* Explores cutting education policy issues, using analyses with a critical-historical method * Discusses cross-contextual analysis and cross-generational co-learning as means of social change. * Contributors bring a range of perspectives, showing the power of collaborative process for facing the current challenges to the renewal of educational and career pathways * Co-written cases demonstrate co-learning through social-action projects, mentoring graduate students, and engaged scholarship

* Explores cutting education policy issues, using analyses with a critical-historical method * Discusses cross-contextual analysis and cross-generational co-learning as means of social change. * Contributors bring a range of perspectives, showing the power of collaborative process for facing the current challenges to the renewal of educational and career pathways * Co-written cases demonstrate co-learning through social-action projects, mentoring graduate students, and engaged scholarship

Actionable Research for Educational Equity and Social Justice advances a unique, engaged approach to promoting educational equity and social justice in higher education across China and beyond. Developed as a joint venture of senior and junior scholars in China and the United States, this book documents Chinese, Latin American, U.S., and European examples of engaged scholarship supporting the development of strategies for expanding educational opportunities for low-income families. Drawing from collaborative research, workshops, and field investigations, chapter authors propose and test new methods and practices for reducing educational inequality and provide examples of successful practices that have improved access for low-income students across the globe.

College For Every Student shares best practices for raising college and career aspirations and increasing educational opportunities for underserved and diverse students in rural and urban districts. Providing guidance for educating your students and organizing communities for expanding educational opportunities, this is a must-read for every school leader and counselor interested in promoting educational uplift. This comprehensive guidebook offers a wealth of resources and tools for educators and professionals to help students build essential college and career readiness skills. College For Every Student gives you the research-based, proven strategies needed for promoting the core student skills essential for college and career readiness: aspiration, grit, perseverance, adaptability, leadership, and teamwork.

College For Every Student shares best practices for raising college and career aspirations and increasing educational opportunities for underserved and diverse students in rural and urban districts. Providing guidance for educating your students and organizing communities for expanding educational opportunities, this is a must-read for every school leader and counselor interested in promoting educational uplift. This comprehensive guidebook offers a wealth of resources and tools for educators and professionals to help students build essential college and career readiness skills. College For Every Student gives you the research-based, proven strategies needed for promoting the core student skills essential for college and career readiness: aspiration, grit, perseverance, adaptability, leadership, and teamwork.

Economic globalization has been accompanied by implementation of education reforms linked to accountability and public finance schemes that emphasize student choice in schools and student loans in higher education. In the U.S. these reforms are rationalized based on intermediate variables, like the number of math credits completed in high school and net prices. However, the reforms rationalized based on this research are seldom evaluated in relation to outcomes (i.e., measures of student achievement and equal opportunity to attain an education). In Education and the Public Interest the editor re-examines the political rationales for these reforms. John Rawlsa (TM)s theory of justice is reconstructed to develop a framework for assessing the effects of public policy on these outcomes. This volume undertakes a comparative study of the states in the U.S. to examine how education reforms influence student achievement, high school graduation, and college access; and finance schemes influence college access. Policies implemented by states in the 1990s were associated with improved achievement, as measured by test scores for high school students. These policies also correlate with increased high school drop out rates and the widening gap in college enrolment rates across income groups. This volume considers how privatization and accountability policies can be reconstructed to reduce inequality while continuing to improve student achievement and college enrolment.

'I enjoyed reading the book and benefited from it, and I feel confident others will as well. I am particularly taken by its sweep and by the skill and persuasiveness with which the author ties together the broad trends andthemes of privatization, globalization, school reform, preparation, equity, equality and college access.' Prof. James . Hearn, Vanderbilt University, USA

'(What I)...especially like about this book is the framing of the importance of the topic in terms of the global political and economic changes and the notion of access to quality education as a basic right.' Prof. Laura W. Perna, College of Education, University of Maryland, USA

Breaking Through the Access Barrier argues that the policies designed to address inequalities in college access are failing to address underlying issues of inequality. This book introduces academic capital formation (ACF), a groundbreaking new theory defined by family knowledge of educational options and the opportunities for pursuing them. The authors suggest focusing on intervention programs and public policy to promote improvement in academic preparation, college information, and student aid. This textbook offers: a new construct-academic capital-that integrates and draws upon existing literature on influencing access to college practical advice for better preparation and intervention real student outcomes, databases, and interviews taken from exemplary intervention programs empirical research illuminating the role of class reproduction in education and how interventions (financial, academic, and networking) can reduce student barriers quantitative and qualitative analysis of the importance and effectiveness of several major policy interventions. Written for courses on higher education policy and policy analysis, readers will find Breaking Through the Access Barrier offers valuable advice for working within new policy frameworks and reshaping the future of educational opportunities and access for under-represented students from disadvantaged backgrounds.

