The Chemical Engineering graduate program at the University of Michigan implemented a peer mentoring program for PhD students, with the goal of fostering department inclusivity and improved academic outcomes through facilitated social and academic activities in diverse, small groups. In this article, we detail the peer mentoring program…

Guided by a bottom-up policy implementation framework, this study draws from semi-structured interviews of 14 campus-level administrators charged with implementing diversity policy at the University of Michigan to investigate how an affirmative action ban (Proposal 2) influenced their efforts in support of racial/ethnic diversity at the…

This article presents the results of an analysis of reported interlocutors in Spanish in a group of heritage speakers (HS), in three communities of the US Midwest. Participants were college-aged bilinguals developing their own personal and professional networks outside the direct influence of their parents. Responses are compared with those from…

This report documents the efforts underway in 12 states and localities to tackle the enduring problem of African American, Native American, and Latino families faring worse than others being served by the child welfare systems. The publication, produced by Center for the Study of Social Policy (CSSP) as part of the work of the Alliance for Racial…

This study examines the impact of affirmative action bans in six states (California, Washington, Florida, Texas, Michigan, and Nebraska) on the matriculation rates of historically underrepresented students of color in public medical schools in these states. Findings show that affirmative action bans have led to about a 17% decline (from 18.5% to…

Business leaders in Michigan cannot find the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) talent they need to stay competitive. Students' lagging performance in K-12 is a critical reason why. The good news is that the nation's most effective STEM education programs can help turn the tide. Yet there is much work to do. Students have made…

This article focuses on the increased power of venture philanthropy to shape education in urban communities of color in the USA. The author situates venture philanthropy's expanded influence in urban school districts in the nexus of urban disinvestment, neoliberal governance, wealth concentration, and economic crisis. The author argues that…

The College Ambition Program (CAP) is designed to encourage low-income and minority students to enroll in college. The following analysis presents updated results from my AERA presidential talk in 2014. Results indicate that CAP, which is a schoolwide intervention, increased college attendance for low-income and minority students in seven…

Black males are scarce on White campuses. Still, they experience hypervisibility and are targets of hypersurveillance. This study used focus groups and semi-structured interviews to examine the experiences of 36 Black male students attending seven "elite" historically White Research I institutions. Two themes emerged: (a) anti-Black male…

This article explores the promises and pitfalls of using National Student Clearinghouse (NSC) data to measure a variety of postsecondary outcomes. We first describe the history of the NSC, the basic structure of its data, and recent research interest in using NSC data. Second, using information from the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data…

Using critical policy analysis focused on racial-ethnic equity, this study analyses state policy documents and accountability instruments governing transfer from 2-year colleges to 4-year institutions in the following states: California, Florida, Texas, Michigan, Minnesota, Washington, and Wisconsin. Based on data collected in 2009, the findings…

This report calls upon Michigan's state leaders to quickly develop and implement solution-based approaches to both support the long-term recovery of student learning, as well as address the longstanding inequities and underperformance that have plagued Michigan's education system for decades. Building upon last year's recommendations, which called…

This paper considers the determinants of student participation in Michigan's large inter-district open enrollment system, known as Schools of Choice (SoC). Employing a rich dataset from the Michigan Department of Education, we examine the population of public school students in resident and non-resident school districts between the 2005-06 and…

Expanding and diversifying the STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) workforce is a national priority. The National Science Foundation is investing efforts at post secondary education institutions to engage individuals who have been historically underrepresented in STEM. This paper investigated the use of strategies to broaden…

In little more than a decade, Michigan has gone from being a fairly average state, to among the nation's bottom ten states in essential measures for student learning. It's a devastating fall, and students of color and low-income students--long poorly served by the state--are suffering the most from the system's terribly low performance. Governor…