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The constitution and statutes of Nebraska assign the Coordinating Commission for Postsecondary Education the responsibility for comprehensive planning for postsecondary education in Nebraska. The purpose of the "Comprehensive Statewide Plan for Postsecondary Education" is to provide direction for the future of postsecondary education in Nebraska. It identifies goals that will lead to an educationally and economically sound, vigorous, progressive, and coordinated higher education network throughout the state. It is used by the Coordinating Commission to facilitate most of its statutory decision-making processes. For the state and its students to receive maximum benefits, the Comprehensive Plan must be accepted and supported by the educational community, the governor, the Legislature, businesses, and citizens within the state. The Comprehensive Plan is built upon the foundation of existing postsecondary educational institutions within the state, the current and projected demographics of the state, the economic and political realities of the state, and the state's constitution and statutes. By statute, the Plan must include the role and mission assignments for each public postsecondary education institution, as well as the Commission's recommended guidelines on issues such as tuition and fee levels, admission standards, dual credit, and articulation. It is the shared vision and statewide goals, however, that most influence the design of the Comprehensive Plan. As the environment for postsecondary education changes, the Comprehensive Plan must continually evolve and adjust. It is the responsibility of those who are interested in education and care about Nebraska's future to review regularly this vital document to assure it meets the state's changing needs. Since 2000, the Commission has updated the Comprehensive Plan from time to time to meet the challenges of the changing educational environment, incorporate evolving best practices into the recommended guidelines, modify institutional roles and missions based on legislative action, maintain up-to-date institutional peer groups, and add national and institutional comparative metrics. In 2022, changes to Peru State College's role and mission and the state educational attainment goal set by the 107th Legislature, Second Session, in LR 335 were incorporated into the Comprehensive Plan along with updates to several guidelines.

This fact sheet explores the association between parental income and the pathways of young adults in postsecondary education for students who began their studies in the 2012/2013 academic year. Students from low-income families have previously been shown to have lower rates of educational access and attainment. This fact sheet focuses on persistence and graduation indicators, which are now released annually, and furthers the analysis of these indicators by adding a parental income quartile dimension. Overall, the findings provide the following insights: (1) Students in the highest parental income quartile remained enrolled (persisted) and graduated at higher rates than students from the lowest parental income quartile for all selected educational qualifications and groupings. The differences in indicators by the level of parental income were more notable for the graduation rates than for the persistence rates; and (2) For students who graduated, those in the highest parental income quartile graduated as fast or faster than students in the lowest parental income quartile for all selected educational qualifications and groupings, though these differences were generally small. These findings are consistent with similar studies regarding postsecondary experiences of students by socioeconomic status.

We describe the levels, trends, and patterns of school closure and restructuring in the United States from 1991 to 2019 across all sectors using a near census of K-12 schools. Focusing on the years with the best available data, 2014-2018, we find that the annual closure rate of charter, private, and traditional public schools (TPS) were 5.1, 2.9, and 0.9 percent respectively. The annual restructuring rates are 2.0 percent for charter schools and 0.6 percent for TPS. Regression analysis shows that these differences in closure and restructuring rates by sector drop slightly after controlling for student and school characteristics. The strongest predictor of increased closures is low student enrollment, especially in private schools. In charter and traditional public schools, achievement measures predict closure and restructuring nearly as strongly as enrollment. While racial and income composition are weaker predictors of closure/restructuring, that they predict at all, after controlling for many other factors, raises some equity concerns. We also discuss ways in which the forces behind closure/restructuring may be difficult to uncover with this type of quantitative analysis. [For the Policy Brief, see ED622058.]

Over the years, students gained new skills, making them more productive workers, by studying at America's community colleges. Today, millions of these former students are employed in the U.S. The accumulated impact of former students currently employed in the U.S. workforce amounted to $898.5 billion in added income for the U.S. economy in fiscal year (FY) 2019-20, which is equivalent to supporting 10.7 million jobs. For further perspective, this means that one out of every 18 jobs in the U.S. is supported by the activities of the colleges' former students. The additional income of $898.5 billion created by America's community colleges is equal to approximately 4.1% of the total gross domestic product (GDP) of the U.S. This report assesses the impact of the increased alumni productivity of America's community colleges on the national economy and the benefits generated by the colleges for students, taxpayers, and society. The results of this study show that America's community colleges create a positive net impact on the U.S. economy and generate a positive return on investment for their main stakeholders.

