Although money isn't the only thing that matters for student success--districts with similar funding levels and similar demographics can produce vastly different results for their students--inequities in funding are foundational to all sorts of other inequities in the nation's school system. A district with more resources, for example, can pay…

The "IDRA Newsletter" serves as a vehicle for communication with educators, school board members, decision-makers, parents, and the general public concerning the educational needs of all children across the United States. The focus of this issue is "Education Policy." Contents include: (1) Legislative Sessions Constrained by…

As schools closed their physical classrooms in March 2020 due to COVID-19, educators across the United States reported that English Learners (ELs), immigrant students, and students in low-income families were particularly difficult to reach with online instruction. The pandemic and the sudden, forced transition to remote learning have brought into…

In 2002 the Council of the Great City Schools and its members set out to develop performance measures that could be used to improve business operations in urban public school districts. The Council launched the Performance Measurement and Benchmarking Project to achieve these objectives. The purposes of the project were to: (1) Establish a common…

The National Association of Scholars believes that higher education should gather scholars and students to cultivate excellence and pursue the truth, transmit the heritage of Western civilization to a new generation, prepare cultured and virtuous citizens, and train students for vocational success. American colleges and universities should embody…

Think College Reports present descriptive data in narrative or tabular form to provide timely information to researchers, practitioners, and policymakers for review and use. This report provides an overview of descriptive program and student-level data provided by Transition and Postsecondary Programs for Students with Intellectual Disabilities…

This study examined a sample of 2,475 undergraduate students to determine the influence of financial stress, debt loads, and financial counseling on retention rates. Results indicate, among other findings, that financial stress contributes to an increased likelihood of discontinuing college. Self-reported student loan debt contributes to an…

Since 2004, the Chinese government has planted Confucius Institutes that offer Chinese language and culture courses at colleges and universities around the world--including more than 100 in the United States. These Institutes avoid Chinese political history and human rights abuses, portray Taiwan and Tibet as undisputed territories of China, and…

Most research about college students concentrates on credit students, with relatively little research focusing on noncredit students and why some transition from noncredit courses into credit classes. This dissertation research examined factors that may contribute to students transitioning from noncredit courses into credit classes at Mississippi…

Ten years ago, MDC's report, "The State of the South 2007: Philanthropy as the South's 'Passing Gear,'" (ED519455) examined how philanthropy can accelerate progress toward a South that is both equitable for all its residents and competitive with other regions of the country. A decade later, our second iteration, commissioned by the…

Nebraska is committed to measuring its progress toward achieving the major statewide goals through national comparisons and institutional peer comparisons. It is the aim of the "Comprehensive Plan" that, when rank order is appropriate, Nebraska will rank among the ten best states in national comparisons, and individual public…

At most institutions, annual fund-giving is down. Crowdfunding sites allow people with a great idea or worthy cause to bypass traditional funding methods and take their case directly to web-savvy investors and donors. This article describes how higher education institutions are expanding their donor pool through such crowdfunding sites as USEED,…

This response to Vassiliki Papatsiba's article on collaboration draws attention to structural barriers to collaborative research: for example, increased competition for scarce resources, increased steering of research, and the casualisation of research workers. It draws on experience of collaborative work in a large, EU-funded project to…

Over the past decade there has been a dramatic increase in undergraduate research activities at colleges and universities nationwide. However, this comes at a time when budgets are being tightened and some institutions do not have the resources to pursue new initiatives. In this article we present some ideas for obtaining funding and support for…

In fiscal year (FY) 2009, the Medicaid program funded over 75% of all publicly funded long-term supports and services (LTSS) for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) in the United States (Braddock et al., 2011). The majority of spending was attributed to the Home and Community Based Services (HCBS) Waiver program. In…