Departments and Research Centers

Education Policy Initiative

The Education Policy Initiative (EPI) is a program within the Ford School that brings together nationally-recognized education policy scholars focused on the generation and dissemination of policy-relevant education research.

Showing 31 - 60 of 676 results

State & Hill

Katherine Michelmore and Natasha Pilkauskas on policy rooted in evidence and facts

Apr 24, 2024

Ford School students take on a variety of different roles after graduation—some do research, some will engage in advocacy, others will become civil servants. As instructors of two of the core research methods courses that our students take, we have...

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...

News

Transformative upgrades to Michigan's longitudinal data system

Apr 11, 2024

A new $4 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education will improve Michigan’s statewide longitudinal data system, the go-to source for critical education data going to researchers and other stakeholders in Michigan and nationwide. The grant...

Illustration of a bubble test sheet with bubbles filled in and lines connecting them like a circuitboard

News

Education research in service of others

Apr 11, 2024

2022 Gerald R. Ford Presidential Fellow and Education Policy Initiative (EPI) Research Assistant Katie Hyland (MPP ‘24) is set to graduate this spring following the completion of her Master’s in Public Policy. She takes with her two years of...

Publication

Lessons learned: Urban charter schools demonstrate potential to improve student performance

Feb 22, 2024

While the merits of charter schools vs. traditional public schools are well-documented, some charter schools in urban areas can dramatically improve student achievement, especially among disadvantaged students, says a University of Michigan...

News

School enrollment during COVID-19: U-M study reveals racial disparities

Feb 21, 2024

Student enrollment in districts that provided in-person schooling in fall 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic showed a greater decline among nonwhite students than white students.But in districts that offered virtual learning, the opposite was true,...

Brian Jacob, the Walter H. Annenberg Professor of Education Policy at the Ford School.

News

Jacob and Stange: Getting free college right

Feb 9, 2024

Governor Gretchen Whitmer proposed making the first two years of community college free in Michigan in her 2024 State of the State AddressIn an opinion published in Bridge Michigan, Brian Jacob and Kevin Strange applaud Governor Whitmer for her...

Headshots of Brian Jacob and Kevin Stange

News

EPI conference looks at the dynamics of higher education and labor markets

Jan 31, 2024

“Achieving the alignment of what’s needed and what students are learning has profound implications for our shared economic prosperity. The United States is undergoing a massive workforce restructuring. While college affordability is really...

News

Hamp contributes her unique perspective on Pre-K for All

Jan 30, 2024

Nikki Hamp (MPA ‘23) had several professional lives before arriving at the Ford School. An MD, she is a board-certified developmental behavioral pediatrician, and until recently has been the medical director of the Arbor Autism Clinic in Ypsilanti...

News

Data mining at USED: Updating old systems to inform new policy

Jan 30, 2024

Kevin Stange approached PhD student Nathan Sotherland in the summer of 2022 with an offer to join him in a unique assignment in the U.S. Department of Education (USED). As a part of the first cohort of economists to join the Office of Under...

News

Ford school faculty available to weigh in on 2024 elections

Jan 28, 2024

The University of Michigan has published an experts guide to the 2024 elections. Ford School faculty are available to offer insights on relevant issues impacting the elections, including the following: Economics Betsey Stevenson, professor of...

Red, white, and blue balloons and stars with a large white checkmark

News

Jacob and Weiland make the 2024 RHSU Edu-Scholar Public Influence Rankings

Jan 28, 2024

Education Week has unveiled the annual 2024 RHSU Edu-Scholar Public Influence Rankings which rank education scholars based on criteria that determines who has made the largest impact in their field over the previous year. Christina Weiland,...

Headshots of Brian Jacob and Christina Weiland

Publication

Weiland addresses Michigan's $107M preschool education investment

Dec 11, 2023

Christina Weiland, faculty co-director of the Education Policy Initiative, has studied pre-K programs around the country. The state of Michigan will spend an additional $107M in its 2023-2024 budget on pre-K, hoping to increase the number of...

State & Hill

Spotlights, fall 2023

Dec 10, 2023

What’s on the barbie? Economists Justin Wolfers and Betsey Stevenson were on the guest list as the White House hosted a State Dinner for Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in October. Skills match More than fifty...

Betsey Stevenson and Justin Wolfers White House picture

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...

