This case study is designed to be a teaching guide for graduate and undergraduate students in behavioral science courses, as well as a resource for practitioners curious about this field. It is intended to help readers practice applying a behavioral diagnosis and design methodology to a real-world challenge: increasing attendance at an…

In fiscal years 2014-15 and 2015-16, Colorado's public institutions witnessed the smallest year-over-year percent increases in tuition rates in more than a decade. This was largely the result of increases in General Fund support for higher education. In an attempt to maintain this progress, the General Assembly chose to hold the Department of…

There is a lack of research as to what impacts law enforcement disciplinary issues. This is important due to the recent emphasis of officer performance and accountability. In 2008, the Southeast Sheriff's Office (SSO) increased their formal academic educational hiring requirement from a high school diploma to 60 college credits. The impact of this…

Families may choose to save for college or elementary and secondary education expenses using tax-advantaged qualified tuition programs (QTPs), also known as 529 plans. 529 plans, named for the section of the tax code which dictates their tax treatment, are tax-advantaged investment trusts used to pay for education expenses. The specific tax…

While there are multiple types of programs subsidizing private education--including traditional vouchers, tax credit scholarships, and education savings account programs--they all share a common economic effect: diverting public money away from public schools to subsidize private education. The Center for American Progress believes that public…

Students in Idaho high schools have the opportunity to earn postsecondary technical credit through the tech prep program. This study examines the college outcomes of retention, completion, time-to-degree, and technical skills attainment for tech prep participants, who matriculated to the partner stand-alone technical college within…

Background/Context: Research on the postsecondary education of Asian and Pacific Islander (API) students has typically focused on attainment within four-year colleges and neglected the experiences of API students in community colleges. However, many API students pursuing postsecondary education, particularly Southeast Asian and Pacific Islander…

While nontraditional students are a growing population in colleges and universities today, their presence can also be seen throughout history. National policies and practices throughout United States history enabled a more diverse population of students to enter higher education, thus increasing the nontraditional student population. In this…

The role of political factors, specifically of public opinion, in the relatively low penetration of charter schools into rural America remains unclear. We use eight years of national survey data to demonstrate that rural residents express less support for charter schools than residents of other locales do. We attribute this gap to differences in…

This is the first brief in a series on strategies for Trade Adjustment Assistance Community College Career Training (TAACCCT) grantees and other educators. The Department of Labor's Trade Adjustment Assistance Community College Career Training (TAACCCT) program is providing nearly $2 billion in funds to build the capacity of the nation's community…

Many worry that student loans are a drag on the economy, particularly the housing market. Analyses from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, cited by leading economists, do not provide compelling evidence for this hypothesis. The New York Fed data contain no information about education. As a result, their analyses contrast the home ownership rate…

America is in the midst of a debate on how to make college affordable for future generations of students. One simple and inexpensive way to reduce the cost of college would be to award degrees in three years rather than four by ensuring institutions of higher education do not unfairly limit credit for Advanced Placement (AP) and International…

This study was conducted with first-generation students (FGS) at a moderately selective, large public research university in the Midwest. At the time of this study, the participating campus enrolled about 43,700 undergraduates, approximately 11% of whom were FGS. To conduct this study, the authors administered a campus environments survey to all…

The authors compared data from a social-emotional-behavior screener (i.e., the "Student Risk Screening Scale--Internalizing and Externalizing" [SRSS-IE]) with data from a high school early warning system. Data from 2,256 suburban high school students were used. Research questions examined the degree to which student demographic variables…

Increasing and improving the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) educational pipeline has been a point of emphasis for decades, and federal policy in the United States has urged high schools to embed new types of STEM courses into the curriculum. As one example, applied STEM courses--one growing branch within career and…