Policy Topics

Curriculum & instruction

Showing 1 - 30 of 52 results

College Course Map

The challengeOver the last two decades, investments in digital infrastructure for statewide longitudinal data systems mean researchers now have access to longitudinal postsecondary transcript data. However, because this data was created for administr...

Publication

Transitional kindergarten programs expand early education access, boost academic gain

Aug 16, 2024

Children enrolled in transitional kindergarten programs in Michigan did better in math and English by the time they reached 3rd grade, with higher test scores than other kids who didn't go through the program, according to a new policy brief from the...

Transitional kindergarten programs expand early education access, boost academic gain

Publication

U-M researchers partner with District of Columbia Public Schools for Pre-K curriculum implementation study

Apr 24, 2024

University of Michigan researchers from the Education Policy Initiative (EPI) at the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy and the Marsal Family School of Education have partnered with MDRC, District of Columbia Public Schools (DCPS), and the Urban ...

U-M’s Education Policy Initiative launches project to boost early learning success with new curriculum readiness measure

Publication

NASEM committee including EPI’s Christina Weiland urges changes to preschool curricula to improve equity and support high-quality early education in the U.S.

Apr 18, 2024

A new report by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) lays out a new vision for high-quality preschool curricula that support equitable early education for all children. The report recommends that in the next five year...

Weiland named inaugural Karl and Martha Kohn Professor of Social Policy

Publication

U-M education researchers present evidence-based findings and analysis to inform Michigan’s Pre-K-for-All goals

Dec 6, 2023

Achieving Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer’s aim of universal Pre-K, made in her State of the State address in January 2023, will require building upon its established programs and making some adjustments to the state’s education system. A ...

News

Seattle Times endorses Weiland pre-K for all plan in Washington state

Aug 12, 2023

Calling for early education for all, the Seattle Times Editorial Board has endorsed a plan by Christina Weiland, Education Policy Initiative faculty co-director, and her colleagues for universal pre-k in Washington state. Weiland’s 2021 policy br...

Smart from the Start: Closing Early Opportunity Gaps with Strategic Early Learning Investments

News

Weiland expertise on transitional kindergarten, universal preschool, in the news

Jan 29, 2023

Education Policy Initiative faculty co-director Christina Weiland has an expertise in pre-k, and recently published a paper on Transitional Kindergarten. Both topics have been in the news. In her State of the State address, Michigan Governor Gret...

Publication

Michigan transitional kindergarten widely available, supported by administrators and parents

Jan 26, 2023

Expanding access to high-quality early education has been a bipartisan goal of Michigan policymakers for at least a decade. New findings by the University of Michigan Education Policy Initiative provide the first systematic description of transiti...

News

Weiland and co-authors break down Tennessee’s Voluntary Pre-K study

Feb 13, 2022

Responding to a recent study that shows the negative impact of Tennessee’s Voluntary Pre-K program, Christina Weiland, associate professor of public policy and education, and five other authors penned an article defending early childhood education (E...

Investment in Pre-K can expand access, increase pay - Weiland

Publication

IES Predoctoral Fellows Moffett and Wessiman, Weiland, and colleagues explore effects of pre-k classroom organization

Dec 16, 2021

What are the best ways to judge how instruction in pre-kindergarten classrooms is organized? Linkages between facets of classroom organization such as better organization of materials, smooth transitions, and clear routines are thought to make childr...

IES Predoctoral Fellows Moffett and Wessiman, Weiland, and colleagues explore effects of pre-k classroom organization

Publication

Transitional kindergarten in Michigan: Impacts through elementary school and predictors of a lasting boost

Sep 29, 2021

Access to early education programs have been shown for decades to improve the educational prospects for children in kindergarten and beyond. A new type of early education program widespread in Michigan and California—transitional kindergarten (TK)—ha...

Transitional kindergarten in Michigan: Impacts through elementary school and predictors of a lasting boost

News

The School Year Really Ended in March

May 13, 2020 "The School Year Really Ended in March" article

“Abrupt closings have stalled the learning of millions of students. U.S. education needs a rescue, an economist says, and it won’t be cheap.” (read more)

News

Report finds gaps in access to career, technical ed programs

Feb 5, 2020

A new University of Michigan report detailing access to career and technical education programs in Michigan has found that while CTE courses are popular among high school students, there’s a gap in access to them. CTE courses prepare students to ...

Report finds gaps in access to career, technical ed programs

News

Dynarski’s work on school day SAT testing cited in Inside Higher Ed analysis of the 2019 test results

Nov 8, 2019

Sue Dynarski’s research is cited in a recent Inside Higher Ed analysis of an initiative that expanded access to the SAT for low-income, first-generation, and minority students. 2019 marked the highest number of SAT test-takers to date: 2.2 mill...

News

Professor Brian Jacob says Michigan student-teacher ratio is higher than reported estimations

Sep 28, 2018

As education in Michigan falls under ever greater scrutiny, one glaring issue seems to stand out: the state’s lopsided student-teacher ratio. One of the highest ratios in the nation, Ford School professor Brian Jacob believes the issue is even worse ...

More harm than good? Professor Brian Jacob criticizes the continued turnover of accountability systems for Michigan schools

EPI Policy briefs

Implementing a High-Quality Early Learning Curriculum: Lessons from Maine

April 30, 2026

Lauren O'Hair, Michelle J. Bellino, Melanie Muskin, Anne Taylor, Terri Sabol, Christina Weiland, Dana McCoy

High-quality, coherent early learning experiences are foundational to children's optimal learning and development. Yet, in the U.S., even as preschool availability has increased, many children lack access to high-quality learning experiences.