School finance reforms are not well defined and are likely more prevalent than the current literature has documented. Using a Bayesian changepoint estimator, we quantitatively identify the years when state education revenues abruptly increased for each state between 1960 and 2008 and then document the state-specific events that gave rise to these changes. We find 108 instances of abrupt increases in state education revenues across 43 states; about one-quarter of these changes had been undocumented. Half of the abrupt increases that occurred post-1990 were preceded by litigation-prompted legislative activity, and Democrat-party control of a state increases the probability of a changepoint occurring by 8 percentage points.

The student debt crisis is particularly dire for Black borrowers. Black degree-seekers are more likely to take out student loans to pay for higher education than white students, and they carry the largest average student loan debt of all racial demographics in the nation. The COVID-19 pandemic has created even more barriers to both postsecondary success and workers' economic stability, and Black Americans are still struggling to make a full economic recovery. The pause on student loan payments has temporarily eased the financial stress of student debt for millions of borrowers during the public health emergency. However, this relief is only temporary. In this paper, the Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP) and the National Consumer Law Center (NCLC) explore the disproportionate impact of student debt on Black borrowers. The authors make recommendations to address the dual student loan and college affordability crises through federal policies and executive action. These steps include: (1) administrative action to extend the student loan payment pause; (2) ensure a smooth transition of loan accounts to new servicers; (3) provide increased protections for borrowers, particularly those who are victims of predatory lending and for-profit colleges; (4) improve existing repayment options, including Income-Driven Repayment (IDR); and (5) invest in college affordability through federal grants like the Pell Grant, a federal free community college program, and support for student basic needs. [This report was produced with the National Consumer Law Center (NCLC).]

New student success interventions generate costs for colleges (for example, staff time and supplies). However, if they lead more students to remain enrolled, cause students to attempt more credits, and improve longer-term student outcomes, they can also generate tuition revenue and state funding (for public institutions in states that allocate funding based on enrollment, student outcomes, or both). Leaning on a robust body of evidence, this brief offers suggestions to policymakers, college administrators, and researchers for forecasting the financial impact of new interventions in postsecondary education, based on the interventions' costs and their ability to keep more students enrolled, generate tuition revenue and state funding, and improve outcomes.

For more than 35 years, the mission of the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities (HACU) has been to Champion Hispanic Success in Higher Education. HACU fulfills its mission by promoting the development of member colleges and universities; improving access to and the quality of postsecondary educational opportunities for Hispanic students; and meeting the needs of business, industry and government through the development and sharing of resources, information and expertise. The Annual Report highlights advocacy efforts, HACU's membership, conferences and events, financials, leadership programs, student services and activities supported by HACU's staff at its National Headquarters in San Antonio, Texas and regional offices in Washington, D.C. and Sacramento, California. [For the 2020 report, see ED615984.]

This report, submitted in compliance with 105 ILCS 5/1A-4E, provides a discussion of the overall condition of education in Illinois. Information is included concerning student and teacher demographics; data on teacher and administrator licensure; federal, state, and local resources; and other data on Illinois education. The 2021 Condition of Education finds: (1) The fiscal year 2022 General Funds budget for preK-12 education was $9.2 billion, of which $7.6 billion was appropriated for Evidence-Based Funding (EBF)--an increase of $362.1 million over FY 2021. FY 2022 marked the fifth year of implementation of EBF, which directs increases in state funding to the districts in the greatest financial need; (2) The 2020-21 school year started at the height of the pandemic, and fewer than 10 percent of Illinois students had access to fully in-person learning. While more and more students returned to in-person learning as the school year progressed, the wholly or partially remote environment had a significant impact on student enrollment; (3) The COVID-19 pandemic has affected almost every aspect of education in Illinois--temporarily in some ways and lasting in others. ISBE's Strategic Plan, adopted in November 2020, provides a roadmap for Illinois public schools through 2023 and defines the steps the agency will take to provide each and every child in the state with safe and engaging schools, excellent teachers, and equitable learning opportunities; and (4) Remote learning took a serious toll on student performance and academic achievement. One in five Illinois students was chronically absent last year, missing 10 percent or more of the school year (with or without a valid excuse)--a 21 percent increase over 2019. [For the "Illinois State Board of Education 2020 Annual Report," see ED618647.]

