Art research collections continue to be impacted by the lingering effects of economic uncertainty and the global COVID-19 pandemic, which resulted in reduced or stagnant budgets and staffing cuts. These impacts have coincided with a period of institutional reflection and examination of the fundamental role of cultural heritage institutions in…

The Massachusetts Innovation Schools initiative authorized educators to operate with increased autonomy and flexibility. This descriptive case study examines the early experiences of teachers in one innovation school. We explore the innovations teachers leveraged to build capacity, with particular attention to how they enacted teacher leadership…

Over the past decades, universities have been at the forefront of establishing ambitious goals for decarbonizing campuses. While there are many variables in how to advance energy efficiency in the campus-built environment, some universities have taken the strategic approach of combining energy efforts with the heavy maintenance and upkeep needs of…

This case study describes the dynamics of a literacy curriculum that was collaboratively designed at a community language school. The curriculum teaches participants how to get a driver's license in Massachusetts, focusing on the English language literacies necessary for passing the written and road tests. This case study describes the…

This study aims to discuss the adaptive challenge, and bridge the gap between theory and practice in design education. From now on, navigating design communities through the new era is a significant issue facing global competition and pluralistic society. First, this study reviews the essential evolution of design theories in the past few decades…

This brief from the Region 2 Comprehensive Center, in consultation with the New York State Education Department, presents seven state case studies that illustrate the implementation of performance-based assessments. It contributes to the growing research on performance-based assessment, highlighting specific state-level policies that include…

Background/Context: Several studies have investigated state political and economic factors that explain differences in levels of state appropriations for colleges and universities. Few studies have considered how stakeholder beliefs or taken-forgranted assumptions about various institutions may impact budgeting decisions for specific campuses. A…

Recent research shows personal financial debt is an important socioeconomic determinant of health, but the mechanisms through which it operates are not well understood. This article uses data from a mixed-methods study to explore how changes in spending and behavior that result from debt have salient health consequences in a cross-sectional sample…

Disruptions associated with the COVID-19 pandemic introduced opportunities for PK-12 education systems to accelerate evidence-based innovations that may better prepare students to pursue their educational and career goals. Thoughtfully designed pathways--the programs and experiences that students complete to satisfy graduation requirements--can…

Despite the importance of trustees for higher education institutions, few studies address how they influence the institutions they steward. To address this gap, we used a social network approach within a comparative case study design to evaluate how trustees interacted with two private, elite universities: Harvard University and the Massachusetts…

We present a programmatic approach to incorporating ethics into an undergraduate major in statistical and data sciences. We discuss departmental-level initiatives designed to meet the National Academy of Sciences recommendation for integrating ethics into the curriculum from top-to-bottom as our majors progress from our introductory courses to our…

Economics does not attract as broad or diverse a pool of talent as it could. For example, women comprise less than one-third of economics bachelor's degree recipients, significantly lower than in math or statistics. The authors present a case study of a new introductory economics course that enrolled 400 students, achieved nearly 50-50 gender…

Food insecurity among low income students has increased during COVID-19, and could persist for months or years for students saddled with educational debt or facing uncertain unemployment. Access to Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits for children has a proven effect on reducing childhood food insecurity, and when students…

Since the 1920, colleges and universities have leveraged standardized testing as a way to determine worthiness of access to higher education. Nearly 100 years since its first appearance, the use of standardized testing has become commonplace despite the growing evidence of the socioeconomic and racial disparities among test takers. While some high…

Capstone projects serve as the centerpiece for an assessment system that values problem-solving and frames assessment as learning opportunities for students and teachers. Every January and May for one week, Chelsea High School, in Chelsea, Massachusetts, breaks from their traditional, four- periods-a-day bell schedule and the fast pace of a…