Young children smiling while playing with educational toys

EPI Policy briefs

Implementing High-Quality Early Learning Curriculum: Lessons from Mississippi

January 1, 2026

Michelle J. Bellino, Lauren O'Hair, Christina Weiland, Anne Taylor, Melanie Muskin, Terri Sabol, Dana McCoy

Research has shown consistently that access to high-quality preschool sets children on a path to success in kindergarten and beyond. But ensuring public preschool programs are high-quality has been challenging. Although on average programs in the Uni...

Child cuts paper with other craft supplies on table.

EPI Policy briefs

Michigan Transitional Kindergarten: Impacts on Early Education Enrollment and Student Achievement through Third Grade

July 1, 2024

Jordy Berne, Brian Jacob, Tareena Musaddiq, Anna Shapiro, Christina Weiland

In recent years, several states have expanded a new publicly funded learning option: Transitional Kindergarten (TK). TK programs bridge prekindergarten and kindergarten in their eligibility, requirements, and design. Thousands of young children atten...

Photo of children in kindergarten classroom

EPI Policy briefs

Michigan Transitional Kindergarten: A First Look at Program Reach and Features

January 1, 2023

Anna Shapiro, Jordy Berne, Katia Cordoba Garcia, Brian Jacob, Tareena Musaddiq, Samuel Owusu, Christina Weiland

Thousands of young Michigan children attend state-funded transitional kindergarten (TK) programs. These programs are intended to provide an additional year of early education before children begin traditional kindergarten. School districts in Michiga...

Teacher with children in kindergarten classroom

EPI Working papers

When do the Literacy Skills of Preschool Attenders and Non-Attenders Converge? Evidence from Boston

October 1, 2019

Christina Weiland, Anna Shapiro, Rebecca Unterman

Attending preschool improves children’s kindergarten readiness, but the cognitive outcomes of preschool attenders and non-attenders tend to converge partially or fully in elementary school. In older programs, most of the non-attender “catch up” occur...

EPI Working papers

Estimating the Effects of a Large Network of Charter Schools Managed by a For-profit Operator

March 1, 2018

Susan Dynarski, Daniel Hubbard, Brian Jacob

In this paper, we leverage randomized admissions lotteries to estimate the impact of attending a National Heritage Academy (NHA) charter school. NHA is the fourth largest for-profit charter operator in the country, enrolling more than 56,000 students...

Student walking down a hallway at school

EPI Working papers

Vocational and Career Tech Education in American High Schools: The Value of Depth Over Breadth

September 1, 2017

Daniel Kreisman, Kevin Stange

Vocational education is a large part of the high school curriculum, yet we have little understanding of what drives vocational enrollment or whether these courses help or harm early careers. To address this we develop a framework for curriculum choic...

Student completing a metalworking project

EPI Working papers

Measuring Instructor Effectiveness in Higher Education

December 1, 2016

Brian Jacob, Kevin Stange, Pieter De Vlieger

Instructors are a chief input into the higher education production process, yet we know very little about their role in promoting student success. This is in contrast to elementary and secondary schooling, for which ample evidence suggests teacher qu...

EPI Working papers

Are Expectations Alone Enough? Estimating the Effect of a Mandatory College-Prep Curriculum in Michigan

January 1, 2016

Brian Jacob, Susan Dynarski, Kenneth Frank, Barbara Schneider

This paper examines the impacts of the Michigan Merit Curriculum (MMC), a statewide college-preparatory curriculum that applies to the high school graduating class of 2008 and later. We use a student, longitudinal database for all public school stude...

EPI Working papers

When Evidence is Not Enough: Findings from a Randomized Evaluation of Evidence-Based Literacy Instruction

February 1, 2015

Brian Jacob

This paper reports the results of an experimental evaluation of Evidence Based Literacy Instruction (EBLI). Developed over 15 years ago, EBLI aims to provide teachers with instructional strategies to improve reading accuracy, fluency and comprehensio...

EPI Policy briefs

The Michigan Merit Curriculum and Teacher Compositional Change

October 1, 2012

Susan Dynarski, Brian Jacob, Kenneth Frank, Barbara Schneider

In the spring of 2006 the state of Michigan enacted the Michigan Merit Curriculum (MMC) with the intent to increase the rigor of student course-taking, improve student performance, and increase college matriculation rates. This policy brief focuses o...

EPI Policy briefs

Impacts of the Michigan Merit Curriculum on Student Outcomes - Preliminary Findings from the First Cohort

October 1, 2012

Susan Dynarski, Brian Jacob, Kenneth Frank, Barbara Schneider

In 2006 the state of Michigan adopted a comprehensive set of high school graduation requirements known as the Michigan Merit Curriculum (MMC). These requirements were designed to increase the rigor of high school course taking in Michigan and better ...

EPI Policy briefs

The Michigan Context - High School Attainment and College Enrollment Across the State

October 1, 2012

Susan Dynarski, Brian Jacob, Kenneth Frank, Barbara Schneider

In order to understand the educational landscape in which the Michigan Merit Curriculum (MMC) was enacted, we examine the attainment trajectory of high school students in Michigan. These findings will provide a baseline against which we can interpret...

EPI Working papers

Manipulation in the Grading of New York's Regents Examinations

February 1, 2011

Brian Jacob, Thomas Dee, Justin McCrary

The challenge of designing effective performance measurement and incentives is a general one in economic settings where behavior and outcomes are not easily observable. These issues are particularly prominent in education where, over the last two dec...

Other reports

The Impact of No Child Left Behind on Students, Teachers, and Schools

October 1, 2010

Brian Jacob, Thomas Dee

The controversial No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) brought test-based school accountability to scale across the United States. This study draws together results from multiple data sources to identify how the new accountability systems developed in res...