Three organizations (a total of four individuals) participated in interviews regarding postsecondary access and attainment policy in Tennessee. Each of the interviewees identified Tennessee Promise as the centerpiece of postsecondary affordability conversations within the state. Some interviewees articulated an ongoing need to improve…

The Texas state profile consisted of interviews with five participants from four National College Attainment Network (NCAN) member organizations in the state. Common priorities identified by members included postsecondary affordability, need-based aid, and postsecondary funding. There was a strong consensus that the economic factors of the…

In the upcoming reconciliation bill, the U.S. Congress is urged to address the substantial decline in college enrollment resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic by: (1) expanding access to dual enrollment programs as part of free community college packages; and (2) expanding and investing in activities to support students' transition from high school…

Over the last two years the Midwestern Higher Education Compact (MHEC) staff conducted a thorough program review to determine the current relevance and value of the Midwest Student Exchange Program (MSEP). This culminated in the report "Student Reciprocity Programs and MSEP in the 21st Century" (ED627191) which utilized historical MHEC…

The research was a mixed methods review of the experiences of Latino/a First Generation students in college. Their experiences were identified through a quantitative component of identifying what had been published pertinent to this demographic and sectioning those publications into one of four decades when they were distributed. This quantitative…

Apprenticeship is a learning model and a proven strategy for (1) developing a talented and trained pipeline of workers for employers; and (2) expanding family supporting careers for individuals not pursuing a traditional four-year college track (without foreclosing their opportunities to pursue college down the road). Yet in Pennsylvania, as in…

Research for Action has studied statewide Promise programs since 2017, with in-depth analysis in four states--Delaware, Nevada, Oregon, and Tennessee. Our research in these states includes an extensive review of legislative and policy documents; 146 interviews with policymakers, institutional leaders, and high school staff; site visits to 8…

This advocacy brief summarizes the key findings from "A World Ready to Learn: Prioritizing Quality Early Childhood Education. Global Report" and its call to action for governments, donors, and partners to invest in pre-primary education. This brief addresses three of the toughest questions ministries of education and finance are likely…

Barriers to higher education persist among the Latino population across the United States. This project (IRB approval 18-001240), framed within the Engagement and Outreach Scholars Academy at East Carolina University, aimed to identify the obstacles to accessing higher education faced by the local Latino community and evaluate some ways to make…

In September 2019, the Democratic Republic of the Congo implemented a new policy abolishing tuition fees in primary education. A few months later, schools closed for 4.5 months due to the COVID-19 pandemic. How did the lockdown affect the implementation of the free education policy? Did it reduce or enhance its effects? This article examines the…

Now that we have seen the end of 2020 temporary emergency actions, states have returned to passing legislation that affect Career Technical Education (CTE) and career readiness at pre-pandemic numbers with a new emphasis on systemic solutions that deliver equitable access for each learner to participate in opportunities that lead to career…

Today, and on any given day in the U.S., tens of thousands of students are attending school behind bars. Juvenile justice education fails many of these students, resulting in a double punishment for youth: the punitive experience of incarceration for their alleged offense and the potentially catastrophic disruptions of their educational pathway.…

In 2019, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation engaged SRI Education to "refresh" a 2007 study, published as "An Unfinished Canvas" (Woodworth et al., 2007). In 2022, SRI released "Creativity Challenge" (Woodworth et al., 2022). Both studies were commissioned to assess the status of arts education in California,…

This systematic synthesis examines the intended and unintended consequences of performance-based funding (PBF) policies in higher education. Within this synthesis, we focus particularly on evidence from research studies with strong causal inference designs in an effort to understand the impacts of these policies. PBF adoption is generally…

This study describes policies and practices implemented in 12 high schools (Quebec, Canada) that more or less effectively leveraged extracurricular activities (ECA) to prevent dropout among vulnerable students. Following an explanatory sequential mixed design, three school profiles ("Effective," "Ineffective," and…