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 271 - 300 of 657 results

Education Policy Initiative informs new pilot scholarship designed to enhance diversity at U-M

Sep 17, 2015

Last weekend throughout the state, an estimated 1,000 economically disadvantaged high school students with high GPAs and ACT scores found a major opportunity in their mailboxes from the University of Michigan. The students received a customized...

Susan Dynarski celebrates long-awaited transparency around student debt data

Sep 14, 2015

Susan Dynarski, who has long argued for transparency of data surrounding student loans, student debt, and student outcomes, celebrates a big new win in her New York Times Upshot column, "New Data Gives Clearer Picture of Student Debt."Until now,...

Susan Dynarski highlights surprising reality surrounding student loan default in NY Times

Sep 8, 2015

On August 31st, Susan Dynarski illuminated findings regarding loan default among college students in The New York Times article, “Why Students with Smallest Debts have the Larger Problem.”According to the latest U.S. Department of Education data,...

New York Times editorial board says it’s “Time to fix the Fafsa,” citing Susan Dynarski's work

Aug 27, 2015

“Legislators and the Department of Education have been trying for years to radically simplify [the Fafsa],” writes The New York Times editorial board in "Time to fix the Fafsa." They’re referring to the 100-plus-question form students and families...

“To gain a student, eliminate a form,” writes Susan Dynarski for The New York Times

Aug 21, 2015

In this Sunday’s New York Times “Economic View,” Susan Dynarski explains why recent efforts to simplify the Fafsa, the financial aid application for aspiring college students, don’t go far enough. Dynarski’s prescription? Eliminate the form...

News

EPI, Excellent Schools Detroit release K-12 scorecard

Jun 29, 2015

The 2015 Excellent Schools Detroit (ESD) K-12 Scorecard — which the Ford School’s Education Policy Initiative (EPI) helped develop — was released last week. More than 200 schools, including private and charter schools, were evaluated and assigned...

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U-M receives $4 million federal grant for predoctoral research training program in education sciences

Jun 9, 2015

The University of Michigan has received a $4 million federal grant to establish a predoctoral research training program in education sciences.The grant from the U.S. Department of Education's Institute of Education Sciences unites U-M's School of...

Sue Dynarski’s latest NYT TheUpshot column takes on income gap in college graduation

Jun 2, 2015

In a June 2 column in the New York Times, Ford School professor Susan Dynarski writes that “class trumps ability when it comes to college graduation.”Dynarski cites a recent publication from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), which...

U-M researchers share Department of Ed grant to study online learning, virtual schooling

May 26, 2015

By Greta Guest, Michigan NewsUniversity of Michigan researchers will share in a $1.6 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education's Institute of Education Sciences to launch a three-year study of virtual schooling in Florida.The study will...

Education Policy Initiative releases timely brief as Congress debates bipartisan FAST Act

May 15, 2015

As Congress debates reauthorization of the Higher Education Act, and with it the bipartisan FAST Act bill introduced by Senators Lamar Alexander (R-TN) and Michael Bennet (D-CO), the Ford School’s Education Policy Initiative releases a timely new...

Susan Dynarski cited by Senator Elizabeth Warren at hearing on reauthorization of higher education act

May 7, 2015

Susan Dynarski’s New York Times article, “We’re frighteningly in the dark about student debt,” was cited by Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) during the May 6 committee hearing, “Reauthorizing the Higher Education Act: The Role of Consumer Information...

Dynarski edits special journal issue devoted to promising new research enabled by longitudinal datasets

Apr 28, 2015

Susan Dynarski is guest editor of a special issue of Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis. The May 2015 issue is dedicated to new and powerful longitudinal datasets that are helping educational researchers better understand how policies,...

Sue Dynarski quoted in MarketWatch article on Ivy League's 'hidden poor'

Apr 22, 2015

Sue Dynarski was quoted in a MarketWatch story addressing the struggles of low-income and first-generation students at Ivy League schools. While Columbia University served as the backdrop for “The Ivy League’s hidden poor,” published today, the...

“We’re frighteningly in the dark about student debt” writes Dynarski for The New York Times

Mar 21, 2015

The United States government has a portfolio of roughly $1 trillion in student loans, many of which appear to be troubled writes Susan Dynarski in the business section of the Sunday New York Times. Dynarski’s column, “We’re frighteningly in the dark...

Dynarski argues for better educational attainment data in Brookings report

Mar 13, 2015

Susan Dynarski recently co-authored “How can we track trends in educational attainment by parental income? Hint: not with the Current Population Study,” posted March 12 by the Brookings Institution.With Matthew M. Chingos of Brookings, Dynarski...

