This hearing of the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions focuses on reauthorizing the Higher Education Act through access and innovation. The following committee members presented opening statements: (1) Honorable Lamar Alexander, Chairman, Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions; and (2) Honorable Patty Murray, Ranking…

Provisions in the Higher Education Opportunity Act (HEOA), passed in 2008, make it possible for students with intellectual disability (ID) who demonstrate financial need to take advantage of some kinds of federal financial aid to help pay for college. The HEOA describes a new type of college program, called a Comprehensive Transition Program…

When the primary federal law governing K-12 schooling was updated in 2015 as the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), it shifted many decisions to states and districts. However, through two of its core programs (Title I and Title II-A), ESSA retained federal requirements for states to set challenging content standards, assess student performance,…

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…

In December 2019, Congress enacted and the President signed the Fostering Undergraduate Talent by Unlocking Resources for Education Act (FUTURE Act; P.L. 116-91). The law The law amends the Higher Education Act (HEA) to permanently authorize mandatory funding for grant programs to support HBCUs and MSIs. Authorization for this funding had expired…

The United States and Pennsylvania economies remain deeply depressed compared to before the COVID-19 pandemic. While the unemployment rate has come back down to around 7% (7.3% in Pennsylvania, 6.9% in the U.S.), Pennsylvania had 488,000 fewer jobs in October than February and the U.S., 10 million fewer. With COVID case rates higher than ever and…

This brief looks at how Pennsylvania distributed $174 million to Pennsylvania's public school districts in K-12 funding from the CARES Act that the federal government left up to states to allocate. The legislature and the Wolf administration agreed to distribute a fixed amount per district plus distribution of the remaining funds based on…

In contrast to prior federally mandated school reforms, the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) allows states more discretion in reforming their lowest performing schools, removes requirements to disrupt the status quo, and does not allocate substantial additional funds. Using a regression discontinuity design, we evaluate a state turnaround…

This document describes the roles and responsibilities of "Decision-Makers" in the K-12 space. It was created to reflect the changes made by the U.S. Department of Education in the Final Rule regulations, which went into effect August 14, 2020. This document is intended for use by anyone who wishes to assess and ensure compliance with…

Continuous improvement, a structured process for using data and research to improve educational programming, is an important component in creating and maintaining successful CTE programs. For practitioners to engage in continuous improvement--and to use data and research to go beyond accountability--they need to maintain an effective data…

The recent changes to school accountability under the "Every Student Succeeds Act" (2015) have highlighted the negative effects of chronic absenteeism on student achievement. For many students, poor attendance habits begin as early as kindergarten and continue through high school. Resulting in literacy and math gaps, the impacts of…

This study was undertaken to address issues resulting from the vagueness of imprecisely defined legislative language located in the Bankruptcy Reform Act of1978 (Public Law 95-598) and subsequent policies, regulations, and laws such as the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act (Public Law 109-8);which relate to the…

Brain-Based Learning is one of the many strategies which educators utilize when teaching. Prior research conducted over Brain-based Learning has demonstrated a difference between how students learn based on the gender of the student. Additionally, prior studies have been performed over perceptions of Brain-Based Learning. However, the researcher…

As online education grows, ensuring accessibility for diverse and marginalized learners has become increasingly critical. This study investigated faculty perceptions of Anthology Ally, a tool designed to enhance the accessibility of online course materials by identifying and resolving accessibility issues. Using survey data from 78 educators at…

Published annually since 1985, the Handbook series provides a compendium of thorough and integrative literature reviews on a diverse array of topics of interest to the higher education scholarly and policy communities. Each chapter provides a comprehensive review of research findings on a selected topic, critiques the research literature in terms…