ethanporcaro/eric-fulltext-meta huggingface dataset:
Structuring State Policy for Student Success: Applying Incentives in the Volunteer State. Lumina Issue Papers
Author: Wright, David L.
Date: 2016-03-00
Type: Reports - Descriptive
Subjects: State Policy,Educational Policy,Incentives,Higher Education,Public Colleges,College Students,State Legislation,Educational Legislation,State Aid,Financial Support,Educational Finance,Funding Formulas,Educational Attainment,Program Effectiveness,Graduation Rate

This is a time of great challenge and opportunity for American higher education. The challenges are well-established and widely acknowledged: escalating standards for economic competitiveness, coupled with a severe economic downturn and protracted recovery, require broad access to relevant postsecondary education, training and retooling as never before, but stagnant state funding and surging student demand have tightened the tension on an already cash-strapped public system. The lagging economy limits tax collections, which are an important stream of unrestricted revenue for public institutions. Faced with doing more with less, campuses respond by raising tuition, fees or both, while cutting costs in a variety of ways, often affecting personnel, services and quality.
For-Profit Postsecondary Education: Encouraging Innovation While Preventing Abuses. A 2018 Toolkit for State Policy Makers
Author: Cochrane, Debbie
Date: 2017-12-00
Type: Reports - Descriptive
Subjects: Proprietary Schools,Postsecondary Education,Colleges,Federal Aid,Educational Finance,Educational Quality,Accountability,State Aid,Information Dissemination,Tuition,Standards,Justice,Student Rights,Student Recruitment,Deception,School Policy,Student Loan Programs,State Policy,Financial Support,Private Colleges,Nonprofit Organizations,State Government,Government Role

State policy makers may have assumed that, because for-profit colleges receive up to 90 percent of their funds through the U.S. Department of Education and additional funds for serving military and veteran students, overseeing them is primarily a federal responsibility. But in fact, federal oversight has been demonstrated to be inadequate, and the Trump administration is in the process of rolling back the protections that do exist. This toolkit describes seven approaches for states to consider to protect students against low-quality colleges and deceptive and unfair practices. Those steps include: (1) Implement Accountability Standards for State Financial Aid or Other Government Support; (2) Use a Market-Value Test to Protect Students and Taxpayers; (3) Publish Employment Outcomes for All Colleges' Programs; (4) Protect Students with Tuition Recovery Funds; (5) Enforce the Rules that Make Colleges Public or Nonprofit; (6) Don't Let Schools Deny Students Access to Justice; and (7) Warn Consumers About Predatory Recruiting. While most of these policies can be applied to all types of colleges, it is at for-profit colleges heavily reliant on federal student loans where both the problems, as well as the benefits of additional oversight, are greatest. The suggested policies are intended to steer the colleges toward positive outcomes for students and for the state. [This tool kit was written with the assistance of Yan Cao, Tariq Habash, Jennifer Mishory, Brett Robertson, and Jennifer Wang.]
How Much Did Students Borrow to Attend the Worst-Performing Career Education Programs?
Author: Institute for College Access & Success
Date: 2018-08-00
Type: Numerical/Quantitative Data
Subjects: Career Education,Low Achievement,Federal Aid,Student Financial Aid,Debt (Financial),College Graduates,Tables (Data)

The gainful employment rule enforces the Higher Education Act's requirement that all career education programs receiving federal student aid &quot;prepare students for gainful employment in a recognized occupation.&quot; The rule uses debt-to-earnings ratios to assess whether career education programs at public, nonprofit, and for-profit colleges are leaving their graduates with reasonable debt burdens. Programs that exceed allowable thresholds--those consistently leaving their graduates with more debt than they can repay--must improve or lose eligibility for federal funding. The Department of Education has proposed rescinding the gainful employment rule completely, which would be costly for both students and taxpayers. In fact, a single round of the Department's data showed that more than 350,000 students graduated from the worst performing career education programs with nearly $7.5 billion in student loan debt. Those programs, rated as &quot;failing&quot; or &quot;zone&quot; in the existing gainful employment debt-to-earnings standard, would eventually lose access to federal financial aid if they did not improve. The the information provided in this table shows how much graduates borrowed to attend the worst-performing career education programs in each state. Details of the methodology and data limitations are included.
Developing Math Skills in Early Childhood. Issue Brief
Author: Harris, Barbara
Date: 2017-08-00
Type: Reports - Evaluative
Subjects: Early Childhood Education,Elementary School Mathematics,Mathematics Skills,Skill Development,Young Children,Kindergarten,Numeracy,Parent Child Relationship,Parents as Teachers,School Readiness,Caregiver Child Relationship,Reading Aloud to Others,Reading Programs,Emergent Literacy,Developmentally Appropriate Practices,Mathematics Instruction

