Access to higher education in the U.S. has often been limited to those with privileged identities, perpetuating privilege and oppression. Learners need exposure to social justice ideas to promote equity. Faculty can be change agents, creating conditions for social justice education. This literature review examines barriers to social justice…

Direct Admissions is a system developed and piloted recently in the US that defaults graduating high school students into post-secondary admittance by data-matching their profiles (transcripts, standardized test scores, and prerequisites) with institutions' preset eligibility criteria. As applicant and institutional interest in direct admissions…

The worldwide adoption of holistic admissions in higher education is a recent phenomenon, inspired by elements originally present in the U.S. system. While holistic admissions have been rooted in the Korean higher education system since its adoption, now it is also faced with burgeoning debates over their fairness and impact on student access.…

Project Rebound works to support currently and formerly incarcerated people to enter higher education. As Project Rebound continues to grow, gain national acclaim, and traction within California State University (CSU), it is critical that higher education practitioners reflect on the program's evolution, successes, and challenges not only to fully…

The myriad benefits of globally engaged and intercultural learning are well-documented yet few college students, especially those from traditionally underserved communities, actually engage in these programs. To be more inclusive and make this type of learning more accessible to all students, specifically first-generation, lower socio-economic,…

This participatory action research (PAR) dissertation study investigates the implementation of Universal Design for Learning (UDL) principles by community college faculty in first-year writing courses to support students with learning disabilities at a New Jersey community college. Through a collaborative approach involving faculty as active…

Promise programs are discussed as a policy movement that began with the 2005 launch of the Kalamazoo Promise. Since then, programs bearing the Promise label or sharing similar features have spread across the higher educational landscape, appearing in most states and across postsecondary sectors. Simultaneously, scholarly literature discussing…

Benchmarking is an important tool to compare and make deliberate progress in any field of human endeavour. For integration of technology for teaching and learning, this is relatively a new field. The Commonwealth of Learning (COL) promotes the use of technology-enabled learning (TEL) -- also referred to as "digital learning" - for…

This dissertation explores the implementation of Universal Design for Learning (UDL) and WIDA frameworks by elementary education teacher candidates during their internships in classrooms characterized by the presence of Multilingual Learners (MLLs). This embedded case study focuses on the Spring and Fall cohorts of 2023, particularly focusing on…

This chapter introduces Universal Design for Learning, outlining the key elements and ideas behind UDL, with some examples from the author's own teaching practice in a postgraduate business school class illustrating the application of UDL. A toolkit of some useful resources for newcomers to UDL is also provided.

This report is the third in a three-part series examining how institutions of higher education have responded to state and federal policies limiting the use of transcript holds for unpaid balances. Ithaka S+R partnered with the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers (AACRAO) to field the 2024 Transcript Hold…

This report presents the results of a global survey administered by the UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning (UIL) on the contribution of universities and other higher education institutions (HEIs) to lifelong learning (LLL). It was conducted with the aim of developing a knowledge base on how and to what extent HEIs contribute to the…

The estimated prevalence of neurodivergent (ND) conditions is approximately 15-20% of the population in the United States (Doyle, 2020; Maenner et al., 2023). ND students are increasingly enrolling in mainstream colleges and universities (Bakker et al., 2019) but report that they are not receiving adequate support on campus (Dexter et al., 2024;…

During the COVID-19 outbreak, 59% of higher education intuitions moved toward hybrid services (Selingo et al., 2021). A HyFlex course is a version of class delivery that incorporates in-class instruction, online synchronous sessions, and asynchronous content approaches. The specific educational leadership problem is that instructors may not have…

This brief is part of the Affirming Equity, Ensuring Inclusion, and Empowering Action initiative. The brief describes the emerging practice of direct admissions, including how the practice has been designed, what outcomes it has produced, and considerations for policymakers debating the implementation of a direct admissions program in their state…