Charter schools are public schools governed by an independent board of directors that come into existence through a contract with an authorized public chartering agency. This report, known as the Illinois Charter School Biennial Report, provides legislators, policymakers, educators, and the general public with information regarding the state of…

Homeschools have grown in prevalence in recent decades in the United States, including an unprecedented increase in homeschooling rates during the COVID-19 pandemic. The present quantitative study sought to add to the growing homeschool research by examining an existing depersonalized data set from the Classic Learning Test [CLT] suite of…

Currently, little to no research is available that translates the decrease in college enrollment and retention into dollar amounts, nor discussions about the numbers and funding needed to revive colleges to pre-COVID numbers. COVID-19 was said to have hit areas, populations, and groups of people who were already underrepresented, but this remains…

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) was asked to examine the prevalence and growth of segregation in K-12 public schools. This report examined the extent of (1) racial, ethnic, and economic divisions in K-12 public schools; and (2) district secession and any resulting student demographic shifts. To determine the extent of divisions along…

Background/Context: Race and class inequality have long governed patterns of residential and school segregation across America. However, as neighborhoods across the country that have historically been home to residents of color experience an influx of White and middle-class residents, new questions arise as to whether these demographic shifts in…

"Believing in Public Education: A Demographic and State-level Analysis of Public Charter School and District Public School Enrollment Trends" is a new data analysis that examines enrollment trends during the last four school years (2019-2023). Over the last four school years (2019-20 to 2022-23), charter schools have gained more than…

Many colleges are exploring alternative college readiness assessment models to increase student enrollment and success in entry-level, or gateway, college courses and to more accurately identify students who would benefit from developmental instruction. Informed self-placement (ISP), an emerging method that is currently being studied by the Center…

This report analyzes access through the lens of enrollment for Black residents who are between the ages of 18-24. At The Education Trust, it is believed enrollment is just one component of higher education access, and that retention, completion, and student outcomes should be considered as well. While nearly 74% of the institutions in the sample…

In 2020, EdTrust released a report titled, "Segregation Forever?," which explored the continued underrepresentation of Black and Latino first-time, full-time undergraduates at the nation's 101 most selective public four-year colleges and universities in 2000 and 2017. The analysis revealed significant underrepresentation of Black and…

Demographic projections from the California Department of Finance (DOF) suggest that California's public K-12 school system is entering a long period of declining enrollment. Districts with declining enrollment face fiscal pressures, as state funding is tied to the number of students they serve. Declining enrollment also has important implications…

In the wake of the Supreme Court's ban on race-conscious admissions, the pursuit of diversity and equity in higher education is increasingly under threat. While access to higher education has improved overall for historically underrepresented students, the quality of that opportunity remains uneven, particularly along the lines of race/ethnicity…

Much has been written of late regarding the effects on higher education of the shifting demographics in the United States. Many writers seem to focus on colleges that are closing because the shrinking number of 18- to 24-year-olds means declining enrollments. The authors of this article would like to focus on some positive actions and strategies…

In this book, the authors bring together in one place essential information about college students in the US in the 21st century. Synthesizing existing research and theory, they present an introduction to studying student characteristics, college choice and enrollment patterns, institutional types and environments, student learning, persistence,…

Researchers have conducted surveys of the introductory communication course for more than 60 years, starting with two seminal studies in 1956 and 1965, followed by a series of nine replicative studies extending from 1970 to 2016. This systematic review examines the results from those 11 surveys. The results of that review are presented here,…

Demographic shifts have transformed the racial and ethnic composition of the U.S. undergraduate population. Data from the American Community Survey are used to analyze Latino undergraduate enrollment as well as factors that contribute to the matriculation of undocumented Latino young adults. The article concludes with an overview of the…