This brief presents a promising approach to supporting the development of early math skills in young children. The approach synthesizes the influence of parents, the home environment, and children's health care providers, and is being implemented in Washington State by Reach Out and Read. Reach Out and Read is a program in which health care providers give young children new books while modeling effective reading techniques and encouraging parents to read with their children at home. When families participate in Reach Out and Read, parents read aloud more often and children improve their language and literacy skills. Because math and reading can be integrated through Reach Out and Read, parents can learn to simultaneously support the development of their children's early language, literacy, and math skills in an enjoyable and developmentally-appropriate way. Thus, the program has the potential to improve kindergarten readiness in math and literacy. Because children see their health care providers often during the first few years of life, Reach Out and Read's initiative could support a large percentage of children through the network of Reach Out and Read programs in Washington State and across the nation.
Small Changes Make a Big Difference: How Behavioral Science Improved Participation in Advanced Placement. Issue Brief
Author: Gonzalez, Naihobe
Date: 2017-09-00
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: Advanced Placement Programs,High School Students,High Achievement,Economically Disadvantaged,Information Dissemination,Student Participation,Decision Making,Educational Opportunities,Aptitude Tests,Behavioral Sciences

The Advanced Placement (AP) program has become a key step on the path to attending a selective college. In the University of California system, for example, more than 90 percent of applicants take AP or honors courses in high school (Geiser and Santelices 2006). However, the College Board estimates that nearly 300,000 high school students with the potential to succeed in an AP course graduate every year without ever taking one. Furthermore, high-achieving students from disadvantaged backgrounds are more likely than other high-achieving students to never take an AP class. Behavioral science researchers have shown that making small changes in the way information is presented can have a large impact on a person's decision to participate in a program. This issue brief examines how one such change--a personalized message added to a test score report--increased student participation in the AP program.
Statewide Educational Attainment Goals: A Case Study
Author: Lumina Foundation
Date: 2018-03-00
Type: Reports - Descriptive
Subjects: Educational Objectives,Goal Orientation,Educational Attainment,Postsecondary Education,State Policy,State Standards,Planning,Partnerships in Education

This brief tells the story of two states, Arizona and New Hampshire, and their efforts to set ambitious goals for increasing educational attainment among their residents. Based primarily on interviews with key state leaders, these stories highlight the unique path each state took to prioritize its goals for postsecondary attainment and are designed to inspire ideas for leaders in other states.
Leveraging Outcomes-Based Funding Policies at the Institutional Level. Lumina Issue Papers
Author: Cruz, José L.
Date: 2016-06-00
Type: Reports - Descriptive
Subjects: Educational Finance,Financial Support,Outcomes of Education,Funding Formulas,Public Colleges,Educational Policy,Incentives,Budgets,Educational History,State Colleges,Progress Monitoring,Data Collection,Visualization,Technology Uses in Education

Policymakers are moving to outcomes-based funding in an effort to inspire public higher education institutions to drive the transformative change required to expand access, increase graduation rates and contain costs. For outcomes-based funding to have a significant effect on student outcomes, system and institutional leaders must successfully translate these policies into action. In an effort to inform the design, development and implementation of future outcomes-based funding policies, this paper presents a real-time account of how the prospect of outcomes-based funding, and the financial incentives that have been put in place by the state of California and the California State University system, have provided a frame for California State University, Fullerton to engage and mobilize its campus community to improve student outcomes, advance the institution's mission and achieve its strategic goals.
Outcomes-Based Funding and Responsibility Center Management: Combining the Best of State and Institutional Budget Models to Achieve Shared Goals. Lumina Issue Papers
Author: Kosten, Linda A.
Date: 2016-06-00
Type: Reports - Descriptive
Subjects: Educational Finance,Financial Support,State Aid,Budgets,Responsibility,Accountability,Money Management,Models,Incentives,Higher Education,Administrative Organization

State governments serve as a key funding source for public higher education. An alternative to historically based state subsidies or enrollment-based formulas, outcomes-based funding allows states to convey goals for higher education by allocating state tax dollars based on measures of outcomes. Within higher education institutions, the Responsibility Center Management model engages deans and other mid-level managers in the responsibility and accountability for revenue generation as well as expense management. Policymakers will benefit from understanding this approach and how it could be used in concert with outcomes-based funding to support the development and delivery of new academic paradigms, expand access to underrepresented students, and, ultimately, increase educational attainment for a greater number of people. This article describes the potential alignment between incentives created by the Responsibility Center Management model and goals of outcomes-based funding. With an integration of the two models, there is a greater assurance of achieving the goals of both--fiscal sustainability and student success. By using Responsibility Center Management, college and university administrators are better able to marshal resources to help students complete their degrees and other credentials while also reaping the benefits of an outcomes-based funding system that directs public funding toward institutions that are doing just that.
Aligning Student and Institution Incentives in Higher Education Finance. Lumina Issue Papers
Author: Johnson, Nate
Date: 2016-06-00
Type: Reports - Descriptive
Subjects: Educational Finance,Higher Education,Resource Allocation,State Aid,College Credits,Budgets,Alignment (Education),Incentives,Economic Factors,Student Financial Aid,Tuition,Costs,Public Colleges,Access to Education,Low Income Students