Jacob testifies in Atlanta Public Schools cheating trial, cites figure ‘288 septillion’

Feb 10, 2015

Brian Jacob was called to testify last week as a witness for the prosecution in the Atlanta Public Schools cheating trial, in which prosecutors allege a dozen educators engaged in a “widespread, cleverly disguised” conspiracy to improve their...

Do placement exams bar students from higher ed? McFarlin says no. Read Education Week story

Feb 5, 2015

Education Week highlights Isaac McFarlin Jr.’s latest study in “Failing a Placement Exam Does Not Discourage College Enrollment,” posted by Caralee Adams on January 15.“State test cited in lower college enrollments,” a 1995 Dallas Morning News...

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Wisconsin state aid cuts prompt universities to examine tuition hikes

Jan 30, 2015

Governor Scott Walker’s (R-WI) proposed cuts to the University of Wisconsin system are the largest the system has ever faced, according to UW-Madison chancellor Rebecca Blank in the recent Inside Higher Ed article, "Deep Cuts in Wisconsin," by Ry...

Dynarski talks education and tax reform with LA Times

Jan 30, 2015

The White House is backing down on a minor provision detailed in the Obama administration’s tax reform proposals, but Susan Dynarski doesn’t think that provision should be given up on so easily. The Los Angeles Times’ Kathleen Hennessy writes...

Dynarski highlights behavioral ‘nudges’ that can lessen education disparities in NYT Upshot column

Jan 20, 2015

Vast inequalities currently exist in the U.S. education system – there is little debate among experts on this issue. And while it’s the ambitious system-level reform proposals that garner widespread attention, several seemingly simple...

Michigan Daily covers Janet Napolitano's talk on politics and public service

Jan 15, 2015

Janet Napolitano’s lecture and Ford School visit was highlighted in a Michigan Daily article, “Napolitano calls on students to engage in public service,” published today.The story, written by Anastassios Adamopoulos, recapped Napolitano’s address,...

Dynarski's FAFSA-on-a-postcard proposal gaining traction says LA Times

Jan 7, 2015

The "FAFSA-on-a-postcard legislation is gaining traction," writes LA Times reporter Carla Rivera in the January 6 article,"Move to simplify federal student aid application form gains traction." In the coming days, Senators Lamar Alexander (R-TN)...

Ford School faculty members make Education Week list of most influential education scholars

Jan 7, 2015

Four University of Michigan scholars, including three Ford School faculty members, made Rick Hess’s Education Week ranking of the most influential U.S. scholars in education policy--those who contribute most substantially to public debates about...

Susan Dynarski speaks with All Things Considered about college ratings

Jan 5, 2015

"Do you want to inform consumers? Drive down tuition prices? Hold colleges accountable? No one rating can do all those things," Professor Susan Dynarski tells NPR’s All Things Considered in the December 19 story, “The fate of the administration’s...

Ford School faculty member, alum join White House College Opportunity Day of Action

Dec 4, 2014

Professor Susan Dynarski and alum Brandy Johnson (MPP ‘09) traveled to Washington, DC for the Obama Administration’s College Opportunity Day of Action on December 4, 2014. They joined President Barack Obama, the First Lady, and Vice President Biden,...

Dynarski speaks with Marketplace about student loan debt increase

Nov 13, 2014

Susan Dynarski spoke with Marketplace Morning Report for a November 13 story discussing new statistics on student loan debt released by The Institute for College Access & Success (TICAS). The cost of getting a bachelor’s degree remains on the...

News

Education Policy Initiative studies Evidence-Based Literacy Instruction

Sep 26, 2014

A current Education Policy Initiative study is the topic of the September 26 MLive article by Roberto Acosta, “University of Michigan studies reading system that Flushing woman created; state officials interested in results.” The system is...

Slow down, get college ratings right, Dynarski tells White House

Sep 22, 2014

“The Obama administration seems intent on putting [college] ratings in place in short order,” writes Dynarski in “Why Federal College Ratings Won’t Rein In Tuition,” published in the Sunday, September 21 edition of The New York Times. “Along with...

“For inspiration in college ratings, look to health care,” says Dynarski

Sep 16, 2014

“The Obama administration is preparing a system of college ratings that it hopes will improve college quality and hold down tuition by arming consumers with better information,” writes Susan Dynarski in The Upshot, The New York Times’ curated blog...

Lower interest rates won't stop student loan defaults; Dynarski argues for income-dependent repayment

Sep 1, 2014

Student loan interest rates have risen from 3.86 to 4.66 percent this fall, and critics are arguing that the government should lower rates again or risk lower college attendance and more defaults on student debt. According to Susan Dynarski, though,...

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