This report follows the high school graduating class of 2020 into their first year of college--high school seniors when the pandemic began. The initial impact of the pandemic on college-going pathways and outcomes is a focal point. While the data is concerning, there are successes: (1) Dual enrollment participation continues to increase; (2) More students of color are participating in dual enrollment; (3) Students are increasingly earning college credentials while in high school; (4) There is a continued decrease in the need for developmental education courses at community colleges due to policy reform; and (5) After multiple years of continued increases, first-year college GPA and course credits completed stayed at the same high level. These student successes can be built upon as the concerns revealed by the data are addressed. College-going rates for the 2020 graduates dropped almost 6%; students from small rural areas dropped 10%. Next year's report will reveal if some of these students took a gap year and chose to enroll the following year. To assist in moving equity efforts forward, the department appointed its first chief educational equity officer and created an Office of Education Equity. Integrating and aligning higher education with the workforce continues to be a primary focus, as well as instilling the profound value of a college credential for the future vitality of the individual and the community. This report explores both data trends and policy context related to critical pathways that Colorado's recent high school graduates pursue to a meaningful degree or credential. Specifically, it covers: (1) Pathways to a postsecondary credential in high school; (2) Pathways to enrolling in higher education; and (3) Pathways to success in higher education. Within each section, the report highlights partnerships designed to help more students succeed. Additionally, the report focuses on changing demographics and the importance of closing equity gaps for all populations. [For the 2021 report, see ED614155.]

This brief summarizes early educators' experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic, including changes in employment and wages, supports they received, and challenges they faced. The findings come from a survey of early educators working in licensed child care facilities in the District of Columbia in early 2021. The survey is part of the larger DC Child Care Policy Research Partnership study with DC's Office of the State Superintendent of Education. This brief is part of a series sharing other survey findings, including virtual training experiences during the pandemic, job satisfaction and workplace culture, and perspectives on DC's new quality rating and improvement system. Four key findings from the survey are discussed: (1) Many licensed child care facilities physically closed at the onset of the pandemic, yet one year later most had reopened; (2) Most respondents were back to work at the time of the survey, although closures had been widespread and the COVID-19 vaccine was not yet universally available; (3) Some early educators lost work hours and job earnings during the pandemic; and (4) Some early education programs did not pay certain employees during pandemic closures.

This technical supplement to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) Employment and Training (E&T) evaluation final reports presents details of the technical approach used for creating analysis variables and estimating impacts of treatment group services on outcomes, including employment, earnings, and SNAP participation. It also describes the statistical approach used to measure participants' receipt of services and the costs grantees incurred when planning the pilots and providing services. The supplement begins with an overview of the evaluation design and data sources. Next, it discusses imputation procedures used when constructing the analysis data files (Chapter II). It then explains the construction of analysis weights (Chapter III), followed by the approaches used to estimate statistics measuring individuals' participation in services and activities (Chapter IV). The supplement then describes the approach used to estimate impacts for all individuals enrolled in the pilot and for subgroups of individuals (Chapter V). Finally, it discusses the approach used to measure and analyze pilots' planning and implementation costs and estimating the pilot benefits relative to their costs (Chapter VI). This supplement describes the technical approach used to produce findings presented in the 10 pilot-specific final evaluation reports and cross-pilot summary report. [Title cover varies: "Expanding Opportunities & Reducing Barriers to Work: Final Report Technical Supplement. (Evaluation of USDA, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) Employment and Training Pilots)." For the Final Summary Report, see ED620374.]

The Agricultural Act of 2014 authorized $200 million for the development, implementation, and evaluation of pilot projects to test innovative strategies to reduce dependency on and increase employment among Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) participants. California, Delaware, Georgia, Kansas, Kentucky, Illinois, Mississippi, Vermont, Virginia and Washington received grants in March 2015 and began implementing their pilots between January and April 2016. All grantees concluded pilot services by April 2019. The final summary report presents employment, earnings, SNAP participation, and other outcome findings that cover a 36-month period for individuals enrolled in the pilots by December 2017. It also presents findings from the implementation evaluation and cost-benefit analysis. The report summarizes findings from the 10 pilot-specific final reports. Key findings include: (1) Earnings increased in three pilots and employment increased in five pilots for the treatment group compared to the control group; (2) An increase in employment did not mean that earnings increased; (3) Pilots generally did not decrease SNAP participation or improve food security; and (4) The cost of pilot services outweighed benefits in most pilots. [Cover title varies: "Expanding Opportunities & Reducing Barriers to Work: Final Summary Report. (Evaluation of USDA, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) Employment and Training Pilots)." Staff from the following organizations assisted with this study: MDRC; Insight Policy Research; Decision Information Resources; and Food and Nutrition Service's Office of Employment and Training (OET). For the summary of the Final Summary Report, see ED620373. For the Final Report Technical Supplement, see ED620381. For the Interim Summary Report, see ED620376.]

