Postsecondary Policy Research Articles

The Need for Technology-Aided Instruction and Intervention Policy for Autistic Youth.

This paper examines current technology-aided instruction and intervention (TAII) available for autistic transition-age youth (TAY) and existing policies that may support or hinder the delivery of these interventions. Specifically, we focus on policies that might influence the delivery of TAII to autistic TAY. After a careful review of the literature, we observed that postsecondary policy guiding the delivery of TAII designed to support autistic TAY is lacking. TAII have demonstrated effectiveness, usability, sustainability, and cost-effectiveness, particularly with this population. We suggest possibilities for future policies to support the development, implementation, and evaluation of TAII for autistic TAY.

Postsecondary Policy Environments in Citizen Legislatures

Legislative professionalism is central to the politico-institutional context of postsecondary policy adoption in state governments. The core argument in existing research is that as legislative professionalism increases, structural capacity for decision-making increases. Evidence for this argument is mixed, exclusively quantitative, and assumes a bureaucratic logic. The goal of this study is to deepen understanding of legislative professionalism by examining how policy stakeholders perceive the postsecondary policy environment in a “citizen legislature.” The study draws on 26 in-depth interviews with higher education stakeholders in Nevada. The findings contribute empirically to the literature by demonstrating that legislative professionalism can be understood in terms of the meanings assigned distinctive legislative environments. The results also make a conceptual contribution to this literature by showing how loose coupling in interorganizational relations and bounded rationality shape the policy environment—in ways that yield benefits for some institutions and disadvantages for others.

Crafting Better Rural-Focused Postsecondary Policy by Identifying Rural-Serving Institutions

Crafting Better Rural-Focused Postsecondary Policy by Identifying Rural-Serving Institutions

Measuring College Students' with Disabilities Attitudes Toward Taking COVID-19 Vaccines.

This survey explores attitudes of 245 currently enrolled college students with disabilities regarding their comfort taking a COVID-19 vaccine. Results suggest most college students with disabilities are willing to take a COVID-19 vaccine if their institution requires it to return to campus in subsequent semesters. However, many students with disabilities would not feel comfortable with a vaccine mandate mid-semester and would consider withdrawing, especially among older students with disabilities and first generation college students with disabilities. Implications for postsecondary policy and leadership are addressed.

Measuring College Student Attitudes Toward COVID-19 Vaccinations

This survey explores attitudes of 1,197 currently enrolled college students regarding their comfort taking a COVID-19 vaccine. Results suggest most college students are willing to take a COVID-19 vaccine if their institution requires it to return to campus in subsequent semesters. However, certain students of Color, students with disabilities, and adult students may be hesitant to take a COVID-19 vaccine if it were required before or during an on-campus semester. Finally, many college students do not understand that COVID-19 vaccines will be free, possibly affecting these students’ vaccine hesitancy and willingness to vaccinate, along with their perceptions of safely and affordably returning to campus. Implications for postsecondary policy and leadership are addressed.

Special Issue Introduction

This article serves as the introduction to the Special Issue on “Exploring the Role of Indigenous Knowledge in Postsecondary Policies and Practices Toward Sustainable Development.” We begin by outlining sustainable development and the role of higher education in addressing sustainable development goals. We critique the epistemological assumptions that underlie sustainable development and that have led to its capture by Western development and science. We consider the importance of incorporating an Indigenous knowledge and practices into higher education in order to solve pressing social and environmental challenges. Finally, we discuss the reasoning for this issue and set forth a series of arguments for choosing an open access journal as an appropriate modality for this inquiry.

