Research and training to improve education outcomes

Informing education policy and training the next generation of education scholars

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Policy Impact

Increasing Economic Diversity at a Flagship University

Research shows that low-income students face unique barriers to applying to colleges. The HAIL (High Achieving Involved Leader) study at the University of Michigan explored whether providing an early, four-year guarantee of free tuition and fees could influence high-achieving, low-income students’ decisions to apply to a highly-selective university.

EPI's applied education policy research improves outcomes for children into adulthood.

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Rigorous training in causal inference

EPI's Causal Inference in Education Policy Research (CIEPR) program prepares students to evaluate education programs and policies by teaching them how to design, implement, and analyze policy experiments as well as empirical data. Alumni of CIEPR have gone on to build and engage in powerful research partnerships with different education systems across the country, including Los Angeles Unified School District, Boston Public Schools, and the Tennessee Department of Education.

An expert in children’s development and the effects of early childhood interventions, Christina Weiland’s projects revolve around the active ingredients that drive children’s success. Weiland is currently leading a five-year study of preschool to third-grade students in the Boston Public Schools, among other projects.

An expert in empirical labor and public economics, Kevin Stange has studied college enrollment and persistence, college choice, and the effects of different pricing structures. He is currently conducting research on the ways in which higher education institutions respond to labor market demands and measures that can be used to determine the value of liberal arts education.

A powerful resource

Michigan Education Data Center

EPI houses the Michigan Education Data Center, which helps researchers answer important questions―like does waiting a year to start kindergarten lead to better outcomes? MEDC houses more than 5 million education records from across the state of Michigan. More than 80 research projects use the data, focusing on early childhood education, school choice and mobility, literacy, P-20 pathways, and college success.

MEDC website

Accountability Social context Curriculum & instruction Literacy COVID-19 Virtual learning Charter schools Early learning College & career readiness Postsecondary pathways College affordability Students transitions to the labor market

Research and training to improve education outcomes

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Stange research quantifies “brain drain”

Stange examines data bias caused by college graduates' out-of-state migration

Ford School events for fall 2022 explore racial justice, international affairs, the state of democracy and more

Increasing Economic Diversity at a Flagship University

Research projects

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Skills, Majors, and Jobs: Does Higher Education Respond?

Evaluation of Michigan's Read by Grade Three Law

Christina Weiland

Kevin Stange

Michigan Education Data Center

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