This set of tables introduces new data for national and state-level public elementary and secondary revenues and expenditures for fiscal year (FY) 2020. Specifically, this report includes the following school finance data: (1) revenue and expenditure totals; (2) revenues by source; (3) expenditures by function and object; (4) current expenditures; and (5) current expenditures per pupil. The finance data used in this report are from the National Public Education Financial Survey (NPEFS), a component of the Common Core of Data (CCD). State education agencies (SEAs) in each of the 50 states; the District of Columbia; and the 5 other jurisdictions of American Samoa, Guam, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands report these data annually to NCES. While the tables in this report include data for all NPEFS respondents, the figures and selected findings are limited to the 50 states and the District of Columbia. [For "Revenues and Expenditures for Public Elementary and Secondary Education: FY 19. Finance Tables. NCES 2021-302," see ED613219.]

Despite compelling evidence that master's degrees don't systematically make teachers more effective for their students, most US school districts provide a pay premium for them. They should stop, the sooner the better, and states should take the lead in pushing them to do so. Education dollars--whether COVID-19 relief funds or predictable annual revenues--should be spent to improve outcomes for students. In this report, the authors do not attempt to argue that spending on pay premiums for master's degrees is largely wasteful, as study after study has made that case. Instead, they argue that despite the preponderance of evidence against them, the vast majority of districts maintain these pay premiums because the incentives to stop are too weak and those to continue are too strong. State legislatures are best suited to alter the incentives districts face, so the authors offer a range of possible mechanisms states could use to help districts make lasting positive changes in teacher compensation.

This edition of "WICHE Insights" discusses the most recent results of WICHE's annual survey, "Tuition and Fees in the West," as well as the recent trends in state appropriations and state financial aid. Overall, the most recent data highlights a positive trend in state higher education finance as most states reported minimal tuition rate changes along with increases in state appropriations and financial aid over the past academic and fiscal years. Although most states are facing a positive fiscal outlook for the upcoming fiscal year, higher education institutions and systems are facing rising costs and declining enrollments, presenting challenges in addressing affordability. Key takeaways from the brief include: (1) Regional average tuition and fees for resident undergraduates at public four-year institutions were $10,028 in AY 2021-22, an increase of 1.2% from AY 2020-21; (2) Regional average in-district tuition and fees at public two-year institutions increased 3.4% from AY 2020-21 to $4,217 in AY 2021-22; (3) State appropriations in the West reached an all-time high in FY 2022, with over $32 billion in state support going to higher education in the current fiscal year. In addition to state dollars, states used about $924 million in COVID-19 relief funds for higher education in FY 2022; and (4) State financial aid per undergraduate increased between AY 2018-19 and AY 2019-20 and was at about the same amount as the national average, although state grant aid continues to be more likely based on need in the West compared to the national average.

Public data and accountability are key to an inclusive economic recovery. We need data on how different workers and businesses are faring in the recovery, so we can hold policymakers accountable to equitable outcomes for those most impacted. Disparities and inequities in skills training programs can only be eliminated if there is high-quality information on program outcomes available to practitioners and policymakers to assess and address equity gaps. This policy brief provides recommendations on how to measure and report on what matters to help diminish structural inequities and to shape implementation of federal recovery investments as well as new state and federal workforce investments for years to come.

