Education Policy Initiative

Dynarski provides testimony to the Senate HELP Committee
Michigan Education Data Center

A robust clearinghouse for the state of Michigan's PK-12 student post-secondary, and early childhood data for researchers. See below for more details on MEDC.
Rigorous Training

UM's EPI was recently awarded $4.6 million dollar grant to train doctoral fellows in causal inference methods. Join the EPI team as a predoctoral or postdoctoral fellow and become an expert in education policy research.
Informing Education Policy
We engage with policymakers and key legislative agencies to identify pertinent education policy questions, conduct rigorous research, and communicate research findings.

Photo credit: William Atkins / The George Washington University
Dissemination and Outreach
Lectures by leading scholars, full-day conferences, work-in-progress seminar series focused on the ultimate goal of improved educational outcomes.
Outreach & Engagement:
Public Engagement and Events. See below for a video recording of our recent "Bringing the Actual Science of Reading to Policy and Practice" event.

Informing Policy

ICYMI: Bringing the Actual Science of Reading to Policy and Practice

During a recent EPI virtual panel event, four experts in early literacy discuss what the science of reading can mean for students, teachers, and in classrooms.

Expanding Evaluation

ICYMI: Early Education for Refugee Children Affected by Humanitarian Crisis

EPI recently hosted a talk by NYU's Dr. Hirokazu Yoshikawa, an expert in early childhood education. His recent work evaluates early childhood education programming for refugee children from Syria, Jordan, Iraq, Lebanon, and Bangladesh.

In the News

Low-income students lose ground

Dynarski and co-authors, Chris Avery and Sarah Turner, find that first-time student enrollment in U.S. colleges dropped by 13% from fall 2019 to fall 2020. According to recent NSC data, declines for low-income students was even more dramatic. Their recent Science magazine article, authors call for an aggressive federal response.