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Simplification of the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) entails significant changes to the FAFSA and the methodology for determining eligibility for federal financial aid for the 2024-25 academic year. The changes to the FAFSA form that were mandated by the Simplification Act delayed implementation and shifted the timeline for release of the 2024-25 FAFSA from October to December 2023. This shift has also led to delays in processing the FAFSA. Through a partnership with the National Association of State Student Grant and Aid Programs (NASSGAP), SHEEO initially convened 12 states from across the country (now expanded to 17 states) in 2022 to participate in a learning community. The learning community provided states with opportunities to examine the impact of FAFSA simplification on state financial aid programs and to take advantage of the open policy window to reconsider state financial aid policies and processes. Feedback from state members has confirmed that, despite the challenges and uncertainties around the rollout of the new FAFSA, states were as prepared as possible to implement the new FAFSA due in part to their participation in the learning community. As the first phase of the learning community concludes, SHEEO staff have conducted case-study interviews with state members of the learning community and the larger SHEEO membership. While all states have worked diligently to help students complete the new FAFSA, the four states selected -- Alabama, Illinois, Louisiana, and Minnesota -- were chosen to represent states that implemented successful strategies for taking advantage of the policy window (Minnesota), employing FAFSA completion initiatives (Alabama, Illinois, and Louisiana), and preparing for the new FAFSA (all states).

As states reckon with racial enrollment and attainment gaps in higher education, some have made efforts to address them through their higher education funding. Two common approaches are outcomes-based funding (OBF) and Promise programs, as each can be designed with an explicit race equity lens. This report summarizes a two-year study examining the degree to which these race-specific state funding policies have advanced racial equity in higher education. Exploring initiatives in Minnesota, New Jersey, and North Carolina, this study examines how these policies aim to dismantle racial inequities by directing resources toward Black, Latinx, and Indigenous students and the institutions that serve them. This study draws on 25 interviews with state policymakers and institutional leaders at a purposive sample of public four-year institutions. Researchers sought the perspectives of individuals at Minority-serving Institutions (MSIs), Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), Native American-serving non-tribal institutions (NASNTIs), and Hispanic-serving Institutions (HSIs), but also selected one Predominantly White Institution (PWI) in OBF states to understand how, if at all, the funding model incentivized institutional change. The research suggests that while policymakers express concerns that the amount of funding tied to race equity metrics is insufficient to motivate change, institutional leaders perceive that the metrics have steered funds toward under-resourced students and the institutions serving them. However, the report highlights that without addressing historical underfunding of MSIs and HBCUs, these institutions cannot compete equitably for funds under zero-sum OBF models. The report also suggests that the design of the formula, unfunded mandates, and competing state initiatives can undermine the impact of a race-explicit OBF. Race-explicit Promise programs in this study were perceived to have bolstered enrollment and retention at participating MSIs. However, because programs were designed to cover only tuition and fees, respondents suggested that they were not providing an additional benefit beyond existing federal and state aid programs. Without covering the additional costs of college, including room and board, these programs fell short of making a four-year residential college experience accessible to students for whom they were designed. The recommendations emerging from the research urge policymakers to consider the full ecosystem of postsecondary institutions when designing funding initiatives, ensuring that funding programs are additive rather than overlapping to maximize outcomes. The report also emphasizes the importance of supporting additional costs of college in Promise programs to promote equity for students experiencing systemic barriers.

In December 2023, TICAS published new research on the College Affordability Gap--the gap between students' total cost of attendance and non-loan aid available to them--in California, Michigan, and New York, with a focus on students eligible for Pell Grants. Our new report builds on this research with data from nine additional states (Colorado, Indiana, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, Oregon, Rhode Island, and Washington), all of whom are part of TICAS' State Policy Network to Advance Debt-Free College. This research helps to define the magnitude of the affordability crisis students face and offers recommendations for state and federal policymakers to incrementally improve college affordability.

Boosting literacy among school-age children remains a national priority. Nearly one third of students in the United States have not developed the foundational reading skills needed to succeed academically, with students living in poverty, students with disabilities, and English learners especially at risk. Starting in 2010, Congress invested more than $1 billion for state literacy improvement efforts through the Striving Readers Comprehensive Literacy (SRCL) program. SRCL was intended to focus funding on disadvantaged schools, encourage schools to use evidence-based practices, and support schools and teachers in providing comprehensive literacy instruction. These efforts were expected to lead to improved literacy outcomes for students. This study assesses how well SRCL implementation was aligned with these goals, using information collected from states, districts, and schools in all 11 states awarded grants in 2017.

