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 181 - 210 of 657 results

News

New collaboration supports education research between U-M, MSU and state of Michigan

Nov 28, 2018

The launch of a new research collaboration and a data center at the University of Michigan marks the start of a unique collaboration between U-M, Michigan State University, the Michigan Department of Education and the Center for Educational...

Photo of a posterboard of MERI partners in the foreground; with kickoff event attendees networking in the background

Dynarski calls the legacy admission bump 'unconscionable'

Oct 30, 2018

As universities hone their admissions processes to reflect fairness and build a diverse student body, legacy students still have an advantage, warns Nicholas Kristof in the New York Times. Susan Dynarski, Ford School professor, agrees. “Legacy...

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...

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

Sep 28, 2018

In the most poverty-stricken school district in San Antonio, the work of Syracuse University’s Katherine Michelmore and Ford professor Susan Dynarski is helping to reshape educational reform. In an effort to bolster college-readiness, increase...

Slight improvement in Michigan education statistics not enough says Brian Jacob

Sep 21, 2018

After the release of the 2018 M-STEP (Michigan Student Test of Educational Progress) scores, the outlook on education in Michigan seems rather bleak, Jennifer Chambers reports in her August 29th, 2018 Detroit News article. Despite nominal increases...

News

Jacob: Grow Detroit’s Young Talent benefits youth “long after they receive their last paycheck”

Apr 13, 2018

The administrators of Grow Detroit’s Young Talent, a youth summer employment program, always knew that the program made a difference in participants’ lives. Now, that intuition is backed up by data. Researchers at the University of Michigan,...

Dynarski argues for universal SAT/ACT testing in her latest Brookings report

Feb 27, 2018

In her latest piece for the Brookings Institution, Susan Dynarski writes on the benefits of providing universal SAT and ACT testing, arguing their usefulness towards detecting academically talented students who typically “fall off the path to...

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

Feb 8, 2018

Susan Dynarski was interviewed by Cynthia Canty of Michigan Radio’s “Stateside” program for the recent on-air segment: “Australia, England offer clues on how to fix America’s student loan mess.” “We don’t have much of a safety net in our...

News

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

Feb 7, 2018

In his most recent report for the Brookings Institution, Brian Jacob highlights the many advantages of support programs for community college students, with data showing a profound impact on students receiving these interventions. Jacob’s piece,...

Publication

Econ textbook study by Stevenson, Zlotnick highlights gender bias against women

Jan 19, 2018

New research conducted by Associate Professor of Public Policy Betsey Stevenson and Hanna Zlotnick (MPP ‘19) is highlighted in The Economist’s “How gender is (mis)represented in economics textbooks” and Inside Higher Ed’s “Gender Bias, by the...

In NYT, Susan Dynarski advises against online courses for struggling students

Jan 19, 2018

In this Sunday’s New York Times print edition, Susan Dynarski will dispute the effectiveness of online courses, particularly for less proficient students.Drawing on research Dynarski did for the Brookings Institution last October, Dynarski’s new New...

Susan Dynarski testifies on student loans before U.S. Senate HELP committee

Jan 18, 2018

Susan Dynarski will testify in front of the United States Senate Health, Education, Labor & Pensions Committee (HELP) hearing “Reauthorizing the Higher Education Act: Financial Aid Simplification and Transparency.” The hearing will be livestreamed...

State & Hill

Measuring higher ed performance: Kevin Stange on the numerator and denominator

Dec 15, 2017

As Kevin Stange sees it, there's a conspicuously missing link in much of the higher education decision-making process. "The higher ed sector, as a productive entity, is a huge fraction of the U.S. economy," says Stange, who was promoted to...

State & Hill

Complex and fragile: The university's dual role as society's servant and society's critic

Dec 14, 2017

It's been 200 years since the founding of Michigan's first and flagship university: ours. Every moment is a turning point. But this moment—our bicentennial—is particularly poignant. As schools and stakeholders across the University of Michigan...

In Brookings, Dynarski describes who benefits from online ed, and who doesn’t

Nov 13, 2017

In “Online schooling: Who is harmed and who is helped?” Susan Dynarski highlights key findings from recent randomized trials and regression discontinuity design studies that attempt to measure the impact of online schooling on student success....

Jacob in Brookings: States need to support research on Career and Technical Education (CTE)

Nov 7, 2017

"The single best way to avoid... selection problems and determine the causal impact of a policy or program is through a randomized control trial. While such experiments can be expensive and are often logistically or politically difficult, they have...

