Departments and Research Centers

Education Policy Initiative

Showing 211 - 240 of 608 results

News

Faculty publication on Michigan merit curriculum now in educational policy journal

Jan 27, 2017

A paper by Brian Jacob, Susan Dynarski, Kenneth Frank, and Barbara Schneider titled, “Are Expectations Alone Enough? Estimating the Effect of a Mandatory College-Prep Curriculum in Michigan” was published in Educational Evaluation and Policy...

Jacob and Dynarski ranked among top U.S. education policy influencers

News

Jacob examines effects of Evidence Based Literacy Instruction on student reading

Jan 25, 2017

An NBER working paper by Brian Jacob, "When Evidence is Not Enough: Findings from a Randomized Evaluation of Evidence-Based Literacy Instruction," is forthcoming in Labour Economics. Abstract This paper reports the results of an experimental...

Jacob in Brookings: Causes, consequences, and potential solutions for chronic absenteeism

News

Brian Jacob debates the effects of NCLB school accountability policies in JPAM articles

Jan 1, 2017

In "The changing federal role in school accountability" and "The potential and limits of federal policy: A response to Ladd," two January articles in the Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, Brian Jacob engages with Helen Ladd of Duke...

In Brookings, Jacob argues for greater support systems for community college students

News

Dynarski on "Fulfilling the promise of community college: The ASAP demonstrations"

Dec 7, 2016

Community colleges throughout the United States have low graduation rates, yet preliminary evidence from a new randomized trial suggests an effective policy prescription, write Susan Dynarski and Meghan Oster. Their article, “Fulfilling the promise...

Professor Susan Dynarski’s research confirms the basis for radical educational innovation

News

Michigan charter school practices rarely differ from those offered in traditional public schools

Dec 1, 2016

A new study by the University of Michigan’s Education Policy Initiative (EPI) shows Michigan’s charter schools follow similar practices as the traditional public schools that their students would otherwise attend. At a time when one of the major...

Michigan charter school practices rarely differ from those offered in traditional public schools

News

Why investors are suddenly bullish on for-profit colleges, Dynarski in NYT Upshot

Nov 21, 2016

Susan Dynarski, writing for the Upshot, explains why investors are suddenly bullish on for-profit colleges in “With Trump, investors see profits again in for-profit colleges.”Under the Obama administration, for-profit colleges faced mounting...

News

"To me, it is immoral to deny children a better education" - Dynarski featured in NYT

Nov 4, 2016

David Leonhardt’s November 4 New York Times op-ed, “Schools that work,” features charter school research and commentary by Susan Dynarski, co-director of the Ford School’s Education Policy Initiative. The op-ed concerns a controversial ballot...

“Is student debt hampering the housing recovery?” No, says Dynarski in Brookings

News

Susan Dynarski in NYT, “A conveyor belt of dropouts and debt at for-profit colleges”

Oct 31, 2016

Susan Dynarski, in Sunday’s New York Times, describes for-profit colleges as having “a conveyor belt of dropouts and debt.”Dynarski points out that enrollment at for-profit colleges has jumped, especially since the Great Recession, when increased...

Susan Dynarski on Michigan Radio's "Stateside": Ways to fix America’s student loan mess

News

Stange on a new measure of college quality, effects of sector and peers on degree attainment

Oct 19, 2016

“A New Measure of College Quality to Study the Effects of College Sector and Peers on Degree Attainment,” a journal article by Jonathan Smith and Kevin Stange, has been published in the fall 2016 edition of Education Finance and...

Stange on a new measure of college quality, effects of sector and peers on degree attainment

News

U-M attracts 262 HAIL Scholarship recipients from 52 Michigan counties in first year

Oct 17, 2016

Enrolling at the University of Michigan seemed like a far-fetched dream for Devin Raymond.Despite his 3.9 high school GPA, being the president of student council, and his involvement in choir, band, musical theater and other extracurricular...

News

Jacob on Educational Test Score Manipulation in NBER Working Paper

Oct 12, 2016

“The Causes and Consequences of Test Score Manipulation: Evidence from the New York Regents Examinations” a journal article by Thomas S. Dee, Will Dobbie, Brian A. Jacob, and Jonah Rockoff, has been released as an NBER working paper.AbstractIn this...

News

Jacob on technology and educational equality in Journal of the Social Sciences

Oct 6, 2016

"Can technology help promote equality of educational opportunities?" a journal article by Brian Jacob, Dan Berger, Cassandra Hart, and Susanna Loeb (MPP '94), has been published in the September 2016 edition of the Russell Sage Foundation's Journal...

News

Brian Jacob in Brookings: "The wisdom of mandatory grade retention" in Michigan

Sep 30, 2016

Brian Jacob's latest contribution to Brookings' Evidence Speaks focuses on “The wisdom of mandatory grade retention.”In the article, Jacob investigates whether it is sound public policy to require third graders who fall behind in grade-level reading...

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

News

"Class sizes in Michigan, the quiet crisis," new research by Education Policy Initiative

Sep 21, 2016

New research from the Education Policy Initiative at the University of Michigan's Ford School of Public Policy found that many Michigan K-12 students experience very large core classes—with 40 or more students—but that some students are at greater...