News

CIERS seminar leads to on-the-ground financial aid research

Oct 2, 2023

“We have great data in Iowa, and we are always interested in working with graduate students to probe it and see what we can learn.” That was an invitation from Meghan Oster (PhD ‘21), who was already working at Iowa College Aid, the state’s...

News

Dr. Stange Goes to Washington

Sep 13, 2023

The Ford School is proud of its record of welcoming policymakers-in-residence. This past year, Ford School professor Kevin Stange played a different role – academic-in-residence. He had a one-year assignment working in the U.S. Department of...

News

Ford School welcomes Sarah Cohodes as associate professor

Aug 16, 2023

Leading education policy economist Sarah Cohodes joins the Ford School as an associate professor with tenure. Cohodes uses quantitative causal inference methods to evaluate educational policies and programs. Her research focuses on school choice,...

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...

News

PPIA students reflect on their summer of study and social life

Aug 2, 2023

What are the dynamics of inequity in labor markets? How do we determine appropriate categories for people in a multicultural society? How is the U.S. approach to ethnicity and nationality different from what they are doing in Europe? These were...

Group of PPIA students posing in front of Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy courtyard

In the Media

Jacob's study on teacher loan forgiveness cited in Chalkbeat

Aug 1, 2023 Chalkbeat

Brian Jacob, Chalkbeat: “The program has really good intentions,” said Brian Jacob, a professor at the University of Michigan and coauthor of the study. But, ultimately, “it’s not effective as it’s currently structured.” “The teachers in schools...

Photo of Brian Jacob standing at the Annenberg Auditorium podium, delivering remarks at a public event

In the Media

Jacob paper on student loan debt relief for teachers: No significant effect

Aug 1, 2023 Knowledge at Wharton

Brian Jacob, Knowledge at Wharton: “The potentially limited take-up of this program is of particular interest against the backdrop of a long-standing challenge of recruiting and retaining teachers, especially in high-need school districts, and, more...

News

MEDC shares it knowledge in a data-hungry world

Jul 31, 2023

Education researchers across the country are always in search of more data. They all have access to resources like the National Student Clearinghouse (NSC), but each state has different models of collaboration and data sharing. A recent example in...

Glasses rest on a desktop with various coding windows open on a screen behind

In the Media

MEDC cited as a model for other states

Jul 13, 2023 Chalkbeat Colorado

Chalkbeat Colorado: Strunk said she sees Michigan, where she previously was an education professor, as a model. The Michigan Education Data Center, created through a partnership between the state education department and its flagship public...

News

Ford School’s Katherine Michelmore Senate testimony - “Assessing 25 years of the Child Tax Credit”

Jul 13, 2023

Ford School Associate Professor Katherine Michelmore testified before the United States Senate Finance Subcommittee on Taxation and IRS Oversight, sharing her insights into the effectiveness, and drawbacks, of the first 25 years of the Child Tax...

Publication

Jacob explores barriers to Teacher Loan Forgiveness program

Jul 10, 2023

The Biden Administration is preparing a new set of student loan debt-relief measures in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s rejection of its previous, ambitious plan, which would have eliminated between $10,000 and $20,000 per student. A number of...

News

Weiland's expertise cited on Boston's pre-K success

Jul 10, 2023

An article in HuffPost highlights the efforts in Boston to provide Universal Pre-K, and refers to the expertise of Christina Weiland, faculty co-director of the Education Policy Initiative (EPI). The Boston program was initiated in 2005, and since...

News

U.S. Supreme Court overturns affirmative action: Ford School experts available

Jun 29, 2023

Ford School experts can discuss the historic U.S. Supreme Court ruling on affirmative action Thursday, in which the justices ruled that race cannot be a factor in college and university admissions decisions: Katherine Michelmore, associate...

Photo of the Supreme Court of the United States building

In the Media

Jacob on grade retention debate

Jun 20, 2023 Chalbeat

Brian Jacob, Chalkbeat: Brian Jacob, a professor at University of Michigan, has studied retention for many years, but he still is ambivalent about the policy. “I do really come out kind of in the middle,” he said. Maybe students themselves make...

News

The education journey of EPI's Sam Owusu

Jun 19, 2023

Research analyst Sam Owusu recently worked on a project, which surveyed every school district in the state of Michigan about the availability of early childhood programs. It is a part of his job as a research analyst at the Education Policy...