Statewide higher education governing and coordinating boards have long been involved in academic planning, academic program review, and academic program approval. A detailed analysis of the templates that statewide boards require institutions to use during the program approval and review processes reveals the role these processes play in ensuring…

The State Higher Education Executive Officers Association's (SHEEO) "Communities of Practice" project builds upon SHEEO's ongoing efforts to measure the capacity and effective use of state postsecondary data systems and provides states with opportunities to develop solutions to common issues with those systems. The sixth Community of…

Measures of student disadvantage--or risk--are critical components of equity-focused education policies. However, the risk measures used in contemporary policies have significant limitations, and despite continued advances in data infrastructure and analytic capacity, there has been little innovation in these measures for decades. We develop a new…

In this brief, the authors aim to equip policymakers and advocates for higher education opportunity and equity with a framework for analyzing and pushing for "equity-driven" free college policy. The purpose is not to challenge the momentum around free college, but to understand how programs can be designed to advance opportunity and…

Providing consistent, excellent teaching for each student in every classroom depends on whether states and districts commit to transforming teaching into a profession that reliably builds and grows teacher expertise over the career continuum. To address the problem of inequitable access to effective teachers, the U.S. Department of Education asked…

While funding cuts are often necessary during economic downturns, reducing state investments in higher education will hamper recovery. If cuts are inevitable, a one-size-fits-all approach will undermine states' ability to meet future talent needs and ensure equitable opportunity. State leaders should evaluate funding decisions based on their…

This qualitative research study was focused on equitable access that promotes a more balanced distribution of highly effective teachers across school systems, particularly in those settings where there are higher concentrations of underserved student populations. Research has shown the lowest poverty students were twice as likely to have access to…

The purpose of this slide deck is to shine a spotlight on education in the American South with a focus on equity and to provide an understanding of the historical, social, political, and economic context in which the education sector operates. Any movement serious about improving education and life outcomes for underserved student groups --…

Across the nation, school districts are intentionally integrating students of different racial and socioeconomic backgrounds in order to increase access to educational opportunity, boost achievement, and prepare students to be thoughtful and collaborative citizens in our multiracial society. Some districts have developed interdistrict integration…

In Leonard Koos's book, "The Junior-College Movement", he described the establishment of a junior college in an American public school district as the "culmination of the local school system", alluding to the prestige associated with having a junior college in a community. The best-known example of this arrangement was in…

This report provides a new resource for understanding the state of urban public schools in the U.S. Geared specifically toward city leaders who want to evaluate how well traditional district and charter schools are serving all their city's children and how their schools compare to those in other cities, the report measures outcomes for all public…