Geography provides context to the information collected, tabulated, and disseminated by the Census Bureau, whether data for the United States as a whole, a state, a congressional district, a county or city, or a census tract (roughly the size of a neighborhood). Geographers perform the activities necessary to update and maintain the geographic…

The Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA) is a national, nongovernmental membership organization of degree-granting colleges and universities, the only organization with the sole purpose of providing national coordination of accreditation of higher education institutions and programs. CHEA serves as an advocate, national authority and…

While both the 1918 influenza (aka Spanish flu) and the 2020 COVID-19 pandemics were devastating, the 1918 influenza pandemic was considered worse. Its origins are still debated, but it was first identified in the United States at Fort Riley, an Army base in Kansas. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), an estimated…

On the campaign trail, President Joe Biden's higher education agenda featured prominent promises to forgive student loan debt and make community college debt free. But as Congress continues to debate these high-profile proposals, Biden's Department of Education has signaled its intent to use a little known yet powerful regulatory process to take…

Student, family, and community engagement is an important ingredient to foster students' social, emotional, and academic development (SEAD). In this brief, the importance and impact of meaningful engagement--building personal relationships, trust, and mutual respect between students and their educators, families, and communities--is described, and…

From the early 1600s to the late 1700s the monetary system of the 13 colonies was so dysfunctional that basic transactions required cumbersome mathematical calculations, specialized almanacs, and extensive knowledge of foreign coinage weights, measures, and values. Once the Declaration of Independence was signed, one task of the Founding Fathers…

According to a 2019 Pew Research Center survey, 67% of Americans support raising the federal minimum hourly wage from $7.25 to $15 per hour, with 41% strongly supporting the increase. Raising the federal minimum wage to $15 per hour has been the battle cry for many members of Congress, while others have opposed or expressed concern regarding, such…

In accordance with the Government Performance and Results Modernization Act of 2010, this U.S. Department of Education (Department) Office of Inspector General (OIG) Fiscal Year 2020 Performance Results Report presents the results of OIG's work over fiscal year (FY) 2020 in meeting their performance measures goals. Those goals align with OIG's FYs…

Since 2003, the State Higher Education Executive Officers Association (SHEEO) has produced the annual State Higher Education Finance (SHEF) report to broaden understanding and enable analysis of state-level and national funding and enrollment trends over time. The final section in each SHEF report has focused on the effort and capacity of states…

In order to contextualise and make sense of the COVID-19 pandemic, Verity Morgan worked with her school's long-standing partner school in Ghana to devise an innovative project combining history and science, past and present. In this article, Morgan sets out the rationale for the project, her detailed adaptation of a British Council resource and…

The White House released an executive order to protect free speech on college campuses, appropriately highlighting the issue of ongoing threats to expression in the ivory tower. The President and his Administration exercised restraint with this order by directing federal agencies to stay within the bounds of existing law as the agencies implement…

The "Budget of the United States Government, Fiscal Year 2023" contains the Budget Message of the President, information on the President's priorities, and summary tables. The Budget lays out detailed investments to build on a record-breaking year of broad-based, inclusive growth--and meet the challenges of the 21st Century. It is a call…

The U.S. Department of Education (Department) Office of Inspector General (OIG) annual plan identifies the audits, inspections, and other activities that the OIG intends to undertake to assist the Department in fulfilling its responsibilities to America's citizens and students. The FY 2024 Annual Plan details the assignment areas they plan to…

While U.S. voters delivered a significant change in the 2024 federal elections, they opted for steady leadership at the state level. No state board of education shifted in partisan control, and only five seats saw a shift in political party out of 27 races that were contested in the general election. This policy update looks at the results of…

This article is part of a case study of U.S. federal leadership in special education from the perspective of those who served in the roles of Assistant Secretaries of the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitation Services and Directors of the Office of Special Education Programs or their equivalents in the former U.S. Office of Education and…