Despite the availability of income-driven repayment (IDR) plans--and significant improvements to program design and generosity over time--too many federal student loan borrowers?continue to struggle with repayment. Many struggling borrowers never enroll in an IDR plan; even for some who do,?income-based monthly payments can?still be too high. Borrowers also struggle to navigate the bureaucratic hurdles of enrolling in and staying enrolled in?IDR plans. For IDR?to better?protect borrowers from unaffordable payments, keep borrowers out of default, and provide a reliable light at the end of the tunnel, policymakers must make significant reforms to IDR design and implementation. These forward-looking design changes must be made alongside ongoing efforts to address historic shortcomings of the IDR system. "How Reforming Income-Driven Repayment Can Reduce the Burden of Student Debt" focuses on two key design changes that will help reduce the burden of debt for millions of borrowers: (1) increasing the amount of a borrower's income that is "protected" from the IDR payment formula and (2) shortening the maximum repayment period. [This report was written with contributions from Jessica Thompson and J. Oliver Schak.]

It is difficult to overstate the importance of segregation for race- and ethnicity-based school funding disparities in the United States. In many respects, unequal educational opportunity depends existentially on segregation. Racial and ethnic disparities in wealth accumulation are perpetuated over generations, ensuring persistent segregation even after explicitly racist housing discrimination was outlawed. This process has had serious and lasting implications for many important outcomes, including modern school funding equity. The mutually dependent relationship between economic and racial/ethnic segregation simultaneously depresses revenue and increases costs in racially isolated districts, creating a self-sustaining cycle of unequal opportunity and unequal outcomes. The descriptive analysis presented in this report examines this process, both nationally and with a focus on seven metropolitan areas: Baltimore (Maryland), the Bay Area (California), Birmingham (Alabama), Hartford (Connecticut), Kansas City (Kansas/Missouri), San Antonio (Texas), and the Twin Cities (Minnesota/Wisconsin).

The federal government now offers a multitude of complicated income-driven repayment (IDR) plans that are difficult to understand, enroll in, and stay in. Many students who would benefit from IDR do not enroll, and others will have large amounts of debt forgiven despite earning high wages. The current problems with IDR are not an indictment of the basic approach, and IDR can be an important safety net for students whose earnings do not match the investment they made in their education. But the current version of IDR has problematic design details and implementation failures. This brief offers solutions to some of the biggest problems with IDR, drawing on the longer report, "Income-Driven Repayment of Student Loans: Logic, History, and the Need for Reform" (ED620805) which provides details on each of these solutions.

The data presented in this report provide facts about the extent to which local, state, and national governments commit resources to public education. As one might expect in a nation as diverse as the United States -- with respect to economics, geography, and politics -- the level of commitment to education varies on a state-by-state basis. Thus, NEA Research offers this report to its state and local affiliates as well as to researchers, policymakers, and the public as a tool to examine public education programs and services. Part I of this report -- Rankings 2021 -- provides state-level data on an array of topics relevant to the complex enterprise of public education. Part II of this report -- Estimates 2022 -- is in its 77th year of production. Estimates provides data tables projecting public school enrollment, employment and compensation of personnel, and finances, as reported by individual state departments of education. Part III of this report -- National Trends 2013-22 -- presents summary data of national trends in student enrollment and attendance, staff salaries, sources of school funding, and levels of educational expenditures in the previous 10 years. [For "Rankings of the States 2020 and Estimates of School Statistics 2021. NEA Research," see ED613033.]

We estimate the education and earnings returns to enrolling in technical two-year degree programs at community colleges in Missouri. A unique feature of the Missouri context is the presence of a highly-regarded, nationally-ranked technical college: State Technical College of Missouri (State Tech). Compared to enrolling in a non-technical community college program, we find that enrolling in a technical program at State Tech greatly increases students' likelihoods of graduation and earnings. In contrast, there is no evidence that technical education programs at other Missouri community colleges increase graduation rates, and our estimates of the earnings impacts of these other programs are much smaller than for State Tech. Our findings exemplify the importance of institutional differences in driving the efficacy of technical education and suggest great potential for high-quality programs to improve student outcomes.

Prior work on teacher candidates in Washington State has shown that about two thirds of individuals who trained to become teachers between 2005 and 2015 and received a teaching credential did not enter the state's public teaching workforce immediately after graduation, while about one third never entered a public teaching job in the state at all. In this analysis, we link data on these teacher candidates to unemployment insurance data in the state to provide a descriptive portrait of the future earnings and wages of these individuals inside and outside of public schools. Candidates who initially became public school teachers earned considerably more, on average, than candidates who were initially employed either in other education positions or in other sectors of the state's workforce. These differences persisted at least 10 years into the average career and across transitions into and out of teaching. There is therefore little evidence that teacher candidates who did not become teachers were lured into other professions by higher compensation. Instead, the patterns are consistent with demand-side constraints on teacher hiring during this time period that resulted in individuals who wanted to become teachers taking positions that offered lower wages but could lead to future teaching positions.

