Dual credit instruction allows academically prepared high school students to simultaneously earn credits that count toward a high school diploma and a college degree. Dual credit instruction delivers a "win-win" arrangement for all parties: students gain access to challenging college-level coursework to make their junior and senior years…

Minority-serving institutions (MSIs) are considered models of excellence to support underrepresented racial and ethnic students; however, multiple definitions of MSIs complicate the consumption and production of research on these critical institutions. The U.S. Department of Education (ED) uses set criteria to define MSIs, based primarily on…

Underrepresented college students have been traditionally excluded from full participation in our society and its institutions. Illinois statute defines underrepresented students in higher education as citizens or permanent residents who are minorities, including African American, Hispanic/Latino, Asian American, Pacific Islander, American Indian,…

More than two dozen authors contributed to this special issue from 14 different think tanks, regional collaborative organizations, and institution-based policy centers and institutes to share the work being done to promote the community college agenda at state, regional, and national levels in the United States. This article synthesizes the still…

Federal education policy in recent years has encouraged state and local education agencies to embrace data use and analysis in decision-making, ranging from policy development and implementation to performance evaluation. The capacity of these agencies to make effective and methodologically sound use of collected data for these purposes remains an…

Since President Obama took office, he has repeatedly called for the United States to significantly improve its postsecondary education performance. One goal in particular has gained wide attention: the President's declaration that in an ever more competitive global marketplace, the United States must once again lead the world in college…

The "Southern Regional Education Board (SREB) Fact Book on Higher Education" is one of the nation's most comprehensive collections of comparative data on higher education. For decades, state leaders, policy-makers, researchers and journalists have used the "Fact Book" to find useful data quickly--and to learn more about…