Breaking Through the Access Barrier argues that the policies designed to address inequalities in college access are failing to address underlying issues of inequality. This book introduces academic capital formation (ACF), a groundbreaking new theory defined by family knowledge of educational options and the opportunities for pursuing them. The authors suggest focusing on intervention programs and public policy to promote improvement in academic preparation, college information, and student aid. This textbook offers: a new construct-academic capital-that integrates and draws upon existing literature on influencing access to college practical advice for better preparation and intervention real student outcomes, databases, and interviews taken from exemplary intervention programs empirical research illuminating the role of class reproduction in education and how interventions (financial, academic, and networking) can reduce student barriers quantitative and qualitative analysis of the importance and effectiveness of several major policy interventions. Written for courses on higher education policy and policy analysis, readers will find Breaking Through the Access Barrier offers valuable advice for working within new policy frameworks and reshaping the future of educational opportunities and access for under-represented students from disadvantaged backgrounds.

Pathways to Academic Success in Higher Education examines two major challenges facing the nation. The first is preparing high school students for college, a reform that has been tackled largely through state policy initiatives. The second is creating new pathways to academic success for underrepresented students in higher education, a challenge that must be addressed within a decentralized system of higher education.

• Part one: Presents and documents key findings from research on K-12 education policy.
• Part two: Provides action research using a state data system to inform colleges and universities.
• Part three: Focuses on the future of policy and organizational initiatives to improve opportunity.

This book integrates studies conducted over nearly a decade and offers guidance on how best to understand and promote retention and success once students have gained access.

Have urban schools failed, or has reform failed urban schools? This book examines existing urban school programs, ranging from desegregation to reading improvement, in light of available historical, empirical, and case study evidence. Miron and St. John and their contributors probe the underlying theoretical, normative, and political assumptions embedded in specific reform initiatives. They explore how reforms might be reconstructed to better address the underlying challenges and they demonstrate that reforms can be constructively critiqued throughout the stages of implementation, arguing that greater attention should be paid to ethnic and cultural traditions within urban, educational settings.

Teaching the Whole Student is a compendium of engaged teaching approaches by faculty across disciplines. These inspiring authors offer models for instructors who care deeply about their students, respect and recognize students' social identities and lived experiences, and are interested in creating community and environments of openness and trust to foster deep-learning, academic success, and meaning-making. The authors in this volume stretch the boundaries of academic learning and the classroom experience by seeking to identify the space between subject matter and a student's core values and prior knowledge. They work to find the interconnectedness of knowledge, understanding, meaning, inquiry and truth. They appreciate that students bring their full lives and experiences-their heart and spirit-into the classroom just as they bring their minds and intellectual inquiry. These approaches contribute to student learning and the core academic purposes of higher education, help students find meaning and purpose in their lives, and help strengthen our diverse democracy through students' active participation and leadership in civic life. They also have a demonstrated impact on critical and analytical thinking, student retention and academic success, personal well-being, commitments to civic engagement, diversity, and social justice. Topics discussed: Student relationships and community building How teaching the whole student increases persistence and completion rates How an open learning environment fosters critical understanding Strategies for developing deep social and personal reflection in experiential education and service learning The authors of this book remind us in poignant and empirical ways of the importance of teaching the whole student, as the book's title reflects.

