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Sixty-seven school finance reforms (SFRs) in 26 states have taken place since 1990; however, there is little empirical evidence on the heterogeneity of SFR effects. We provide a comprehensive description of how individual reforms affected resource allocation to low- and high-income districts within states, including both financial and non-financial outcomes. After summarizing the heterogeneity of individual SFR impacts, we then examine its correlates, identifying both policy and legislative/political factors. Taken together, this research aims to provide a rich description of variation in states' responses to SFRs, as well as explanation of this heterogeneity as it relates to contextual factors.

This issue of "WICHE Insights" reviews the results of the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education's (WICHE) annual survey of tuition and fees at public postsecondary institutions in the WICHE region in the context of state higher education finance policy. In light of steady increases in tuition and fees rates, modest growth in state appropriations, and varied state financial aid availability, rising postsecondary costs for students and families remain a top concern. All aspects of state higher education finance policy are impacted by fiscal changes at the federal and state levels. How those changes will affect tuition and fees, appropriations, and financial aid in the future is unclear, but recent trends have direct implications for postsecondary affordability and access.

This issue of "Policy Insights" reviews the results of the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education's annual survey of tuition and fees at public colleges and universities in the WICHE region and discusses related policy implications. (Data from the survey were published in November 2016.) Overall, tuition and fees in the WICHE region increased relatively little in 2016-17, slightly less than the national average rate of change -- and even decreased in the state of Washington. State appropriations to higher education in the West have generally stabilized in the past several years, although support for higher education in several WICHE states was impacted by the fall in energy prices. But even with the relatively modest increase in tuition and fees, families and students continue to struggle with the rising costs of a college education and affordability remains a key issue for states and individuals.

In September 2011, the Association of American Universities launched a major initiative to improve undergraduate STEM education. The overall objective was to influence the culture of STEM departments at AAU institutions so that faculty members are encouraged and supported to use teaching practices proven by research to be effective in engaging students in STEM education and in helping students learn. The Undergraduate STEM Education Initiative's intent was to help research universities better assess and improve the quality of teaching in STEM fields by: promoting the use of teaching techniques in STEM classes demonstrated by scholarship to be the most effective at engaging and helping students learn; encouraging universities and STEM departments to better evaluate, recognize and reward faculty members for the quality and effectiveness of their teaching; and facilitate the creation of an effective network for disseminating and sharing best practices in undergraduate STEM education reform and classroom based educational improvements. (Additional funding for this report was provided from Elsevier and Research Corporation for Science Advancement.)

This report presents the first detailed comparison of resource allocation between rural and nonrural districts in the West Region. Three regional characteristics often associated with rural districts were chosen for the analysis: district enrollment, student population density within a district (students per square mile), and drive time from the center of a district to the nearest urban area/cluster. Two other types of factors thought to be associated with resource allocation were also investigated: student need (incidence of poverty, English language learner students, and students receiving special education services) and geographic differences in labor costs. The report first examines how average regional characteristics, student needs, and labor costs differed across rural and nonrural district locale categories in 2005/06. Next it analyzes how average measures of resource allocation (per student expenditures on instruction, administration and student support, and transportation; ratios of administrative, instructional, and student support staff to students; and ratios of district central administration and maintenance and operations spending to school-level spending) varied across district locale categories. Using regression analysis, the study then models how these measures of resource allocation varied with the three regional characteristics and whether the relationship between resource allocation and regional characteristics differed across the study states. This study finds that rural districts in the West Region spent more per student, hired more staff per 100 students, and had higher overhead ratios of district- to school-level resources than did city and suburban districts. Regional characteristics were more strongly related to resource allocation than were other cost factors studied. [For the main document, see ED515211.]

This issue of "Policy Insights" reviews the results of the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education's (WICHE) annual survey of tuition and fees at public colleges and universities in the WICHE region and discusses related policy implications. Overall, tuition and fees in the WICHE region increased relatively little in 2015-16 (and even decreased in Oregon and Washington), slightly less than the national average rate of change. And state appropriations to higher education in the West have generally stabilized in the past several years. But in this climate of overall positive news about higher education financing, families and students continue to struggle with the high costs of a college education. "Free college" initiatives have gotten a lot of attention as a possible solution to college affordability, student borrowing continues to be an important part of the affordability discussion, and affordability has the potential to affect states' attainment of higher education and workforce goals.

The United States faces a period of opportunity for reinvention unlike any other, and the need for dramatic reform extends to higher education. Today, the United States is at a crossroads, facing unprecedented challenges in meeting expectations and upholding values that have long distinguished the nation. For the benefit of every American, decades-old approaches to structuring and paying for education beyond high school must be altered to ensure the nation produces enough graduates capable of contributing fully to society and to the communities in which they live. Political leaders responsible for meeting this rising demand for a skilled workforce and educated citizenry are seeking fundamental changes in higher education, which has long served as an engine of opportunity and economic mobility in the United States. Longstanding approaches for providing college and other postsecondary education cannot be scaled affordably to meet a growing need for better-educated adults. To ensure the nation has enough people with meaningful workforce credentials and high-quality associate or bachelor's degrees, the United States must develop lower-cost, high-quality alternatives capable of delivering education to millions of students whom colleges and universities are not serving as well as they could. This report outlines a Four Step agenda that higher education leaders and policy makers are adopting across the country to help their states address economic challenges through higher education.