We leverage a unique two-stage experiment that randomized access to private school vouchers across markets as well as students to estimate the revealed preference value of school choice. To do this, we estimate several choice models on data only from control markets before turning to the treatment data for model validation. This exercise reveals…

This manuscript proposes a conceptual framework to reconceptualize college access at the state level, while accounting for the heterogeneous impact different forms of financial aid have on access across sectors and levels. The use of this framework may strengthen our understanding of the relationship between aid and access by accounting for more…

Analyses of student data in post-secondary education should be sensitive to the fact that there are many different topics of study. These different areas will interest different kinds of students, and entail different experiences and learning activities. However, it can be challenging to identify the distinct academic themes that students might…

While financial aid programs exist to support enrollment in specific career fields in many states, Education Commission of the States examined only those programs that appeared in state statute and used explicit language that signaled an intent to support workforce development in high-demand fields via postsecondary credential attainment.…

In this article, Lori Varlotta, president of small liberal arts institution Hiram College, describes how she and her team have launched a systemic change process that includes modifying the entire academic structure: first-year experience, majors, core curriculum, graduation requirements, and student learning outcomes. Hiram's model for academic…

The first IDEA Public Schools' campus opened in 2000, just miles from the US-Mexico border in Donna, Texas. Fast-forward nearly two decades, and 79 IDEA public charter schools serve approximately 45,000 students across six regions, and those students consistently outperform their peers statewide on a range of metrics from proficiency to graduation…

Online programs are often viewed as a cost-efficient strategy for increasing revenue for shrinking university budgets but this may not be an accurate assessment. Responsibility Centered Management (RCM) is a budgeting model that is purported to increase efficient delivery of academic programs. As RCM budgeting models have been embraced, many…

All enrollment managers face some level of challenge related to decentralized decision making and operations. Policies and practices can vary considerably by academic area, creating administrative complexity, restricting the scope and speed of institutional initiatives, and limiting potential efficiencies. Central attempts to standardize or…

The popularity of distance education has increasingly led universities to consider expanding their online offerings. Remarkably few financial models have been presented for online courses, however, and fewer still have investigated the economic consequences of the migration, or cross-over, of students from traditional classes within the…

A growing body of research confirms the financial and academic benefits that accrue to students whose faculty adopt open educational resources, or OER. While there are no content licensing costs associated with using OER, there are several real costs that must be incurred by an institution that chooses to support its faculty in adopting OER. The…

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…

Social studies emerged at the core of the American common school in the mid-nineteenth century amid the rise of the urban immigrant receiving center. These two forces together resulted in the heightened importance of schools in transforming immigrant students into American citizens. Today, U.S. schools often serve as a social and educational nexus…

The changing landscape in higher education is increasingly forcing institutions to examine their long-standing business models and to start making changes. Leading those changes and overcoming internal resistance to them will require strong oversight from governing boards. What might an institution's review of its business model actually look…

Today, prospective students in ever greater numbers are secretly exploring colleges online on their own terms, using official and unofficial sources, without completing a college's response form. Many are withholding college entrance exam scores from colleges they might be interested in and remaining unknown to their institutions of choice until…

Much attention has focused on learning styles and their impact on the teaching and learning process; however, little has been done to systematically incorporate learning style theory into actual teaching, nor to systematically examine its potential impact on student learning in higher education. As part of a Scholarship of Teaching and Learning…