Departments and Research Centers

Youth Policy Lab

The Youth Policy Lab coordinates activities to provide information and analyses that social services organizations need to do their jobs most effectively.

Showing 61 - 90 of 164 results

News

Brian Jacob honored as a Rackham Distinguished Graduate Mentor

Apr 23, 2019

Brian Jacob, Walter H. Annenberg Professor of Education Policy at the Ford School, Co-Director of the Education Policy Initiative (EPI) and Youth Policy Lab (YPL), and faculty director of the Ford School’s joint-doctoral program, was named as a...

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

Jan 18, 2019

During the waning days of 2018, a lame-duck session of the Michigan legislature voted to implement a new letter-grade apparatus for evaluating Michigan school performance. The implementation of a new accountability system may cause more headaches...

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...

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...

This week: Learn how to hire via Poverty Solutions' summer youth employment program

Jan 22, 2018

If you oversee a campus unit willing and capable of employing teenagers and young adults this summer, Poverty Solutions invites you to consider submitting part-time job placements as part of the University of Michigan’s Summer Youth Employment...

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...

State & Hill

Ford School faculty members share seven key strategies for effective collaboration

Apr 28, 2017

Ford School faculty members often engage in collective problem-solving--with other scholars, of course, but also with policymakers and practitioners all around the world. The goal of these collaborations? Finding better solutions, and mutually...

Youth Policy Lab announces application for new technical assistance program

Nov 30, 2016

The Youth Policy Lab has issued a request for proposals to organizations seeking to use data to improve service delivery or program design for Michigan youth. Applications for the Michigan Technical Assistance Partnership (M-TAP) Program are due...

Ford School, Survey Research Center faculty launch Youth Policy Lab to improve young lives

Oct 13, 2016

Researchers at the University of Michigan have launched a new lab designed to help state and local agencies, social service providers, nonprofits and educators improve life outcomes for Michigan youth, from birth through age 25.The Youth Policy Lab...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

“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:...

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...

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...

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...

News

Apply now to inaugural Detroit Data Fellowship and use stats for social impact

Mar 30, 2016

Want to use your data skills to develop solutions to social challenges facing the city of Detroit? The Detroit Data Fellows Program is a two-year, full-time post-graduate fellowship during which participants work with city agencies to analyze...

News

Michigan Radio interviews Brian Jacob about latest research on MI high school curriculum reforms

Mar 9, 2016

Last week, Brian Jacob, Susan Dynarski and two colleagues from Michigan State released a new paper, "Are expectations alone enough? Estimating the effect of a mandatory college-prep curriculum in Michigan." The paper examines the effect of the 2006...

Dynarski in NYT Upshot: We need to get students across the finish line to graduation

Feb 22, 2016

The United States has a college dropout crisis, says Susan Dynarski in her latest New York Times Upshot piece.While 60 percent of the population now goes to college, more than a quarter of these students drop out with no credential, she says. And...

Robin Jacob quoted in NPR story on executive function coaching

Feb 2, 2016

A story on the NPR website, “The Science of Getting Kids Organized,” looks at coaching students to build executive function—categories of skills the brain uses for general organization and judgment. Robin Jacob, who published an overview of studies...

Sue Dynarski on the startlingly poor performance of private school vouchers

Jan 28, 2016

In “When winners are losers: Private school vouchers in Louisiana,” Susan Dynarski describes a newly released study of the impact of Louisiana’s private school voucher program, which provides students from low-income families and low-performing...

Forbes highlights Dynarski Brookings paper, dispelling student loan default myth

Jan 14, 2016

In a new paper for Brookings, "The Trouble with Student Loans? Low Earnings, Not High Debt," Susan Dynarski debunks the popular notion that more student debt leads to higher student loan default rates.In fact, research shows that default rates are...