Using Action Inquiry in Engaged Research: A Professional Guide offers higher education and school professionals practical guidance and methods for using the Action Inquiry Model (AIM) in engaged research initiatives and community partnerships. Replete with group exercises and case studies, this guide was originally developed to supplement workshops for faculty, administrators and students working on action initiatives that focused on critical educational issues facing local communities. It provides a useful framework and straightforward techniques for building empowering partnerships. The Action Inquiry Model (AIM) includes four stages: Assessment: Using research and experience to identify critical challenges facing the university with respect to the improvement of educational opportunities Organization: Developing workgroups to collaborate on initiatives that address critical challenges; providing financial support for new initiatives; and providing release time and professional development opportunities for faculty and staff who engage in reform initiatives Action Initiatives: Treating reforms as pilot tests for new strategies, as a means of promoting organizational learning, professional development, and student success Evaluation: Integrating the evaluation of current programs and incorporating new initiatives into the reform process. This guide provides two methods for learning the inquiry process: a step-by-step process for defining tasks for teams of researchers and practitioners working together to use research to inform the educational improvement; and sets of case studies on assessment and action inquiry to inform groups in collectively discussing problems and strategies, an approach that supports the classroom use of the Guide.

Using Action Inquiry in Engaged Research: A Professional Guide offers higher education and school professionals practical guidance and methods for using the Action Inquiry Model (AIM) in engaged research initiatives and community partnerships. Replete with group exercises and case studies, this guide was originally developed to supplement workshops for faculty, administrators and students working on action initiatives that focused on critical educational issues facing local communities. It provides a useful framework and straightforward techniques for building empowering partnerships. The Action Inquiry Model (AIM) includes four stages: Assessment: Using research and experience to identify critical challenges facing the university with respect to the improvement of educational opportunities Organization: Developing workgroups to collaborate on initiatives that address critical challenges; providing financial support for new initiatives; and providing release time and professional development opportunities for faculty and staff who engage in reform initiatives Action Initiatives: Treating reforms as pilot tests for new strategies, as a means of promoting organizational learning, professional development, and student success Evaluation: Integrating the evaluation of current programs and incorporating new initiatives into the reform process. This guide provides two methods for learning the inquiry process: a step-by-step process for defining tasks for teams of researchers and practitioners working together to use research to inform the educational improvement; and sets of case studies on assessment and action inquiry to inform groups in collectively discussing problems and strategies, an approach that supports the classroom use of the Guide.

Economic globalization has been accompanied by implementation of education reforms linked to accountability and public finance schemes that emphasize student choice in schools and student loans in higher education. In the U.S. these reforms are rationalized based on intermediate variables, like the number of math credits completed in high school and net prices. However, the reforms rationalized based on this research are seldom evaluated in relation to outcomes (i.e., measures of student achievement and equal opportunity to attain an education). In Education and the Public Interest the editor re-examines the political rationales for these reforms. John Rawls s theory of justice is reconstructed to develop a framework for assessing the effects of public policy on these outcomes. This volume undertakes a comparative study of the states in the U.S. to examine how education reforms influence student achievement, high school graduation, and college access; and finance schemes influence college access. Policies implemented by states in the 1990s were associated with improved achievement, as measured by test scores for high school students. These policies also correlate with increased high school drop out rates and the widening gap in college enrolment rates across income groups. This volume considers how privatization and accountability policies can be reconstructed to reduce inequality while continuing to improve student achievement and college enrolment.

'I enjoyed reading the book and benefited from it, and I feel confident others will as well. I am particularly taken by its sweep and by the skill and persuasiveness with which the author ties together the broad trends and themes of privatization, globalization, school reform, preparation, equity, equality and college access.' Prof. James . Hearn, Vanderbilt University, USA

'(What I)...especially like about this book is the framing of the importance of the topic in terms of the global political and economic changes and the notion of access to quality education as a basic right.' Prof. Laura W. Perna, College of Education, University of Maryland, USA
"

Pathways to Academic Success in Higher Education examines two major challenges facing the nation. The first is preparing high school students for college, a reform that has been tackled largely through state policy initiatives. The second is creating new pathways to academic success for underrepresented students in higher education, a challenge that must be addressed within a decentralized system of higher education.

• Part one: Presents and documents key findings from research on K-12 education policy.
• Part two: Provides action research using a state data system to inform colleges and universities.
• Part three: Focuses on the future of policy and organizational initiatives to improve opportunity.

This book integrates studies conducted over nearly a decade and offers guidance on how best to understand and promote retention and success once students have gained access.

