SEERNet is a network of Digital Learning Platforms, researchers, and practitioners with the vision to leverage DLPs as research infrastructure, enabling researchers to ask and answer important questions about learning in ways that are grounded in realistic, widespread use of learning technologies. A first wave of work established the foundation…

While the scope of a transition toward renewable energy, and away from fossil fuels, as well as other sustainable economic practices is daunting, the United States has recently begun to obtain policy momentum in the push to decouple economic activity from greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. A suite of recent federal laws, as well as state and local…

Early childhood researchers from across the U.S. came together to form the Early Learning Network (ELN) in 2016 with the mission to identify policies and practices that narrow opportunity gaps and help children maintain early learning success. Early Learning Network teams share what they have learned--and what it means for early childhood…

Background: Equal employment opportunity guidelines and concepts are important for increasing equity in the workplace. Given the large number of undergraduate students currently in or entering the workforce, it is critical to convey these concepts in a manner that increases student understanding of appropriate organizational behavior. Objective:…

At least 46 states have set postsecondary attainment goals to improve the educational opportunities and livelihoods of their citizens and to meet workforce demands in a changing labor market. While the data is still emerging, the widespread use of administrative holds by postsecondary institutions may be undermining state education and workforce…

In the nation today, 4.6 million young adults ages 16 to 24 are out of school and unemployed. More than one-third live in poverty. For these young people, commonly referred to as opportunity youth, building skills and gaining work experience are key to upward mobility. However, they face significant barriers to entering the labor market.…

While listening to the audiobook version of "This Is the Story of a Happy Marriage" by Ann Patchett, the author realized how often higher education professionals invent new stories of who they are within the environments where they work. "People, places, ideals, and art" are Patchett's focus throughout the book. Higher…

Carmen Redding writes of her professional journey from teacher to school librarianship to state-level specialist. She begins by describing a common view of school librarians as non-teachers as being an old phenomenon that continues to have life. Being relegated to the position of school librarian was, most certainly in the eyes of some teachers, a…

This chapter identifies academic advising practices and policies that contribute to delivering a meaningful student experience and ways that institutions can ensure their academic advising contributes to closing the opportunity gap.

Was the approach proposed for calculating exam grades in summer 2020 fair? Were the grades eventually awarded (after policy changes) fair? What is a fair arrangement for 2021? These questions have been at the heart of debate in the UK in the light of COVID-19. After schools were closed in the spring of 2020 and the decision was made not to proceed…

Cooperative measures are defined as those endeavors which enable an association of a number of people to operate jointly toward the same end and share in the ensuing benefits. It is assumed that groups of educators and institutions are more effective in solving the complex problems of education than if independent and unilateral actions are taken…

The Postsecondary Value Commission proposes a framework for how institutions and the bodies that govern them can ensure that Black, Latinx, Indigenous, and underrepresented Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) individuals, individuals from low-income backgrounds, and women have equitable opportunities to achieve economic mobility. This…

The National Art Education Association (NAEA) believes, given the research on employment trends and, anticipating that a variety of new career opportunities will emerge over time, that visual arts education is essential to every learner's educational foundation and training for future employment in an increasingly complex and interconnected world.…

Persistent disparities in opportunities to learn between students from different socioeconomic, racial, and ethnic backgrounds serve as stark reminders that our schools, which reflect what is happening in society, are not meeting the needs of all youth equally well. Furthermore, inequitable approaches to funding and resource allocation in…

The world of education, like every other aspect of life, was changed probably forever by the experiences of teaching and learning during COVID-19. As educators and students return to some form of normal in which teachers and students have a relatively clear understanding of what it means to attend classes at the university, I believe that we can…