher education institutions. One popular approach has been performance funding, which involves use of a formula to tie funding to institutional performance on specified indicators. This report reviews findings from studies on performance…

Standardized tests are often required to gain admission into postsecondary schools or to obtain professional certifications. Federal disability laws, such as the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) require entities that administer these tests to provide accommodations, such as extended time or changes in test format, to students with…

As policymakers consider strategies to increase college completion and further economic growth, it is critical that statewide longitudinal data systems be viewed as a necessary tool. This report highlights the role of data systems in improving the completion of postsecondary education, and provides recommendations and tangible examples for…

In order to gain access to accommodations and services at colleges and universities, students with learning disabilities must provide documentation of their disabilities, and as students with learning disabilities access higher education at increasing rates, the need for documentation of their disabilities and its impact becomes even more…

Transition into college for students with disabilities has been written about extensively over the past decade, due in part to legislative mandates implemented at the secondary level. With significant increases in the number of these students in the college population, a focus on their transition through college is imperative to improve retention…

Beginning in March 2012, my public scholarship with deported and returning young adults originated from an ethnographic and oral history framework based upon participant research action methodology (Seidman 2006). In collaboration with the Asamblea Popular de Familias Migrantes (APOFAM), I began to meet with groups of returning and deported young…

With limited resources and fiscal strain, it is more important than ever for states and school districts to use available funds for education as efficiently and productively as possible. This is even more true today in order to educate young people to a higher standard of true readiness for college or career. This paper reviews both economic and…

This book tracks the dramatic outcomes of the federal government's growing involvement in higher education between World War I and the 1970s, and the conservative backlash against that involvement from the 1980s onward. Using cutting-edge analysis, Christopher Loss recovers higher education's central importance to the larger social and political…

Recounting the controversy surrounding a town hall meeting on "illegal" Latino immigration at a two-year college in North Georgia, this ethnographic narrative details the aftermath that ensued and its consequences for an ESL basic writing instructor. Fallout included the potential loss of her job, the rumored reallocation of a $5 million…

The transition out of high school to postsecondary education or the workforce can be a challenging time, especially for students with disabilities. Multiple federal agencies fund programs to support these students during their transition. In 2003, GAO reported that limited coordination among these programs can hinder a successful transition. GAO…

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) mandates the implementation of a behavior intervention plan based on a functional behavioral assessment when a student's behavior necessitates disciplinary actions. However, IDEA does not provide any clear guidelines as to what the plans should contain nor how they can address behaviors that…