Purpose: The overall purpose of this journal-ready dissertation was to ascertain the extent to which progress occurred during the State of Texas' "Closing the Gaps by 2015" and the "60x30TX" education initiatives. In particular, the purpose of this dissertation was to determine the degree to which changes were present in the…

Change swept throughout the country with the 2018 elections, bringing 20 new governors into office. Whether returning or starting their first term, governors are taking the opportunity in their State of the State addresses to highlight achievements and outline plans for the future. Every governor who has given an address has mentioned an…

Nevada was one of the 10 states selected to participate in New Skills for Youth (NSFY). NSFY, launched by JPMorgan Chase & Co. in 2016, is a $75 million, five-year initiative, aimed at strengthening and expanding high-quality career pathways for youth. As part of this initiative, the Council of Chief State School Officers, Advance CTE and…

The Minnesota Subsidized and Transitional Employment Demonstration (MSTED) is testing the effectiveness of subsidized employment for individuals enrolled in the Minnesota Family Investment Program (MFIP), Minnesota's Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program, who were unable to find employment after participating in the state's existing…

Emerging practices in both K-12 and higher education hold great promise in the establishment of equity frameworks. The use of finely disaggregated data, the effort to track additional student groups, and related work, all help to establish policies and tools to monitor the impact of reform efforts to address inequities. State programs and…

A career pathway system is made up of multiple programs that span educational institutions, workforce entities and support service partners. These systems are oriented around a shared understanding of the needs of industries. Career pathway systems are one of many policy models states use to help connect education and workforce in the K-12,…

Massachusetts was one of the 10 states selected to participate in New Skills for Youth (NSFY). NSFY, launched by JPMorgan Chase & Co. in 2016, is a $75 million, five-year initiative, aimed at strengthening and expanding high-quality career pathways for youth. As part of this initiative, the Council of Chief State School Officers, Advance CTE,…

Education Commission of the States (ECS) researched Statewide Longitudinal Data Systems (SLDS) policies in all states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico to provide this comprehensive resource. States create their SLDS through a variety of means. The main methods examined in this 50-State Comparison are: statute/legislation, executive order,…

Kentucky was one of the 10 states selected to participate in New Skills for Youth (NSFY). NSFY, launched by JPMorgan Chase & Co. in 2016, is a $75 million, five-year initiative, aimed at strengthening and expanding high-quality career pathways for youth. As part of this initiative, the Council of Chief State School Officers, Advance CTE, and…

Earning a college degree has long been critical to unlocking many high-paying jobs -- and, as a result, to economic mobility and security. Increasingly, however, the traditional "norm" of a college student--one who enrolls straight out of high school, receives some support from their parents, lives on campus, and does not have…

Every U.S. state and the District of Columbia maintain a system to collect and store education data. These systems vary widely in their scope and sophistication -- and, by extension, in their ability to provide information that can guide decision-making. Most states have developed statewide longitudinal data systems, which establish formal…

The burden of financing higher education has shifted from the state to the student since the turn of the century, both in Colorado and across the nation. In Fiscal Year (FY) 2000-01, the state covered 68 percent of a student's cost of higher education, while students and families were responsible for 32 percent. By FY 2011-12, those numbers had…

Tennessee was one of the 10 states selected to participate in New Skills for Youth (NSFY). NSFY, launched by JPMorgan Chase & Co. in 2016, is a $75 million, five-year initiative, aimed at strengthening and expanding high-quality career pathways for youth. As part of this initiative, the Council of Chief State School Officers, Advance CTE and…

Education Commission of the States researched Statewide Longitudinal Data Systems (SLDS) policies in all states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico to provide this comprehensive resource. For the purposes of this 50-State Comparison, an SLDS is defined as one with formal connections across two or more of these core agencies. States with at…

The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in the highest unemployment that the U.S. has seen since the Great Depression, with particularly heavy job losses for Black, Hispanic, and Native American workers. In this set of studies commissioned by Lumina Foundation, the authors examine actions that states and community colleges can take to address the needs of…