Alongside primary and secondary education, tertiary education is a critical component of the education ecosystem. Universities' role in strengthening and informing education policy and practice at every level -- training teachers, creating pedagogical content, and leading educational research -- is central to reimagining education to address the…

New Jersey Air and Army National Guard (NJAANG) undergraduate students endure multiple transitions throughout their academic career. In 2020, for example, the COVID-19 pandemic caused numerous activations and manning demands for the NJAANG population, further stressing coping methods. Using the follow-up, explanatory sequential mixed methods…

Budget season isn't any easier for school finance officials this year than it was last year, when they were bracing for a pandemic-driven recession, extra expenses, and ever-changing logistical demands due to COVID-19. This second of three Quality Counts 2021 installments surveys school- and district-level leaders on their spending hurdles,…

A portion of state-allocated funding for Texas community colleges has been reserved for the completion of outcome metrics, also known as performance-based funding. Texas community college leaders are faced with the challenges of adapting to increasing pressures from performance-based funding, while also ensuing institutional missions and goals are…

Between 1997 and 2019, 16 out of 41 performance-based funding (PBF) states discontinued their PBF policies for public colleges and universities. Adapting policy diffusion theory to PBF discontinuation, we investigate whether policy discontinuation in one state is related to discontinuations in other states, and differentiate between the two policy…

Accountability in higher education has become a critical issue as higher education institutions face scrutiny over student outcomes, financial transparency, and the value of a college degree. As the cost of tuition is on the rise and student debt growing, the concerns on equitability and the concerns of student engagement have left many in the…

In this paper, primary teachers' views about STEM education and the conditions of its introduction to primary education are investigated. The results came from 114 questionnaires and 27 structured primary teachers' interviews. STEM is clearly perceived as an interdisciplinary subject with many advantages, related to the cultivation of students'…

This report presents summative findings from RAND's six-year evaluation of the BHP Foundation's Education Equity program. The evaluation is based on a review of funded partner organizations' internal program progress reports, performance indicators, and independent project evaluation reports; interviews with representatives from partner…

Blockchain is arguably the next technology-mediated socioeconomic mega trend after the ongoing era of Net Neutrality and Big Data. This theoretical paper explores blockchain technology and its impacts on education. It is argued that we cannot take for granted that the network neutrality, popularized accessibility of the "Internet" and…

Colleges and universities were hit hard by the COVID crisis. The American Council on Education (ACE) estimated a total impact of $120 billion in a recent letter to legislators. That number reflects both direct expenses and lost revenues. It is easy to identify the direct expenses associated with testing, cleaning, PPE, remote learning technology…

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the U.S. Congress has allocated just under $190 billion to support K-12 education. As Maria Ferguson explains, these much-needed funds will require states and districts to make plans for how best to use them, and the planning process is complicated in districts that are already stretched and facing…

This article reflects on how financial operations, especially at community colleges and regional public institutions, were adversely affected by the pandemic and considers what institutions could do moving forward and for the future.

Despite warnings that the school schedule that has been around for more than 100 years is not optimal for serving students' needs, little has changed. The needs of kids and families look very different today than they did 50 years ago. One-size-fits-all prescriptions do not meet the needs of a diverse student population. Rethinking the school…

A.C.A. §6-61-234 (Act 148 of 2017) directs the Arkansas Higher Education Coordinating Board (AHECB) to adopt polices developed by the Arkansas Division of Higher Education (ADHE) necessary to implement a productivity-based funding model for state-supported institutions of higher education. At its October 27, 2017 meeting, the AHECB approved the…

In 2009, Robert Andringa, the former president of the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities, observed that many Christian colleges were "fragile and on the brink" while facing enormous financial and enrollment challenges (p. 168). The state of most small Christian colleges has not improved since 2009, but it has rather become…