The abrupt closing of college campuses this spring due to the spread of COVID-19 upended the lives of students and their families and disrupted the higher education sector. The impact of these closures and the questions of whether and how to reopen campuses this fall have been widely discussed. Less attention has been paid to the potential…

As the U.S. workforce ages, baby boomers retire, and birth rates decline, the United States is facing an estimated shortfall of 8 million workers between now and 2027. At the same time, the U.S. economy is becoming ever more knowledge-based. Having a marketable postsecondary credential, whether an academic degree or a professional certification or…

Since the passage of the Massachusetts Education Reform Act in 1993, the Commonwealth has been seen as a national leader in education reform. The legislation introduced statewide learning standards and the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) tests, and provided large increases in funding for K-12 education. We explore the high…

Background/Context: Parents and policymakers have long believed that some schools are more effective than others. State testing requirements under No Child Left Behind helped publicize the widely understood fact that schools differ substantially in their students average test scores and treated such scores as key proxies for school quality. More…

As COVID-19 rapidly changes the economic landscape throughout the country, higher education institutions (HEIs) are facing new, constantly evolving challenges. To address these challenges, federal and state governments are quickly drafting laws and regulations that are impacting colleges and universities, and their employees. This article briefly…

Higher education institutions--as major employers of the workforce, purchasers of goods and services, managers of real estate, and attractors of external investment--are frequently the subject of research measuring economic impact. This research often falls into one of two categories: (1) institution-focused studies that measure the monetary…

The Career and Technical Education (CTE) playbook series has explored strategies and processes states can use to strengthen CTE program quality and provide students with pathways to postsecondary credentialing and middle- and higher wage career opportunities. In the first three CTE Playbooks, ExcelinEd provided a high-level view of how states can…

America's education system, from kindergarten through the state university, is designed to produce college graduates. Those who stop short of at least a community-college diploma are widely regarded as failures, or at least victims of a failed system. Yet most Americans fall into this category, and current trends offer little hope for improvement.…

For southern New England, the middle-skills gap is projected to become acute by 2020, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston. Historically and currently, the middle-skills labor pool in Massachusetts has been significantly below national rates and has been recently experiencing a decline. Closing the middle-skills gap depends on improving…

This report examines one promising approach: state and local partnerships with business and industry to train low-wage workers and help them advance. For this analysis, the authors examined partnerships that: (1) Involve an investment of public funds and are managed by a public sector institution (business and industry also typically invest in…

There are an estimated 167,000 children in early care and education programs in Massachusetts. In 2000, the state department of education commissioned a study of the cost and quality of early care and education in the state. This report and executive summary are the first from the study, addressing early care and education for preschool-aged…

The four sections of this final report, which follow the initial executive summary, present outcomes of Massachusetts' 2-year effort to strengthen and expand high quality, affordable day care services. Section I focuses on the supply of and demand for day care services in the state. Section II explores aspects of public and private partnerships,…

This study of the needs and possibilities of the industrial training of girls and women by the city of Worcester, Massachusetts, was made in the spring and summer of 1911. Three cities, Worcester, Cambridge, and Somerville, through their respective school committees, expressed a willingness to establish trade schools for girls and asked the State…

A follow-up study of 1983/1984 graduates of Chapter 74 vocational education programs had two primary components. The graduate survey examined employment and education progress of vocational students at a point well after graduation. It measured graduates' labor force and wage status, employment stability and wage growth, and perceptions of…

The first and longest section of this publication is a comparative analysis summarizing the impacts of the two Unemployment Insurance (UI) Self-Employment Demonstration Projects in Washington State and Massachusetts. Based on the first wave of post-project follow-up surveys, this evaluation report provides results on the net impacts of each…