APPAM to honor Dynarski: Spencer Foundation Award for transformative ed policy work

Sep 26, 2017

Professor Susan Dynarski has been named a recipient of the Spencer Foundation Award by the Association for Public Policy Analysis & Management (APPAM) for her noteworthy contributions through research and analysis in the field of education policy...

For better learning, "Lay down the laptop and pick up a pen," writes Dynarski

Aug 10, 2017

Susan Dynarski’s latest Brookings piece, “For better learning in college lectures, lay down the laptop and pick up a pen,” reviews evidence from multiple randomized trials to discern whether students who use computers in class outperform their...

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

Jul 31, 2017

In a July 27 “Evidence Speaks” column for the Brookings Institution, Brian Jacob and Kelly Lovett discuss “Chronic absenteeism: An old problem in search of new answers.”During the 2013-14 academic year, the authors report that 14 percent of students...

Pilkauskas wins fellowship to study maternal employment and school readiness

Jul 26, 2017

Natasha Pilkauskas has been awarded a National Academy of Education/Spencer Foundation postdoctoral fellowship to further her research on maternal employment characteristics and child wellbeing.Pilkauskas is among 30 scholars, selected from a pool...

In New York Times, Dynarski makes the case for universal college admission testing

Jul 14, 2017

In the New York Times, Susan Dynarski lays out the case for states to offer free, and universal, college admission testing.“A child born into a high-income family is six times as likely to earn a college degree as one who is poor,” writes Dynarski,...

Education Policy Initiative wins funding for postdoctoral fellowships in education sciences

Jun 29, 2017

Scholars from the Ford School's Education Policy Initiative (EPI) and the University of Michigan's School of Education have received a $712,000 grant from the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) to continue the University’s postdoctoral training...

Brian Jacob in Chalkbeat: Five big questions researchers are asking about charters

Jun 19, 2017

Brian Jacob is cited in a new Chalkbeat article, “Beyond the test score race: Five big questions researchers are asking about charter schools.”While many researchers with an interest in charter schools focus on the impact these schools have had on...

U-M's Go Blue Guarantee—free tuition for BA students with need—makes national headlines

Jun 19, 2017

Mark Schlissel, president of the University of Michigan, recently announced the “Go Blue Guarantee,” which pledges four years of free tuition for admitted in-state students whose families earn less than $65,000 per year. The program is based, in...

Jacob on Michigan Radio: MI reforms of under-performing schools have been unsuccessful

Jun 9, 2017

On June 6, Brian Jacob spoke with Dustin Dwyer of Michigan Radio about recent research that explores whether Michigan's Priority and Focus schools have benefitted from reforms implemented in 2012. The work is published in “Differentiated...

WaPo cites Education Policy Initiative research on MI charter school practices

May 31, 2017

In “What ‘school choice’ means in the era of Trump and DeVos,” Washington Post journalist Valerie Strauss explores the varied policies and programs proposed by U.S. school-choice advocates. Strauss' primer on the movement cites recent research from...

Brian Jacob, Sue Dynarski, and members of the Education Policy Initiative stand along the winding main staircase of the Ford School's home, Weill Hall

State & Hill

Read recently released research findings by Ford School faculty in education policy

May 9, 2017

Brian Jacob on the promise, and limitations, of "next generation" teaching technologies In "Can technology help promote equality of educational opportunities?" Brian Jacob and coauthors, including Ford School alumna Susanna Loeb (MPP '94),...

In The New York Times, Susan Dynarski describes “The wrong way to fix student debt”

May 8, 2017

In a May 6 “Economic View” column for The New York Times, "The wrong way to fix student debt," Susan Dynarski describes three recent regulatory changes that are “making student loans riskier, more expensive and more burdensome for borrowers.”The...

Jacob: Effects of labor market information on community college students' choice of major

May 1, 2017

Rachel Baker (University of California, Irvine), Eric Bettinger (Stanford University), Brian Jacob, and Ioana Marinescu (University of Chicago) co-authored a working paper, "The Effect of Labor Market Information on Community College Students' Major...

Brian Jacob tracks trends in charter school research for Brookings' Evidence Speaks

Mar 31, 2017

In a March 23 piece for Brookings’ Evidence Speaks series, Brian Jacob outlines recent research that aims to answer key questions about the effectiveness of U.S. charter schools. Jacob’s article, “The evolution of the charter school market and...