Meredith Billings

We also provide several recommendations for policy and practice.

Thank you to our participants for sharing their time and expertise with us and to @kresge.org for supporting our research.

(3) One out of the 7 programs that we studied changed their design from last-dollar to first-dollar to better support the financial needs of their students. We discuss the successes and challenges of that decision.

(2) Multiple participants counseled students against taking out student loans because “loan debt is scary” and/or they interpreted that CC students had lower financial need than their four-year counterparts and they should only take out loans when they transferred to four-year institutions.

Some highlights from our research: (1) Even with financial support from promise programs - students still struggle with basic needs such as housing, food, transportation, and childcare.

Sage Journals: Discover world-class research Subscription and open access journals from Sage, the world's leading independent academic publisher.

New pub with Amy Li on the financial needs of students in CC promise programs. We examined 7 local programs - interviewing 32 practitioners and analyzing 43 docs on program resources and financial challenges that promise students face. #highered #newpub

journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

I am begging some of y’all to read a book. At this point I will accept literally any book at all.

Congratulations and welcome to Texas! 😊

Special thanks to the @kresge.org who funded this work. #highered #freecollege #promiseprograms

Administrators push to improve free college access | Brookings College staff share insights to improve free college programs, reduce barriers, and support student success.

Free college/promise programs have been around for two+ decades. Admin who work with and implement the promise have learned a lot. Amy Li, Denisa Gandara, and I asked them about their recs for policy and practice. Here’s what they said with commentary from us: www.brookings.edu/articles/adm...

Any recommendations for software programs that will create a publishable-quality figure for a journal article? (Think creating a figure to describe a process or a figure to describe your conceptual framework.) Ideally free or inexpensive - but will take other recommendations too! #academia #pubs

You have three days, starting today, to leave a public comment with the FDA about, say, why COVID-19 boosters should remain available to everyone and also free. "Individual consumer" is the category you most likely want (unless you are one of the other categories; if so, choose that).

record.umich.edu/articles/dom...

He is out at Michigan - they just announced the interim president!

The Council on Public Pouch in Higher Education at ASHE (Association for the Study of Higher Education) has a webinar on Monday, May 5th at 12:30-1:30 mountain time (2:30-3:30 eastern). Summary of the session: Join us for an urgent and insightful conversation as we take a deep dive into the state of higher education 100 days into the Trump administration. In this pivotal moment, a distinguished panel of scholars and policy experts will analyze the early effects of federal and state policies on key issues like student access and affordability. We’ll also explore the alarming implications of budget cuts to the Department of Education, the dismantling of federal data systems, and the erosion of DEI initiatives on campuses nationwide. As public perceptions of higher education continue to shift, our panelists will discuss what lies ahead for institutions, policymakers, and researchers facing an increasingly complex and challenging landscape.

Me, @robertkelchen.com, Diane Cheng of IHEP, and Kyle Southern of TICAS bout to have a real depressing chat on Monday. You can register if you want to join us: www.ashe.ws/events/cpphe...

Brownstone buildings at Teachers College looking west toward Riverside Church. Creative Commons photo by Bohao Zhao

#edusky colleagues, higher ed or K-12, please share. We are at Columbia, but we know that this struggle matters for education across the lifespan.

A Statement from Teachers College Faculty on the Attack on American Education

docs.google.com/document/d/1...

Also thank you to the @spencerfoundation.bsky.social who funded this research.

Thanks again to my two wonderful co-authors and happy to see that this article is out in the world!

This quote inspired the title of our article and hopefully stresses the importance of how policy advocates also need to consider the political ideologies, beliefs, and values of the policymakers when arguing for their preferred policy action.

One legislator said “there’s something ennobling and uplifting and gracious about struggling and overcoming” when discussing why states shouldn’t offer free college because it sets up a system where folks are “content with being a dependent of the state.”

Some Republicans framed these same recipients as less deserving of support because they were more likely to drop out of college without their degrees or take longer to complete their degrees.

Democrats discussed the main recipients of NMOS as adult learners, part-time, and student parents who are deserving of support because they are hardworking and disciplined to juggle their multiple responsibilities.

Support and opposition tended to fall along party lines with Democrats supporting NMOS and Republicans opposing NMOS. We also examined how state legislators framed the NMOS recipients as deserving or undeserving of support.

Drawing on 9 hrs of legislative meetings - we found that state legislators who support the NMOS focused on individual benefits and the state legislators who oppose the NMOS focused on state burdens.

New pub with @itspgr.bsky.social & Denisa Gandara examining how state policymakers in New Mexico frame their support or opposition to the New Mexico Opportunity Scholarship, a statewide promise program that has a flexible and generous design. #edusky #highered

epaa.asu.edu/index.php/ep...

