Statewide longitudinal data systems (SLDSs) can enable researchers, policymakers, and practitioners to identify and understand important relationships and trends across the education-to-workforce continuum. A well-developed SLDS can increase state and territory governments' ability to establish more informed and equitable policies, enable agency…

States have adopted a variety of policies to encourage universities to expand research production, with the hope of supporting economic growth and competitiveness. This paper considers whether a state-level initiative succeeded in influencing university-based research outputs among regional public universities. We test whether the Texas Research…

Family engagement has long been recognized as crucial to a child's overall academic achievement. The National Center for Families Learning (NCFL) recognizes that evolving from traditional parental involvement to effective partnerships between families and family-facing practitioners improves learning outcomes for students as a critical practice…

Registered Apprenticeship and secondary Career and Technical Education (CTE) programs share the common goal of providing students with hands-on training paired with technical, classroom instruction to prepare them for living wage, in-demand careers. When these systems are aligned, they can strengthen one another through a reciprocal relationship.…

In May 2021, Education Trust, Education Reform Now, and FutureEd published "State Guidance for High-Impact Tutoring" (ED614259) to help states implement successful tutoring programs. This follow-up publication outlines the features of effective and equitable state tutoring initiatives and provides examples of states that show promise in…

In 2000, federally funded public adult education programs provided basic skills training and English language instruction to over 2.6 million students, or about 1.5% of the U.S. adult population. By 2021, enrollment had plummeted to under 900,000, or less than 0.4% of adults. What explains these declines? This policy brief describes the evolution…

As college promise programs proliferate across the United States with noted intentions to promote access through increased affordability, it is necessary to understand the relationship between these programs and other forms of financial aid, including loans. Using federal, state, and program-level data, we leverage a natural experiment to estimate…

Rising food and nutrition insecurity across the U.S. poses a significant health concerns. Despite the expansion of federal support and food aid programs, insecurity persists. This dissertation asks about the extent to which national funding initiatives and local emergency food organizations as mediated by the university-based agriculture Extension…

Comprehensive Transition & Postsecondary Programs (CTPs) were created by the Higher Education Opportunity Act (HEOA, 2008). They support students with Intellectual Disabilities (ID) who want to continue academic, career, or technical instruction in higher education to better prepare for competitive integrated employment and independent living.…

In 2019, Congress is considering a proposal to give children from military families more quality learning options through education savings accounts. Washington does not need new taxpayer spending to create these learning options for children in military families. Congress should repurpose existing spending from duplicative and ineffective…

The objective of the audit was to determine whether the Florida Department of Education (Florida) established and implemented systems of internal control that ensured (1) displaced student count data provided to the U.S. Department of Education were accurate and complete, (2) Temporary Emergency Impact Act (EIA) program funds were appropriately…

This report responds to the requirement of PL 110-246 to assess the effectiveness of state and local efforts to directly certify children for free school meals. Direct certification is a process conducted by the states and by local educational agencies (LEAs) to certify eligible children for free meals without the need for household applications.…

Child care plays a vital role in our nation's economy. COVID-19 has largely shut down child care programs and schools across the nation, presenting challenges for working parents. Child care closures are a particularly acute problem for frontline and essential workers--health care personnel, grocery store staff, postal and delivery service…

About 19 million people submit a Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) each year, making it one of the most commonly experienced federal administrative processes. The widespread reliance on the complicated form and underlying calculation of financial need have spurred efforts to simplify and improve the application process and…

Each year, millions of children age 5 and under receive publicly funded early care and education services. Federal appropriations for Head Start and the Child Care and Development Fund were $9.8 and $8.1 billion respectively in fiscal year 2018. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) was asked to identify and describe all state early care and…