Philanthropic Foundations and Higher Education: The Politics of Intermediary Organizations

ABSTRACT Intermediary organizations (IOs) are influential policy actors in higher education. Yet, little is known regarding the role of philanthropic foundations in sponsoring IOs for policy promotion. By relying on longitudinal analysis of grants, semi-structured interviews, and social network analysis, this study examined the most central IOs within foundation-sponsored networks, documenting rationales behind this grantmaking strategy. Data included nearly 7,000 grants from 2004 to 2014, representing nearly $3b in postsecondary funding. Results demonstrated that over a decade, the field of higher education philanthropy has shifted, with a decrease in traditional forms of grantmaking and an increase in field-building efforts. Specifically, grants flowing to IOs focused on policy advocacy and completion purposes, or what can be described as a high-leverage approach to educational philanthropy. Furthermore, the most influential voices within philanthropic-sponsored networks were linked to the college completion agenda, a powerful reform movement seeking to increase national degree productivity. By emphasizing philanthropic organizations and their relationships with IOs, this study extends postsecondary policy analysis from a state-centric approach to one that considers non-state actors’ role in policy advocacy and educational reform.

The New Jim Crow in Higher Education: A Critical Race Analysis of Postsecondary Policy Related to Drug Felonies

In this paper, critical race theory and critical race praxis for educational research are used to frame an analysis of the 1998 Amendments to the Higher Education Act of 1965 (HEA98) that limits access to financial aid for students who have been convicted of a drug felony. The authors explain how the HEA98 disenfranchises Black and Latinx college student populations. This policy is a form of institutional racism against the disproportionately large number of Black and Latinx individuals that have been convicted of drug-related crimes, which creates a caste system of college access and support. This policy analysis highlights data on incarcerated populations that link the policing of drug offenses to racial profiling and discrimination (e.g., “the War on Drugs” and the 1994 Crime Bill), questions the motivations for reducing access to education in drug offenders, reviews causes and inhibitors of recidivism in drug offenders to make the case for the promotion of education in recently-released offenders, and highlights empirical data that supports expanding access to these people. The authors conclude the paper with recommendations to progress toward racial educational equity. This paper is directed toward higher education scholars, practitioners, and policy makers who possess a strategic critical orientation towards racial equity in education.

Hiring as cultural gatekeeping into occupational communities: implications for higher education and student employability

With the rising price of college and anxiety about graduates’ job prospects, the employability of graduates is a dominant narrative shaping postsecondary policy and practice around the world. Yet, completion and the acquisition of a credential alone do not guarantee employment, and research on hiring reveals its subjective aspects, particularly when cultural signals of applicants are matched to those of organizations. In this qualitative study of 42 manufacturing firms in the US state of Wisconsin, cultural capital theory is used to investigate the prevalence of hiring as “cultural matching” using thematic and social network methods to analyze interview data. Results indicate that 74% of employers hire for cultural fit, but, contrary to prior research, this matching process is not simply a matter of fitting applicant personalities to monolithic “organizational cultures” or interviewer preferences. Instead, employers match diverse applicant dispositions (e.g., personality, attitude) and competencies (e.g., cognitive, inter-personal, intra-personal) to the personalities of existing staff as well as to industry-specific norms that are dominant within specific departments. The paper explores implications of these findings for college students, faculty, and career advisors, especially in light of the potential for discriminatory practices during the job search and hiring process.

Policy conflicts on the move: a ‘mobilities’ case study of neoliberal postsecondary policy

In light of multiple, dispersed forms of online civic participation, we must reconceptualize how public intervention into policy production and enactment takes place. This study examines a case of academic and operational restructuring termed ‘TransformUS’ that took place at a Canadian university in Saskatchewan from 2013 to 2014. Our analysis centers on a sequence of high profile events in May 2014 at the University of Saskatchewan, sparked by the firing of a tenured dean who publicly criticized TransformUs. We examine the mobilization of this policy conflict, and specifically, how discourses and actors were implicated in its movement, alongside articulations of neoliberalism/anti-neoliberalism and academic freedom. We analyze data posted by Twitter users (tweets), in combination with hyperlinked articles, to examine content and methods of communication. We argue that broader mobilization of TransformUs was enabled through the decontexualization of a localized conflict situation and its recontextualization as an issue of academic freedom.