Researchers have argued that fast fashion's second-hand market has affected seamstresses' lives in various facets from business to livelihoods. This study seeks to explore effects the fast fashion's second-hand clothing market has on seamstress' business and livelihoods in Ghana. It also asks the question about how relevant formal and non-formal education is in the trade. Drawing on 12 semi-structured interviews in Accra, I argue that background, location, skill and education of seamstresses all contribute to the level of impact experienced by the SHC market on their business and livelihoods. The results suggest that there are both positive and negative impacts of the fast fashion second-hand market. The results also show that the effects of education are complicated, as both formal and non-formal avenues of training are accepted in the custom-made industry. Furthermore, fast fashion is portrayed as just one of the many ways neoliberalism affects the economy and the movement of materials between the global North and the global South.

This report outlines key data elements related to the Western Undergraduate Exchange (WUE), Western Regional Graduate Program (WRGP), and Professional Student Exchange Program (PSEP) for the 2021-22 academic year and is a core resource for policymakers, institutional leaders, counselors and other stakeholders across the region. This report contains participation and migration statistics for each program, shared in aggregate and by each Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education (WICHE) state and territory. There are also summaries that provide reference points for multiple stakeholders -- students and their families, high school counselors and campus advisors, institutional leaders, and policymakers. [For the 2020-21 report, see ED622665.]

About half of the more than $1 trillion in outstanding federal student Direct Loans are being repaid by borrowers using IDR plans. Some borrowers in IDR plans are now potentially eligible for forgiveness of their remaining loan balances after 20 or 25 years of payments. GAO was asked to review IDR forgiveness. This report examines: (1) how many loans have received IDR forgiveness and the extent to which Education ensures eligible loans receive forgiveness; and (2) the extent to which Education provides key information about IDR forgiveness to borrowers in IDR plans. GAO analyzed Education data on IDR loans that had been in repayment long enough to be potentially eligible for IDR forgiveness as of September 1, 2020, and data on loans forgiven as of June 1, 2021, the most recent data available. In addition, GAO interviewed Education and loan servicer officials, and reviewed documents from all nine servicers operating in 2020, Education requirements, and relevant federal laws and regulations. GAO is making five recommendations to Education, including that Education take steps to identify and address payment tracking errors, and ensure borrowers receive additional information about requirements for forgiveness and counts of qualifying payments. Education agreed with GAO's recommendations.

New Jersey's School Funding Reform Act (SFRA) is a "weighted" funding formula, designed to deliver adequate funding based on the unique student needs in every school district across the state. The SFRA included key elements to address long-standing racial and socio-economic disparities in New Jersey's public school system, most notably additional funding and resources for low-income students and districts with high levels of student poverty. Yet the State Legislature's continuing failure to fund the formula at required levels for more than a decade has increased, rather than reduced, education inequity among districts. Not well understood in the ongoing debates over school funding is the reality that a large percentage of New Jersey's Black and Latino students attend school in racially segregated districts that also rely heavily on state aid and lack the fiscal capacity to raise funding from the local property tax. In this report, the authors examine for the first time the stark disparities in education funding of Black and Latino students and districts serving disproportionate enrollments of those students. The report analyzes total spending gaps relative to full formula funding and explore the sources of those gaps through an examination of state and local revenue. The findings are troubling and underscore the urgent need for the Legislature and Executive to speed up the path to full formula funding, along with other policy changes to fulfill the State's obligation to provide adequate funding for a thorough and efficient education to all students.

