Throughout the history of higher education, students have engaged in activism, demanding that institutions become more and more equitable. This study shares data collected across Big10 institutions through the Multi-Institutional Study of Leadership regarding trends in activism involvement, activism behaviors, and social issues around which those…

Background: Asthma reliever medication access is critical, especially in schools. Policies that "stock" reliever inhalers in schools provide failsafe medication access. This research aims to understand barriers and facilitators to Illinois stock inhaler policy implementation. Methods: We conducted 18 semi-structured interviews in…

This article presents a synthesized historiography of higher education in American prisons, exploring interactions of federal, state, and institution-level policies within six specific states: California, Illinois, Massachusetts, Mississippi, New York, and Texas. We define considerations for researchers, policymakers, and advocates regarding…

This paper examines the Inside-Out Prison Exchange Program's pedagogy as a praxis for transformative learning and social change, with a particular focus on the role of incarcerated students in shaping public policy. It explores how an Inside-Out approach cultivates a learning environment rooted in critical thinking, reflection, collaboration, and…

This dissertation consists of three papers. In each paper, I use applied econometric methods to study the interaction between immigration policy and the postsecondary policy. The findings offer insights about how immigration policy can influence the education outcomes of undocumented individuals. In my first paper, I explore the effect on…

Career-connected learning is an educational strategy that combines high-quality academic instruction, skill-based learning, and real-world experiences to prepare students with the knowledge and skills that they need to pursue their career goals. Career-connected learning is especially important for an often-overlooked group of students including…

Background/Context: This article draws from a larger study focused on how recent immigration policies have influenced school districts across the United States and how educators have responded to support their immigrant-origin students. Scholars have found that immigration policy powerfully shapes the lives of many immigrant youth in multiple…

Today, nine out of 10 Americans age 65 and older depend on Social Security benefits to lead a comfortable and secure retirement. Among all Americans over age 65, Social Security makes up more than half of their household income. This brief outlines the history of Social Security benefits in the public sector, describes the safe harbor rule and how…

Since 2017, hostile anti-LGBTQ+ educational bills rapidly expanded. Using traditional and critical policy analysis across three Midwestern states, we examine (1) whether state and local policymakers (n = 60) adopted trans-inclusive protections aligned with the 2017 federal "Whitaker" ruling, (2) the spread and scope of state and local…

Since 2017, hostile anti-LGBTQ+ educational bills rapidly expanded. Using traditional and critical policy analysis across three Midwestern states, we examine (1) whether state and local policymakers (n = 60) adopted trans-inclusive protections aligned with the 2017 federal "Whitaker" ruling, (2) the spread and scope of state and local…

The Policy Practice in Field Initiative was created to seed innovation and develop new models for an integrated approach to enhance the policy skill set of all social work students regardless of specialization. Funds provided to the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE) are regranted to schools and programs of social work for field placement and…

More than 427,000 undocumented students are enrolled in U.S. higher education institutions. That's an impressive number, considering the many hurdles they must overcome on the road to college and a degree, including restrictions on their ability to enroll in higher education institutions; limits on access to in-state tuition, state financial aid,…

Educators have sought to understand and address the disproportional representation of students from certain student subgroups in gifted education. Most gifted identification decisions are made with national comparisons where students must score above a certain percentage of test takers. However, this approach is not always consistent with the…

Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), which began in 2012 through an Obama executive order, provides individuals who entered the country illegally or overstayed visas as minors with work permits and protection from deportation. Of the approximately 11 million undocumented people in the United States, 690,000 hold DACA permits. They are…

The State Higher Education Finance (SHEF) report is produced annually by the State Higher Education Executive Officers Association (SHEEO) to broaden understanding of the context and consequences of public policy decisions in each state that contribute to public higher education funding levels and funding distributions across states and…