Roadmap Connecting Researchers and Practitioners to Relevance for Postsecondary Policy Interests

Those interested in positioning research to be used by policymakers or funded by foundations often wonder how best to do so. Foundation and policy interests can intersect, as philanthropy and policy both aim to provide solutions to big societal problems. This article explores themes from federal financial aid policy, in particular, suggesting that relevance can come from attention to the national mood, aligning solutions with identified problems, and condensing ideas for more immediate connection.

Neoliberalism Across Borders: A Comparative Case Study of Community Colleges’ Capacity to Serve Student-Parents

ABSTRACTCommunity colleges in the United States and Canada operate within postsecondary environments that are being reshaped by neoliberal policymaking. As community colleges in both countries respond to the pressures of neoliberalism, their capacity to serve students already marginalized by their “nontraditional” status may be affected in contradictory ways that benefit some students while further disadvantaging others. This article drew on data from a comparative case study of two urban community colleges, one in the United States and one in Canada, to explore how the increasing marketization of postsecondary education in both countries is affecting each college’s position within its particular postsecondary environment and, in turn, is shaping its capacity at the organizational level to support its student population. As a means of highlighting the consequences of neoliberal processes on marginalized students, we focused our attention at the organizational level on resources and supports targeted at students with dependent children, a group of students who are often rendered invisible—both by neoliberal discourses and traditional postsecondary policies and practices.

What Happens to Students Placed Into Developmental Education? A Meta-Analysis of Regression Discontinuity Studies

This article reports a systematic review and meta-analysis of studies that use regression discontinuity to examine the effects of placement into developmental education. Results suggest that placement into developmental education is associated with effects that are negative, statistically significant, and substantively large for three outcomes: (a) the probability of passing the college-level course in which remediation was needed, (b) college credits earned, and (c) attainment. Several sensitivity analyses suggest these results are not a function of particular stylized studies or the choices made in assembling the meta-analytic database. Two exploratory moderator analyses suggest that the negative effects of placement into developmental education are stronger for university students than for community college students and worse for students placed in reading or writing than in math. This work can inform debate and research on postsecondary policies and on alternative mechanisms for ensuring that college ...

Policy-Relevant Research within the Community Colleges: An IHE Focus for the Future

Grounded in policy-relevant research, the Institute of Higher Education at the University of Florida is focused on supporting local, state, and national postsecondary policy development as well as training the next generation of institutional leaders. IHE conducts rigorous scholarship focused on postsecondary policy analysis and supporting the evaluation needs of local colleges/universities within the state of Florida. Given the current economic and political climate surrounding community colleges, two data points emerge as defining for the two-year sector. Specifically, data surrounding the financial support of community colleges as well as the number of community college students transferring between the two- and four-year sectors are crucial for future success. Both variables are especially important given the federal proposal for free community colleges and the growing focus on baccalaureate degree production.

Moving the Attainment Agenda from Policy to Action

State-level postsecondary policies focused on completion and attainment goals seldom include guidance regarding implementation at the campus level, especially when it comes to equity as a necessary...

Coming Out of the Shadows: Rethinking the Education Policy Agenda for Diversity and HBCUs

This chapter discusses how diversity has typically been presented in the HBCU scholarly work, and explores how HBCUs may connect more effectively with the American postsecondary policy agenda.

People, Processes, and Policy-Making in Canadian Post-secondary Education, 1990–2000

Policy-making in Canadian post-secondary education is rarely the subject of intensive, systematic study. This paper seeks to identify the distinctive ways in which Canadian post-secondary education policy decisions were constructed and implemented, and to posit an analytical framework for interpreting policy-making process in post-secondary education. Our focus is on post-secondary policy initiatives between 1990 and 2000. During this period, the federal government, under Liberal Prime Minister Jean Chretien undertook some unprecedented initiatives in the post-secondary education field. The paper discusses aspects of the 1993 election campaign, the Income Contingent Repayment (student assistance) proposal in 1994, the federal deficit cuts of 1995, the return to fiscal surplus in 1997, and the introduction of the following federal plans: the Canada Foundation on Innovation, the Canada Research Chairs Program, and the Millennium Foundation Scholarship Program. The paper concludes with the presentation of a conceptual framework designed to enhance understanding of the public policy-making process in post-secondary education and, potentially, other policy fields.