Even before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, there were serious questions about whether children were actually learning. With widespread school closures and other disruptions to the education system brought about by the pandemic, the learning crisis has escalated to new heights. As the pandemic enters its third year, 23 countries -- home to around 405 million schoolchildren -- are yet to fully open schools, with many schoolchildren at risk of dropping out. Over the past two years nearly 147 million children missed more than half of their in-person schooling, amounting to?2 trillion hours of lost learning. Children have to get back to the classroom, but changes are needed to ensure that they really learn, starting with the foundational basics of reading and numeracy. This report offers unique insight into the extent of the learning crisis by providing an in-depth picture of which children are most at risk of not acquiring foundational learning skills. The analysis of 32 low- and middle-income countries and territories uses newly released data to examine the equity perspectives of the crisis, exploring learning outcomes among different subgroups of children, with a focus on the most vulnerable. [This work was supported by the Global Partnership for Education Knowledge and Innovation Exchange, a joint endeavour with the International Development Research Centre, Canada.]

Much of the policy debate emerging from concerns over student debt has focused on the structure and operation of income-driven repayment (IDR). As the number of available IDR plans and the share of borrowers enrolling in these plans has increased, the system has become more confusing and difficult to navigate. IDR has not prevented default problems, as early supporters hoped, or silenced the voices arguing that student debt is destroying the lives of too many borrowers.1 As demands for reducing the loan amounts borrowers must repay get stronger, it is useful to examine the logic behind IDR, the repayment system's strengths and weaknesses, and the reforms that could create a more sustainable and equitable public policy framework. This report reviews the history of support for IDR among policy experts and the gradual and haphazard development of current policies and analyzes potential reforms. It looks at proposals from other observers and analyze of the impacts of alternative approaches on borrowers in different circumstances and taxpayers, discussing the pros and cons of various modifications to the current system.

College students' experiences vary significantly by race and ethnicity. Often, institutions prioritize structuring their undergraduate experience to cater to white students' needs and desires, such as by hiring predominantly white instructors, and creating classroom learning environments that privilege white students. Though scholars researching students' college experiences and outcomes frequently measure college quality by more easily defined data--such as graduation rates and students' earnings after college--more research is needed that explicitly examines the racial and ethnic variation in students' college satisfaction. This report explores student-reported satisfaction from a nationally representative sample with a focus on variation across racial and ethnic groups, with most of the analyses centered on the four largest racial and ethnic groups (Asian, Black, Hispanic, and white people). The findings reinforce the need to deepen the exploration of college "success" measures beyond the average student. Though significant work is still needed before these measures of students' experiences can be integrated into larger policy measures of college quality, by examining racial and ethnic differences, the study can demonstrate strong variation in the ways institutional characteristics and students' experiences relate to their perceptions of college quality.

Educational success is often measured using short-term metrics such as exam results and league tables. While these offer snapshots in time, they also provide an incomplete and misleading picture. Success is about more than short-term achievements -- it's also about individuals' long-term goals, career success, personal fulfilment and contribution to society. New destination measures have been developed and published by the Department for Education (DfE), providing information about what young people were doing in the 12 months after leaving compulsory education. While this is useful, this does not provide much information about where young people end up five or ten years after they left an institution. However, the DfE have recently developed the Longitudinal Education Outcomes (LEO) dataset. This compiles data on young people's (up to the age of 30) activities and earnings over a decade, providing greater insight into young people's longer term prospects and trajectories. The purpose of this exploratory study is to investigate the potential for using DfE's LEO dataset to track the labour market outcomes of young people (up to age 30) who completed their education in the English education system. It also seeks to provide information about the value that schools and colleges can add to young people's destinations. Specifically, this study considers to what extent destination measures can provide information about the 'value-added' by schools and colleges in supporting young people to progress onto high quality destinations. In other words, by 'value-added', it focuses on isolating the impact of the institution where they studied their main 16-18 qualification, over and above their prior attainment and wider contextual factors (including socio-economic background, region and qualification studied). [For the accompanying Technical Report, see ED619072.]

The Ministry of Advanced Education and Skills Training provides leadership and direction for post-secondary education and skills training across the province to help British Columbians succeed and reach their full potential. This 2022/23 service plan outlines how the Ministry of Advanced Education and Skills Training will support the government's priorities including the foundational principles listed and selected action items identified in the November 2020 Minister's Mandate Letter. The policies, programs and projects developed over the course of this service plan period will align with the five foundational principles established by Government in 2020: putting people first; working toward lasting and meaningful reconciliation; supporting equity and anti-racism; ensuring a better future through fighting climate change and meeting greenhouse gas reduction targets; and supporting a strong, sustainable economy that works for everyone. [For the 2020/21-2022/23 Service Plan, see ED608458.]