This document is the first of a semi-annual "stocktaking" publication to analyze various political trends impacting education and young people. Bellwether hopes to help the field separate signal from noise and provide context around various issues and trends affecting the sector. The impact of COVID-19 school closures on schools and…

In the largest U.S. metropolitan areas, suburban school districts enroll 14.4 million students, far more than the 6 million students enrolled in the same metros' urban districts. In fact, students enrolled in the suburban school districts surrounding the 25 largest metropolitan areas represent roughly 30% of the nation's entire public school…

This poll was conducted between October 7-9, 2022 among a sample of 2,200 adults. The interviews were conducted online and the data were weighted to approximate a target sample of adults based on gender, educational attainment, age, race, and region. Among the key findings are: (1) School parents are much more pessimistic about how their friends'…

This poll was conducted between March 7-10, 2024 among a sample of 2,252 Adults. The interviews were conducted online and the data were weighted to approximate a target sample of Adults based on gender, educational attainment, age, race, and region. Results based on the full survey have a measure of precision of plus or minus 2.41 percentage…

The coronavirus pandemic has altered schooling in unprecedented ways. As schools moved rapidly from in-person instruction to remote learning in early 2020, educators and policymakers faced a host of new challenges. They had to deliver online instruction, try to ensure students had access to the internet and devices, and address the…

Policymakers and experts overwhelmingly agree that the United States needs more people with college degrees or other postsecondary credentials and are working on many fronts to fulfill that goal. This brief aims to help them do so in ways that are informed by and responsive to the needs and perspectives of the American public. This brief…

Higher education in the United Kingdom is undergoing a period of significant change. This is being driven by a number of factors: political, cultural, economic, and technological. The trends are global in their scope, and far reaching in their impact. They affect every aspect of university provision, the environment in which universities operate,…

Policymakers are beginning to take note of the fiscal problems in teacher retirement systems. States have recently taken action by raising retirement ages, lowering benefit payments, and reducing cost-of-living adjustments. These are small steps toward shoring up the system to help ensure that it remains sustainable in the future. But the problems…

How pronounced is income inequality around the world--and how can education help reduce it? This paper reports the following: (1) Across OECD (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development) countries, the average income of the richest 10% of the population was about nine times that of the poorest 10% before the onset of the global economic…

This policy brief focuses on the School District of Philadelphia's high school selection process and the ways in which it reinforces and compounds inequities that already exist among the District's tiered system of selective, non-selective, and charter high schools. Focused in particular on the impact that these policies have on non-selective…

This study examined partisan elections in large urban school districts in Canada. It investigated the extent to which the existence of political parties in a school board election serves to aggregate the educational attitudes and opinions of candidates. Also, it investigated the extent to wbich political parties aggregate differences in the…

For the 1999 fiscal year, Congress earmarked specific spending measures that included at least $797 million for projects involving colleges and universities, a 51% increase over 1998. Earmarks are seen by some as inequitable because they are not subject to competitive, merit-based reviews typically used by federal agencies to distribute money for…

Presents a comprehensive conceptual and empirical analysis of nonreturn among foreign college students in the United States. Constructs nonreturn rates for 69 source countries, using U.S Immigration and Naturalization Service microdata. The variation in nonreturn rates across source countries is explained by differing economic and political…

During the Reagan and Bush administrations, many foundations supported causes they thought were being ignored by Washington. Now many of those causes are finding support in the Clinton administration, and foundations are turning to other issues. A ranking of the 50 largest foundations, based on 1991 grants and assets, is provided. (MSE)

The responses to 46 state commissioners of higher education, or the equivalent officers, on questions concerning tuition policies are tabulated, including reasons used to justify tuition increases and holds, areas of greatest concern for cost and productivity, and the most likely areas for improving higher education productivity. (MSE)