Conditions underpinning success in joint service-education workforce planning

Vancouver Island lies just off the southwest coast of Canada. Separated from the large urban area of Greater Vancouver (estimated population 2.17 million) by the Georgia Strait, this geographical location poses unique challenges in delivering health care to a mixed urban, rural and remote population of approximately 730 000 people living on the main island and the surrounding Gulf Islands. These challenges are offset by opportunities for the Vancouver Island Health Authority (VIHA) to collaborate with four publicly funded post-secondary institutions in planning and implementing responses to existing and emerging health care workforce needs.In this commentary, we outline strategies we have found successful in aligning health education and training with local health needs in ways that demonstrate socially accountable outcomes. Challenges encountered through this process (i.e. regulatory reform, post-secondary policy reform, impacts of an ageing population, impact of private, for-profit educational institutions) have placed demands on us to establish and build on open and collaborative working relationships. Some of our successes can be attributed to evidence-informed decision-making. Other successes result from less tangible but no less important factors. We argue that both rational and "accidental" factors are significant – and that strategic use of "accidental" features may prove most significant in our efforts to ensure the delivery of high-quality health care to our communities.

The New Buffalo: The Struggle for Aboriginal Post-Secondary Education in Canada (review)

Reviewed by: The New Buffalo: The Struggle for Aboriginal Post-Secondary Education in Canada John S. Long Stonechild, Blair —The New Buffalo: The Struggle for Aboriginal Post-Secondary Education in Canada. Winnipeg: University of Manitoba Press, 2006. Pp. 190. Today, elders say that education, rather than the bison, needs to be relied upon for survival. (p. 2) The plains "buffalo" is a North American icon, a symbol of the First Nations who inhabited the Great Plains and once depended on these huge mammals. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, "buffalo" actually refers to several species of Old World oxen belonging to the genus Bos and only "in popular [End Page 646] unscientific use" to their distant relatives in North America, the subspecies Bison bison bison (plains bison) and Bison bison athabascae (wood bison). Famously appropriated by the United States Mint, the bison features prominently in the coat of arms of the province of Manitoba, the crest of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, and also that of the University of Manitoba (whose press published this book). It is a Prairies icon, of course; other First Nations might prefer the salmon, the Canada goose, the beaver, or the three sisters (corn, beans, and squash). What makes the buffalo unique as a symbol of survival, however, is that its decimation more than a century ago —recently attributed to international trade (M. Scott Taylor, Buffalo Hunt International Trade and the Virtual Extinction of the North American Bison) —threatened the very existence of the First Nations (and Métis) in Western Canada and forced them to find new ways of living. Ironically, the Tories' 1980s cost-cutting strategy used the appalling metaphor of a buffalo jump (Katherine Graham, "Indian Policy and the Tories: Cleaning Up After the Buffalo Jump," in How Ottawa Spends 1987–88: Restraining the State). One of the ways in which First Nations survived their colonization was through, or despite, formal education (J. R. Miller, Shingwauk's Vision: A History of Native Residential Schools; John A. Milloy, A National Crime: The Canadian Government and the Residential School System, 1879 to 1986). Before Blair Stonechild's pioneering study, we knew little about the history of federal and provincial post-secondary policies regarding Aboriginal peoples. There was one paragraph in the first volume of Indian Education in Canada (Jean Barman, Yvonne Hébert, and Don McCaskill, eds. Indian Education in Canada, Volume 1: The Legacy) and only scattered bits in its sequel (Volume 2: The Challenge). Publication of Stonechild's PhD dissertation ("Pursuing the New Buffalo: First Nations Higher Education Policy in Canada," University of Regina, 2004) puts this important analysis of a little understood aspect of Aboriginal education policy into the hands of a wider audience. The New Buffalo acknowledges previous authors (pp. 4–5) and helps to contextualize more recent studies of specific institutions, like Celia Haig-Brown's Taking Control: Power and Contradiction in First Nations Adult Education and several of those in Marie Battiste and Jean Barman's First Nations Education in Canada: The Circle Unfolds. Post-secondary schooling for Aboriginal peoples "has evolved from a tool of assimilation to an instrument of empowerment" (p. 2), but there is still a fundamental disagreement about the federal government's responsibility in this area. Indeed, the future of First Nations Technical Institute in Ontario, briefly acknowledged by Stonechild (p. 120), is very much in doubt as I write this review (First Nations Technical Institute website, http://www.fnti.net, accessed March 6, 2008). In chapter 1, The New Buffalo reviews the assimilationist assumptions underlying early Indian legislation and the western numbered treaties. It also uses archival records to illustrate the difficulties experienced by three of the first Indian students attending McGill University (Stonechild's alma mater) and the ultimately futile efforts of Emmanuel College to establish "the first institution for Indian higher education" in Western Canada (p. 27). Chapter 2 summarizes the broad approaches to Indian policy under Diefenbaker, Pearson, and Trudeau. It also provides information on university enrolment by [End Page 647] Indians during this period. Chapter 3 summarizes the accomplishments of the 1974–1978 Joint Cabinet/National Indian Brotherhood Committee and proceeds to examine: the 1971 establishment of cultural/education...