Sometimes what colleges and universities must do to generate revenue is consistent with their academic goals. But often they must choose one over the other. The financial transaction that produces most educational revenue in the United States is &quot;cash-for-credits.&quot; Many states allocate their own funding by the credit hour as well, amplifying business incentives produced by tuition. With &quot;cash-for-credits,&quot; institutions that want to increase revenue either have to raise the price per credit, enroll more students, or sell more credit hours. &quot;Cash-for-credits&quot; does not offer a sustainable foundation for other things that public higher education must do (focus on low-income students, offer courses in high-cost technical and scientific disciplines, invest in advising and long-term academic planning, give credit for work at other institutions, and coordinate with potential employers). This paper discusses: (1) Types of higher education budgets; (2) Existing financial system supports; (3) Alignment and conflict between institutions and students; (4) Incentives and behavioral economics; (5) Aligning incentives in institutional and student revenue sources; (6) Realigning incentives in state and local appropriations; (7) Realigning incentives in tuition and financial aid; (8) Indiana financial aid reform; (9) Monthly payment plans; (10) Aid like a paycheck; (11) Aligning incentives by redefining the higher education service; and (12) Finance, progress, and outcomes.
Early Results of Outcomes-Based Funding in Tennessee. Lumina Issue Papers
Author: Johnson, Nate
Date: 2016-03-00
Type: Reports - Evaluative
Subjects: Outcomes of Education,Educational Finance,Resource Allocation,Higher Education,Budgets,Academic Degrees,Enrollment,Grades (Scholastic),College Credits,Performance,State Aid,Funding Formulas

No state has done more than Tennessee to shift state higher education funding to reflect outcomes rather than inputs. In other states, most of the core funding for higher education, including tuition and state appropriations, flows to colleges based on student enrollment. With a goal to reach the national average in higher education attainment by 2025, Tennessee is at the vanguard of this movement and has aligned its budget with its ambitions. It is the first state to base most state appropriations to colleges and universities on outcomes, with emphasis on progress toward and completion of degrees. Initial results are promising, but still preliminary. Evidence of success will come from information on: (1) degrees awarded; (2) enrollment; (3) grades and credits earned; and (4) progress and other performance benchmarks. Recommendations for other states that emerge from initial findings are included. This brief's appendix table shows how data will become available over the next several years to facilitate review of the impact of formula funding in Tennessee.
How Community Colleges Address Basic Needs and Financial Stability of Low-Income Students to Boost College Completion: Lessons from the Working Students Success Network. Issue Brief
Author: Sullivan, Margaret
Date: 2018-04-00
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: Community Colleges,Low Income Students,Barriers,Educational Finance,Student Financial Aid,Access to Education,Employment,Student Needs,Income,Student Personnel Services,Cultural Awareness,Poverty,Agency Cooperation,Two Year College Students

For many low-income students and students of color, financial and other barriers can derail their efforts to complete a postsecondary credential. In 2014, the Working Students Success Network (WSSN) was launched by the Annie E. Casey Foundation, Lumina Foundation, W.K. Kellogg Foundation, Kresge Foundation, MetLife Foundation, and Bank of America. WSSN is a consortium of 19 community colleges in Arkansas, California, Virginia, and Washington, led by Achieving the Dream, a national reform network. It supports colleges as they provide integrated services to improve students' academic, employment, and financial stability while laying a foundation for long-term success. The colleges were charged with addressing low-income students' widespread needs by offering group-based and more intensive, one-on-one services in three areas (employment and career advancement, income and work supports, and financial services and asset building). An evaluation of this effort identified six factors that helped colleges implement such services: (1) Obtaining commitment from executive leaders and having a stable, distributed leadership network with accountability for implementation; (2) Integrating services that break down silos between student services programs and academic departments; (3) Ensuring widespread, collective buy-in and support for the college to provide one-on-one coaching to address students' basic needs and improve their financial stability; (4) Building cultural responsiveness to the needs of students in poverty; (5) Establishing service centers that increase visibility of and commitment to addressing student poverty and educational success; and (6) Broadening collaboration with external partners. [DVP-PRAXIS assisted with the preparation of this report.]
Integrating Mathematical Thinking into Family Engagement Programs. Issue Brief
Author: Harris, Barbara
Date: 2017-01-00
Type: Reports - Evaluative
Subjects: Mathematics Instruction,Early Childhood Education,Young Children,Family Involvement,Family Programs,Reading Programs,Integrated Activities,Outcomes of Education,Mathematics Activities,Mathematical Concepts,Developmentally Appropriate Practices,Caregivers,Native Language,Culturally Relevant Education,Professional Development,Mathematics Anxiety,Program Evaluation

