In this commentary, the authors advocate support for the adoption of a universal credential registry. By connecting information about credentials and their value, Credential Engine's registry (CE) creates an ever-expanding atlas of educational possibilities for students. Many registrars, however, have yet to recognize the institutional value of…

This study examines the effects of transfer associate degree policies: an articulation approach featuring two-year credentials as a mechanism to transfer credits from two-to four-year institutions. Using institution-level data, I exploit variation in the introduction of these policies across multiple states as a natural experiment. Results suggest…

Every term, institutions of higher education must make decisions about the class size for each class they offer, which can have implications for student outcomes, satisfaction, and cost. These decisions must be made within the current higher education landscape of tightening budgets and calls for increased productivity. Beyond institution decision…

State policymakers can help public charter schools overcome obstacles to their stability, growth and ability to provide high-quality options to students--simply by providing these schools with access to affordable financing to build their own facilities. Ownership is a critical option to address charter school facility needs. Most charter schools…

Stranded credit is credit that students have earned at a postsecondary institution, but cannot use or transfer because they have unpaid debts at the institution. Institutions will usually not issue official transcripts to students with debt, which results in the student being unable to formally document the credits they have acquired. This can…

There are hundreds of recognized tuition-free college "promise" programs, but few are as generous or flexible as the Kalamazoo Promise (KPromise). Pre-COVID studies on KPromise have demonstrated effects on increased college attendance, credit completion, and persistence. Extending these findings to the COVID-19 pandemic context can help…

This research examines the dual credit and early college program options for school districts planning high school and college collaborations. It utilizes a quasi-experimental design from existing data at a community college that has a well-established dual credit and early college program that offers the students the option of Pell in high school…

Due to the low success of traditional, postsecondary remediation mathematics, The Maryland Mathematics Reform Initiative First in the World Grant (MMRI-FITW) sought to develop and implement a statistics pathway in 2- and 4-year institutions as an alternative to traditional algebra-based math, to accelerate developmental mathematics students'…

Our annual SIA survey, in partnership with Braun Research, provides an opportunity to assess how Americans' perspectives on K-12 education have shifted over the last decade. Over the course of the survey's 13-year history, we have asked a set of recurring questions focusing on the direction of K-12 education, parents' schooling preferences,…

After Kyrgyzstan's independence, reforms were implemented in higher education: new degrees, credit hours, private institutions, tuition in public institutions, and independent accreditation. However, faculty reactions to these reforms have not previously been studied. The authors conducted 57 interviews in four locations over three years. Our…

When U.S. English learners (ELs) attend college, they are more likely to enroll in 2-year community colleges than in 4-year colleges. Prior research points to the tension between English as a second language (ESL) programs providing support to ELs and lengthy ESL programs acting as barriers to ELs seeking access to mainstream college coursework.…

The purpose of the "Iowa K-12 & School Choice Survey" is to measure public opinion on, and in some cases awareness or knowledge of, a range of K-12 education topics and school choice reforms. EdChoice and the Iowa Alliance for Choice in Education developed this project in partnership with Braun Research, Inc., which conducted the…

Across the country, students are unwittingly leaving postsecondary credentials on the table without institutions awarding the associate degrees they have earned. A disproportionate number of those students are from populations that have been historically excluded from or overlooked in higher education, including Black, Latinx, Indigenous students,…

College completion in the United States is a complex and incessant problem resistant to change despite decades of effort. To address a precursor to completion, this quantitative study focused on early-career success within college. The problem of this study was to examine settings beyond large research universities and explore how interactions…

Even with extensive retention research dating from the 1960s, community colleges still struggle to identify the reasons why students do not return to college. Data mining has allowed these retention models to evolve to identify new patterns among student populations and variables. The purpose of this study was to create a predictive model for…