Creeping Capitalism and Academic Culture at a Canadian Law School

This paper considers the influence of academic restructuring associated with neo-liberal postsecondary policies on the culture of law schools and legal scholarship in Canada. It offers empirical data from a case study of the Faculty of Law at the University of British Columbia. This paper examines the impact of the changing Canadian political economy on the scholarship and culture at the law school and explores the implications for professional autonomy and academic freedom. The findings suggest that, at the time of data collection (2002-2004), the changing political economy had not (yet) affected the law school at the University of British Columbia in the same manner as other jurisdictions and disciplines described in the literature. The data shows that law professors who participated in the study experienced increasing pressures associated with corporatization, commodification and marketization in the larger university, however they consistently described high levels of academic freedom and professional autonomy over their work and scholarship. While there is some evidence of the transformation of academic culture associated with economic restructuring there is also evidence that law professors at this school have maintained control over the direction of their intellectual scholarship.Cet article se penche sur l’influence de la restructuration académique associée aux politiques postsecondaires néo-libérales sur la culture au sein des écoles de droit et sur les études juridiques au Canada. Il présente des données empiriques à partir d’une étude de cas de la Faculté de droit à l’Université de Colombie- Britannique. L’article examine l’impact de l’économie politique canadienne changeante sur l’érudition et la culture à l’école de droit et explore ce que cela implique pour l’autonomie professionnelle et la liberté de l’enseignement. Les résultats suggèrent qu’au moment de la collecte des données (2002-2004), l’économie politique changeante n’avait pas (encore) eut d’effet sur l’école de droit à l’Université de Colombie-Britannique de la même façon que dans d’autres secteurs et d’autres disciplines décrites dans la littérature. Les données indiquent que les professeurs de droit qui ont participé à l’étude sentaient des pressions croissantes associées à la corporatisation, la commercialisation et la marchandisation à l’université dans son ensemble, toutefois ils ont décrit régulièrement de hauts niveaux de liberté de l’enseignement et d’autonomie professionnelle par rapport à leur travail et leurs études. Quoiqu’il existe de l’évidence de la transformation de la culture académique associée à la restructuration économique, il y a aussi de l’évidence que les professeurs de droit de cette école ont maintenu le contrôle de l’orientation de leur travail intellectuel.