A flyer advertising a rally to support the department of education public servants who have been laid off this week. The rally will be 8am-10am outside the Lyndon b Johnson building in Washington DC.

Folks at #AEFP25 I know you all worked incredibly hard on the research you are sharing this week, but if you can spare an hour, come and join the rally at ED on Friday 8am.

I’ll be there with other folks, happy to meet people who don’t want to go alone.
DMs open, darfin.81 on signal

#EduSky.

Evidence-Based Education Policy Research | Live Handbook Explore evidence-based education policy research at our digital hub. Access data-driven insights to improve learning outcomes and shape effective policies.

Objective, comprehensive, rigorous, timely, and useful:
A digital hub for evidence-based education policy research.

#EdResearch #EdPolicy

livehandbook.org

🧪The entire staff of the Department of Education’s NCES-a vital independent statistical agency - has just been RIFed. The continued erasure of data and evidence allows for the Trump administration to hide the impact of their corruption.
#EduSky #Scisky @aeraedresearch.bsky.social @cossa.bsky.social

Mathematica 65,991 followers 1d • • • • To our clients, partners, and peers: We want to let you know that we are reducing our workforce to align with the needs of our clients and ensure the continued, exceptional support we've offered for decades to the public, private, and philanthropic sectors. The staff we are letting go are skilled, experienced, and passionate about their work. Any organization would be fortunate to have them. Please don't hesitate to reach out if we can be of assistance.

Dan Gaylin • 2nd President and CEO, NORC 10h • 너 + Follow Like many of our peer organizations, this week NORC had to reduce our staff to ensure we are operating effectively and have the right mix of skills to align with client needs. The people departing NORC are highly talented and capable professionals, and they have made important contributions to our mission of delivering trustworthy and reliable data and analysis to inform society's most important decisions. They will be valuable employees and colleagues wherever their careers take them next. To each of you who are leaving, and on behalf of everyone at NORC, I offer our deepest thanks and appreciation for your dedicated service and the lasting impact you've made on our organization.

marc MDRC 15,135 followers 9h • 0 To our collaborators: Like many of our peer organizations, MDRC has had to reduce our staff in recent days, letting go of many talented and highly skilled professionals. Each of these colleagues would be an asset to another organization, and we encourage you to consider them for any career opportunities you may have. MDRC remains committed to our mission of learning what works to improve policy, practice, and people's well-being.

// Westat Westat 35,042 followers 22h • In light of recent industry changes, Westat is making strategic reductions to our workforce to better align with our clients' needs. The talented professionals who are leaving Westat have made significant contributions to our mission and embody our values of uncompromising excellence, client commitment, and innovation. They are current and future leaders in their fields and will undoubtedly be an asset to any organization they join. We remain committed to our mission to improve lives by delivering exceptional data-driven research and technical assistance, fostering insights and solutions to advance health, education, and social and economic opportunity.

Heartbreaking to see announcements of major layoffs at most research organizations that have played a vital role in supporting federal statistics for education and developing high-quality evidence about what policies/practices actually work.

Below are just a few examples from my LinkedIn feed.

After President Trump's inauguration last month, he has steadily signed a slate of executive orders to keep these education promises: combatting critical race theory, DEl, gender ideology extremism, and discrimination in admissions. President Trump has also been focused on eliminating wasteful bureaucracy and harmful programs in the federal government. To that end, today he signed [Executive Order XYZ, entitled "Eliminating the Department of Education,] which has given us a clear and final mission. We are to identify which of the Department's functions, programs, and offices are not mandated by statute, and eliminate them. This reorganization will impact staff, budgets, reporting, and more —and in coming months, we will determine how it can be accomplished with minimal delay and disruption. The President further tasked us with creating a plan to reallocate and reassign functions of the Department of Education that would be more effectively managed by other agencies. This plan will offer Congress a road map toward fulfilling the expectations of the President and the American people. The new vision—which I hope each of you will embrace going forward—can be expressed as four main convictions: Parents are the primary decision makers in their children's education. Students deserve to be protected from physical violence, racial discrimination, medical tyranny, and gender extremism ideology on campus. Postsecondary education should be a path to a well-paying career aligned with workforce needs. Taxpayer-funded education should refocus on meaningful learning: proficiency in math, reading, and core subjects, and patriotism in American history and civics. As we move to reduce the Department's middleman role in education, these four convictions must guide us toward conscientious and pragmatic action. The elimination of bureaucracy should free us, not limit us, in our pursuit of these goals Removing red tape and bureaucratic barriers will empower parents to make th

SCOOP: Now that Linda McMahon is confirmed/sworn in as secretary, Trump will be imminently issuing an executive order eliminating the Department of Education.

I’ve obtained a draft of an email that McMahon will be sending to staff re: the EO and the department’s “final mission”.

Here is a portion:

Go Blue! But seriously though an important resource during these times where national datasets are disappearing.