Actionable Research for Educational Equity and Social Justice advances a unique, engaged approach to promoting educational equity and social justice in higher education across China and beyond. Developed as a joint venture of senior and junior scholars in China and the United States, this book documents Chinese, Latin American, U.S., and European examples of engaged scholarship supporting the development of strategies for expanding educational opportunities for low-income families. Drawing from collaborative research, workshops, and field investigations, chapter authors propose and test new methods and practices for reducing educational inequality and provide examples of successful practices that have improved access for low-income students across the globe.

Much of the twentieth century saw broad political support for public funding of American higher education. Liberals supported public investment because it encouraged social equity, conservatives because it promoted economic development.

Recently, however, the politics of higher education have become more contentious. Conservatives advocate deep cuts in public financing; liberals want to expand enrollment and increase diversity. Some public universities have embraced privatization, while federal aid for students increasingly emphasizes middle-class affordability over universal access.

In Public Funding of Higher Education, scholars and practitioners address the complexities of this new climate and its impact on policy and political advocacy at the federal, state, and institutional levels. Rethinking traditional rationales for public financing, contributors to this volume offer alternatives for policymakers, administrators, faculty, students, and researchers struggling with this difficult practical dynamic.

Contributors: M. Christopher Brown II, Pennsylvania State University; Jason L. Butler, University of Illinois; Choong-Geun Ching, Indiana University; Clifton F. Conrad, University of Wisconsin--Madison; Saran Donahoo, University of Illinois; James Farmer, JA-SIG uPortal; James C. Hearn, Vanderbilt University; Janet M. Holdsworth, University of Minnesota; Don Hossler, Indiana University; John R. Thelin, University of Kentucky; Mary Louise Trammell, University of Arizona; David J. Weerts, University of Wisconsin--Madison; William Zumeta, University of Washington

Teaching the Whole Student is a compendium of engaged teaching approaches by faculty across disciplines. These inspiring authors offer models for instructors who care deeply about their students, respect and recognize students' social identities and lived experiences, and are interested in creating community and environments of openness and trust to foster deep-learning, academic success, and meaning-making. The authors in this volume stretch the boundaries of academic learning and the classroom experience by seeking to identify the space between subject matter and a student's core values and prior knowledge. They work to find the interconnectedness of knowledge, understanding, meaning, inquiry and truth. They appreciate that students bring their full lives and experiences-their heart and spirit-into the classroom just as they bring their minds and intellectual inquiry. These approaches contribute to student learning and the core academic purposes of higher education, help students find meaning and purpose in their lives, and help strengthen our diverse democracy through students' active participation and leadership in civic life. They also have a demonstrated impact on critical and analytical thinking, student retention and academic success, personal well-being, commitments to civic engagement, diversity, and social justice. Topics discussed: Student relationships and community building How teaching the whole student increases persistence and completion rates How an open learning environment fosters critical understanding Strategies for developing deep social and personal reflection in experiential education and service learning The authors of this book remind us in poignant and empirical ways of the importance of teaching the whole student, as the book's title reflects.

During the 1990s, rising tuition costs and inadequate federal grant aid prevented more than a million otherwise qualified, low-income students from continuing their education past high school. Education policy expert Edward P. St. John is troubled by this situation and argues that equal access to higher education is both feasible and just. In "Refinancing the College Dream," he examines recent trends in public funding of education and explores alternatives to financing which would provide equal access to postsecondary education for all Americans.

The growing gap in the rate of participation in higher education for low-income groups compared to upper-income groups over the past three decades, St. John finds, has been a direct result of the decreased availability of federal grants, even after taking into account such factors as an increased emphasis on strengthening high school graduation requirements. To reverse this trend, he suggests that policymakers refocus the debate over the public financing of higher education from taxpayer costs to principles of social responsibility and justice, along with economic theories of human capital. He then shows how improved coordination between state and federal agencies, expanded use of loans, and better targeting of grant aid can maximize access for low-income students while minimizing increases in taxes.

Making higher education accessible to low-income students is one of the crucial challenges for citizens and policymakers in the early twenty-first century. "Refinancing the College Dream" offers a theoretical and practical foundation for boldly rethinking the financial strategies used by colleges and universities, states, and the federal government to accomplish this essential goal.