Amid widespread declining enrollment, the expiration of COVID-19 ESSER funding, and looming uncertainty in federal P-12 education involvement, many school districts may soon consider permanent school closures. While extant permanent school closure literature provides a starting point for future analyses, it often fails to advise the breadth of…

This brief examines national trends in the representation of first-generation college students over a 24-year period. Using data from the National Postsecondary Student Aid Study (NPSAS) and the U.S. Census Bureau's Current Population Survey (CPS), the analysis finds a significant decline in the proportion of first-generation students enrolled in…

In many parts of the country, enrollment in traditional public schools has fallen to its lowest point in decades. However, states, cities, and school districts have been slow to respond to the reality of empty desks. This report examines trends in school enrollment, focusing on several of America's most populous cities, as well as the budgetary…

In 2000, federally funded public adult education programs provided basic skills training and English language instruction to over 2.6 million students, or about 1.5% of the U.S. adult population. By 2021, enrollment had plummeted to under 900,000, or less than 0.4% of adults. What explains these declines? This policy brief describes the evolution…

In 1992, City Academy -- the nation's first charter school -- opened in St. Paul, Minnesota. Created and led by experienced teachers, it was designed as an alternative school for students struggling in traditional settings. With just 53 students, City Academy embodied the original vision for charter schools: small, teacher-run schools within…

Studies of charter closure rates typically focus on year-to-year closures. While important for researchers, such studies provide little guidance to families seeking to understand the risk of enrolling their child in a charter school. That is because studies determining how many schools close each year provide no information on how long the school…

As current trends across the country indicate widespread declining student enrollment and attendance, EdChoice is interested in how states respond. It enlisted Hanover Research to summarize publicly available information for each of the 50 U.S. states about the role enrollment plays in state funding formulas, as well as any state-level policies…

California's K-12 enrollment is projected to decline for the next two decades, driven by falling birth rates, reduced immigration, and out-of-state migration. With fewer students, districts receive fewer state dollars and may be forced to make tough decisions, including reductions to programs, staff, and/or schools. However, budget realignment…

This paper explores the declining trend of fine arts education in secondary schools. We examine mechanisms that may explain this phenomenon on structural levels of policymaking and policy implementation in different areas of the education system. What will be defined as the "selection device" refers to the structurally determined…

Previous studies have shown that the COVID-19 pandemic had a negative impact on higher education systems and student learning globally. However, despite this, many countries experienced an increase in doctoral enrolment in 2020, which has raised concerns about the quality of admission and the motivation of doctoral candidates during the pandemic.…

Various perspectives on higher education have been addressed to support the arguments of expansion issues, while studies on prediction to tackle the phenomenon are very limited. In this study, we focus on series data for tackling the problem of over-expansion in higher education and explore how the decrease in birth rate and potential enrollment…

Catholic schools have seen more than a 30% decline in enrollment over the past 20 years. While some of the decline in enrollment may have been spurred by secular trends or the Church abuse scandal, the increase in schools of choice, principally public charter schools, may explain at least some of this decline. In this paper we estimate the effect…

Nearly all states in the United States (45) currently have a postsecondary attainment goal to improve the average education levels of their residents and develop a highly-educated workforce. During a time of accelerated COVID-19 related postsecondary enrollment declines, the question as to how states will meet these goals could be particularly…

As higher education continues to face declining enrollment and financial pressures from decreased funding, colleges and universities must find innovative ways to differentiate themselves from competing institutions through niche marketing initiatives in an effort to continue meeting the needs and wants of the shifting population of students. Niche…

Increasingly, higher education stakeholders are recognizing the value--and the imperative--of empowering students to bring their whole selves to college and, to that end, are providing holistic programming and learning opportunities. Fostering student connection and belonging through multiple modalities and providing proactive and wide-ranging…