Init2Winit, a gamified mobile application designed to increase students' alignment knowledge between college, career, and salary expectations has been beta-tested in midwestern urban and rural U.S. high schools (age 14-18). Students earn different points in the game when their educational expectations and expected annual income are matched with…

There are hundreds of recognized tuition-free college "promise" programs, but few are as generous or flexible as the Kalamazoo Promise (KPromise). Pre-COVID studies on KPromise have demonstrated effects on increased college attendance, credit completion, and persistence. Extending these findings to the COVID-19 pandemic context can help…

I conduct a statewide experiment in Michigan with nearly 50,000 high-achieving high school seniors. Treated students are mailed a letter encouraging them to consider college and providing them with the web address of a college information website. I find that very high-achieving, low-income students, and very high-achieving, minority students are…

This paper examines the effects of requiring and paying for all public high school students to take a college entrance exam, a policy adopted by eleven states since 2001. I show that prior to the policy, for every ten poor students who score college-ready on the ACT or SAT, there are an additional five poor students who would score college-ready…

Postsecondary early awareness strategies are a fast-growing component of college access to attainment efforts. Broadly defined, these programs and policies encourage low-income and first-generation students to gain the information, skills, and resources they need to successfully take part in higher education. They focus on students in fifth…

In the United States, approximately 65 percent of all jobs in 2020 will require some level of postsecondary education, and the demand will reach 70 percent in Michigan. This report seeks to inform public discourse on higher education by providing key performance indicators relevant to the goal of improving educational attainment for a healthy…

In the United States, approximately 65 percent of all jobs in 2020 will require some level of postsecondary education, and the demand will reach 68 percent in Iowa. This report seeks to inform public discourse on higher education by providing key performance indicators relevant to the goal of improving educational attainment for a healthy economy…

A gender gap in alcohol and drug use exists but is somewhat smaller than the gender gap in other forms of delinquency. This article extends studies that examine the gender-delinquency relationship to substance use in particular and estimate the extent to which major risk and protective factors mediate the association between gender and alcohol and…

This dissertation consists of three chapters that examine the effects of school and students improvement interventions. The first chapter investigates whether, for whom, and under which conditions high school mathematics and science course graduation requirements (CGRs) affect student achievement and educational attainment. Drawing on data from…

This project represents the beginning of a partnership between the State of Michigan and researchers at the University of Michigan and Michigan State Michigan. The partnership is formalized as the Michigan Consortium for Educational Research (MCER). The goal of MCER is to engage key stakeholders and experts in high quality education research for…

In the United States, approximately 65 percent of all jobs in 2020 will require some level of postsecondary education, and the demand will reach 70 percent in Michigan. This report seeks to inform public discourse on higher education by providing key performance indicators relevant to the goal of improving educational attainment in Michigan.…

Nations other than the U.S. elicit better performance from their students through the use of high-stakes graduation exams. Along these same lines, Michigan now links college scholarships to high school test results. Michigan has rejected the use of minimum-competency exams, largely because it wanted the state's high-school test to reflect more…

In this report, the Education Commissioner discusses the office's work, with a list of its publications. The Commissioner of Education also presents summary data and discussion on the census related to education and on illiteracy among minors as taken from the census; school age, population, enrollment, and attendance; teacher workforce, salaries,…