"Class sizes in Michigan, the quiet crisis," new research by Education Policy Initiative

News

In New York Times, Susan Dynarski welcomes FAFSA changes, urges more reforms

Sep 16, 2016

Susan Dynarski, a longtime advocate for simplifying the FAFSA (the financial aid application students and their families must submit for college), welcomes new changes and suggests future reforms in this Sunday's New York Times “Economic...

News

In Brookings, Dynarski advocates for expansion of charter school quota in Massachusetts

Sep 15, 2016

In some urban areas of Massachusetts, a statewide cap on charter schools restricts any additional charter seats. Susan Dynarski and Sarah Cohodes tackle this issue in “Massachusetts charter cap holds back disadvantaged students,” the latest Evidence...

News

Don’t miss Dynarski’s “74” interview on data-driven education policies and practices

Sep 2, 2016

Susan Dynarski was interviewed by The 74, a non-profit news site (named after the 74 million American children under the age of 18) that covers pressing topics in domestic education.The interview, conducted by senior staff writer Matt Barnum, covers...

News

Susan Dynarski in NYT, “Why American schools are even more unequal than we thought”

Aug 16, 2016

Susan Dynarski, writing for The New York Times, explains “Why American schools are even more unequal than we thought.” In the piece, Dynarski describes a new measure of economic hardship—one that reveals an even more troubling picture of the...

News

Brian Jacob on student test scores—how they’re assembled and why that matters

Aug 16, 2016

In “Student test scores: How the sausage is made and why you should care,” Brian Jacob describes how student ability is measured; how various test makers analyze and report student performance; and why this matters for policymakers and practitioners...

News

Stange on investing in schools: Capital spending, facility conditions, and student achievement

Aug 1, 2016

“Investing in Schools: Capital Spending, Facility Conditions, and Student Achievement” a journal article by Paco Martorell, Kevin Stange, and Isaac McFarlin, has been published in the August 2016 edition of the Journal of Public...

Stange on investing in schools: Capital spending, facility conditions, and student achievement

News

RNC’s new call for a return to a “competitive” student loan market won’t work, says Dynarski

Jul 21, 2016

In “The RNC wants to make student loans competitive again. They never were,” Susan Dynarski provides detailed context on one plank of the newly released Republican platform, which pushes to get the federal government out of the student loan...

News

EPI’s DC conference, “Restructuring student loans: Lessons from abroad"

Jun 14, 2016

Roughly 100 guests—including policymakers, practitioners, and members of the press—attended “Restructuring student loans: Lessons from abroad,” a conference organized by Susan Dynarski, co-founder and co-director of the Ford School’s Education...

EPI’s DC conference, “Restructuring student loans: Lessons from abroad"

News

For Brookings, Brian Jacob describes "the opportunities and challenges of digital learning"

May 6, 2016

On the 20th anniversary of the publication of his first op-ed on the use of classroom computers, Brian Jacob, who is engaged in several digital learning research initiatives, explores “The opportunities and challenges of digital learning.” Jacob’s...

News

“Is student debt hampering the housing recovery?” No, says Dynarski in Brookings

May 4, 2016

“The striking gap in homeownership is not between college-educated people who did and did not borrow, but between those with and without a college education,” writes Susan Dynarski in “The dividing line between haves and have-nots in homeownership:...

State & Hill

Tackling educational disparities “in the classroom, on campus, and beyond”

Apr 22, 2016

Once, she was a first-generation college student from a working-class suburb of Boston. Now, she is an internationally renowned professor of education policy with the ear of the White House. So Susan Dynarski knows that education can be...

Tackling educational disparities “in the classroom, on campus, and beyond”

News

Dynarski in NYT Upshot, "How to use tax credits to increase college attendance"

Apr 19, 2016

Susan Dynarski’s latest New York Times Upshot contribution explores “How to use tax credits to increase college attendance.”“Taxpayers will file for $20 billion in tax credits for college expenses they paid in 2015, but while those who get [the...

News

In Brookings, Dynarski investigates effects of slashing student loan interest rates

Apr 14, 2016

Susan Dynarski considers the effects of student loan interest rates in “What does cutting rates on student loans do?” The piece appears in Evidence Speaks, a weekly publication of the Brookings Institution's Center on Children and Families. Dynarski...

In Brookings, Dynarski investigates effects of slashing student loan interest rates

News

Dynarski in Sunday NYT, why talented black and Hispanic students can go undiscovered

Apr 9, 2016

Susan Dynarski’s economic view, “Why talented black and Hispanic students can go undiscovered,” was published in this Sunday's New York Times. “Public schools are increasingly filled with black and Hispanic students, but the children identified as...

Dynarski in Sunday NYT, why talented black and Hispanic students can go undiscovered

News

Dynarski's FAFSA reform championed by American Enterprise Institute writer

Apr 5, 2016

Susan Dynarski's proposal to eliminate the FAFSA form was among the reforms championed by an American Enterprise Institute (AEI) writer and research assistant in an article published Tuesday, April 5.In "Fix student aid and FAFSA to help more...

News

Dynarski on the effects of Boston’s charter high schools on college prep, entry, choice

Apr 1, 2016

“Stand and Deliver: Effects of Boston’s Charter High Schools on College Preparation, Entry, and Choice” a journal article by Joshua Angrist, Sarah Cohodes, Susan Dynarski, Parag Pathak, and Christopher Walters, has been published in the April 2016...