From academic years 2003-04 through 2008-09, enrollment in WCPSS grew by more than 26%, from 108,970 to 137,607 students. Such unprecedented enrollment growth presented challenges for the Wake County Public School System (WCPSS). Enrollment outpaced new school construction and led to overcrowding. In addition to constructing mobile classrooms, the…

Because states typically fund districts based on student counts, districts reporting shrinking enrollment worry about shrinking dollars as well. The seemingly obvious quick fix is for states to hold districts financially harmless for some or all of their enrollment loss. But states have many factors to weigh when deciding whether or how to go down…

As COVID-19 continues to impact various business sectors, university administrators have steadily pushed for all academic units to resume on campus operations and activities; conversely, faculty and students have expressed increased interest in continuing online teaching/learning. We aim to mitigate this "tug-of-war" between…

The North Carolina Promise is a state-level policy that reduced the cost of tuition for all students who attended one of three campuses in the University of North Carolina System starting in fall of 2018. We use IPEDS data and a synthetic control approach to examine how this tuition reduction affected enrollment and persistence at these campuses.…

Working through the COVID-19 pandemic, many community colleges were driven to continue operations in a time of extreme uncertainty, all while dealing with enrollment declines, helping those already marginalized through wrap around services, and transforming educational service delivery in an online environment. Throughout rapidly changing…

The rapid expansion of charter schools has fueled concerns about their impact on traditional public schools. I estimate the effect of charter openings on traditional public schools in Massachusetts and North Carolina by comparing schools near actual charter sites to those near proposed sites that were never occupied. I find charter openings…

Specialized high schools are an increasingly popular way to prepare young adults for postsecondary experiences and expand school choice. While much literature ex- amines charter school spillover effects and the effects of specialized schools on the students who attend them, little is known about the spillover effects of specialized high schools on…

Graduate admissions officers face challenges recruiting quality graduate students, including decreased staff and increased competition from other institutions. In an attempt to increase recruitment efforts, this study used process mapping and the "communication marathon" to engage graduate faculty in recruitment and outreach. Following…

"Changing Course: Public School Enrollment Shifts During the Pandemic" is an analysis of student enrollment trends in public schools during the pandemic (2019-20 to 2021-22 school years). The numbers showed more than 240,000 students enrolled in charter schools, a 7% increase--while district public schools lost approximately 1.5 million…

Hold-harmless provisions in state aid formulas are meant to restrict declines in revenues for school districts. They may take several forms, including limits on the changes in state aid from year to year, supplemental funding for districts with declining enrollment, alternatives for calculating the state aid amount, or use of past enrollments in…

Purpose: On average, one in five high school students in North Carolina fails at least one core, required course every year. After failure, students have two options to regain course credit: repeat the course face-to-face (F2F) or online credit recovery (OCR). This study seeks to provide descriptive evidence on OCR/F2F enrollment patterns over…

Recent policy efforts have attempted to increase the number of dual enrollment courses offered within Career and Technical Education pathways and there is evidence to suggest that this practice is widespread. However, there is very little research on student participation in CTE dual enrollment and on its impacts. This study examines participation…

Two decades ago, at a time when much of the country faced looming teacher shortages, a number of states invested in comprehensive strategies for strengthening the teaching profession. For example, and drawing upon recommendations from the National Commission on Teaching & America's Future, both California and North Carolina built statewide…

Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) provide significant STEM degrees to African Americans. Initiatives toward increasing diversity in STEM fields have been implemented by government and industry leaders. HBCUs annually award over 20% of all African American baccalaureate chemical engineering degrees. This speaks volume to the…

Many studies have investigated whether students in charter schools differ systematically from those in traditional public schools with respect to prior achievement, special education, or English Language Learner status. None, however, has examined gender differences in charter school enrollment. Using data for all U.S. public schools over 11…