The brief explains how exposing young children to early math concepts supports their development of reasoning and problem solving skills and later success in and out of school. It describes the unique ways each of five family engagement programs funded by the Heising-Simons Foundation developed, tested, and integrated early math learning into their usual activities. The brief lays out seven practical tips that emerged from the grantees' experiences that can guide practitioners and other stakeholders who are interested in integrating early math into their own family engagement programs, and sheds light on issues that programs may want to keep in mind while doing so. Key findings: (1) The grantees that were funded by the Heising-Simons Foundation developed and implemented a rich array of early math projects in a variety of settings. Their efforts show that despite the challenges faced by practitioners and the families they serve, there is room to integrate mathematical thinking and activities across a range of family engagement programs; and (2) Seven tips were gleaned from their experiences: (1) build on successful family engagement approaches and ensure staff buy-in; (2) focus on developmentally appropriate math concepts; (3) tailor early math projects to a caregiver's language and culture; (4) offer practitioners opportunities for professional development; (5) provide families with early math activities they can use in their everyday lives; (6) help families overcome their anxiety about math; and (7) use data for learning and improvement.
Children&apos;s Savings Accounts: Increasing the Postsecondary Payoff for Low-Income Children. MHEC Policy Brief
Author: Elliott, William
Date: 2018-05-00
Type: Reports - Descriptive
Subjects: Children,Banking,Money Management,Paying for College,Low Income Students,Student Financial Aid,Student Loan Programs,Program Effectiveness

After decades of making minor tweaks to the U.S. financial aid system, there is a need to develop truly novel approaches to paying for college. Until now, the goal of financial aid has been narrowly framed as providing young adults with enough money to pay for college while minimizing the short-term burden to taxpayers. Because of this narrow framing, student loans have emerged as the dominant form of financial aid in America (Elliott &amp; Lewis, 2017). However, research has increasingly demonstrated that a strong debt-based approach to financial aid fails to equalize college opportunity and has exacerbated post-college inequities over the past thirty years. These failures raise questions about whether financial aid dollars could be better spent. Child Savings Accounts (CSAs) represent a promising alternative to student loan debt. CSAs are accounts typically opened at birth or kindergarten that leverage families' investments with an initial deposit (usually from $25 to $1,000) and savings matches, usually on a 1:1 ratio. This brief begins with a closer look at the defining attributes and prevalence of CSAs across the nation. Then it discusses CSAs potential effects on the education pipeline (early childhood, school years, college years, and post-college years). It concludes by describing the challenges facing CSA programs and suggests innovations to address these problems.
Evaluating State Funding Effort for Higher Education. MHEC Policy Brief
Author: Tandberg, David A.
Date: 2018-06-00
Type: Reports - Evaluative
Subjects: Program Evaluation,State Aid,Educational Finance,Higher Education,Measurement,Expenditures,Decision Making,Educational Trends,Trend Analysis,Educational Policy,State Policy,Financial Policy,Taxes,Governance

Higher education makes important contributions to the betterment of society and to the lives of individuals. On a societal level, higher education supplies an educated citizenry and workforce. For individuals, higher education provides an opportunity for personal development, fulfillment, and economic mobility. States play a large role in helping public colleges and universities fulfill these promised benefits. In the annual State Higher Education Finance (SHEF) report, several ways of assessing state effort are presented, such as by analyzing higher education spending relative to personal income, population, or total tax revenue. Each measure highlights different aspects of the general concept of state higher education funding effort. Within the empirical literature, state effort has been examined using several of these measures. This research has revealed a number of factors that help determine an individual state's effort, finding that decisions about state funding for higher education are made in the context of multiple external factors, including current and projected economic conditions, competing priorities across the state, cultural and ideological shifts in the state population, political and higher education characteristics of the state, and state tax structures. In this report, changes in state funding for higher education, the concept of state effort and how to define and measure it, national trends in state effort, and state trends in state effort are explored. Then the empirical research on what impacts state effort is examined, and the paper concludes with policy considerations and recommendations.