The Study Abroad Health and Safety Report informs students and parents about significant health and safety incidents while studying abroad. Incidents, as reported on the Study Abroad Health and Safety Survey, are defined as deaths and hospitalizations that occurred during participation in a study abroad program. Minnesota legislation (Minn. Stat. § 5.41) aims to strengthen student safety by asking Minnesota colleges and universities with study abroad programs to report the following information annually: (1) Hospitalizations and deaths of students during program participation; (2) Country, primary program host, and program type of each incident; and (3) Whether the program complies with health and safety standards set by the nationally recognized Forum on Education Abroad or a similar standard.

Home visiting connects expectant parents, new caregivers, and their young children with a support person, called a home visitor. The home visitor meets regularly with the family, develops a relationship with them, and supports them to achieve their goals and meet their needs. To reach the thousands of additional families who could benefit from home visiting, we must increase support for culturally relevant and family-centered models. A new report -- "Community-Based Home Visiting: Fidelity to Families, Commitment to Outcomes" -- delves into the unique strengths and challenges of community-based home visiting models, whose design and measures of success intentionally center the perspectives of the families and communities they serve. These models are often developed by those with experience with the unique cultures, strengths, and solutions of he community they live in and aim to serve. This report summarizes themes from listening sessions with 30+ community-based home visiting models from across the country. It offers policy and funding recommendations that would improve support for these models and therefore families' access to home visiting that best meets their goals. [Additional support was provided by the National Home Visiting Coalition Steering Committee.]

The CAEL (Council for Adult and Experiential Learning) and the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education (WICHE) announce the inaugural winners of the Credit for Prior Learning (CPL) Equity Awards, recognizing strategies that have been proven to put CPL in reach of key adult learner populations and/or increase their CPL credit-earning. Equity means different things in different contexts. For the purposes of the 2024 CPL Equity Awards, CAEL and WICHE identified the following populations that are of particular interest: (1) Black or African American adult learners; (2) Native American or Alaska Native adult learners; (3) Latino/a adult learners (of any race); (4) Low-income adult learners; and (5) Adult learners at community colleges. The diverse range of nominations submitted offered a range of CPL approaches designed to serve one or more of these important student populations. A panel of experts reviewed the nominations and selected a CPL Equity Champion, two CPL Equity Rising Stars, and four Honorable Mentions. (All received national recognition and a cash prize.) The report that follows distills key takeaways from all nominees that can be used across contexts and highlights the unique approaches of the award-winning institutions.

In 2023, Wilder Research contracted with the Minnesota Department of Education (MDE) and Department of Human Services (DHS), in partnership with the Children's Cabinet, to conduct an Early Care and Education (ECE) Workforce Survey. A similar study was conducted in 2011. The purpose of the study is to describe characteristics of the ECE workforce and assess educators' economic wellbeing in addition to their motivations for participating in professional development opportunities. Licensed family child care providers were one segment of the ECE workforce included in the study; a subset of family child care providers were randomly selected to participate in a mail-push-to-web survey as part of the study. In total 189 respondents working in 170 (out of 6,291) licensed family child care programs participated. A summary of findings are presented in this report.

The Minnesota Department of Education (MDE), together with the Region 10 Comprehensive Center (R10CC), conducted a survey of educators in Minnesota public schools to better understand which schools are implementing competency-based education (CBE) practices and to learn more about their goals, successes, and challenges. These insights will help others develop policies and practices that support learner-centered approaches in our schools. The research found that: (1) Minnesota is home to a motivated community of practitioners and a variety of school types implementing practices aligned with competency-based education (CBE); (2) Respondents reported implementing the majority of identified CBE practices in a variety of grade levels and contexts; (3) The implementation of CBE practices lacks coherence between and within schools and districts; (4) There is a lack of alignment between some CBE practices and existing systems and structures; and (5) Barriers to effective implementation are mostly internal. Respondents cited teacher capacity and attitudes as the most common challenges they've had to overcome when implementing CBE practices.

In 2023, Wilder Research in St. Paul contracted with the Minnesota departments of Education (MDE) and Human Services (DHS) in partnership with the Minnesota Children's Cabinet to conduct an Early Care and Education (ECE) Workforce Survey. The purpose of the study is to describe characteristics of the ECE workforce, assess educators' economic well-being, and describe their motivations for participating in training and professional development opportunities. The study included a survey of and focus groups with early childhood educators. For the purposes of this study, the authors defined "early childhood educator" as those who care for children professionally, regardless of their title. This study includes early childhood care and education professionals in the following types of programs: (1) Licensed family child care providers; (2) Licensed child care centers; (3) School-based early childhood programs, including public preschool/prekindergarten programs, Early Childhood Family Education, and Early Childhood Special Education; (4) Head Start and Early Head Start programs; and (5) License-exempt child care programs, both certified and uncertified, that serve preschool age.

The need for a larger labor force in Southwest Minnesota is at peak heights and employers are looking for strategies that keep local high school and college graduates in the region. The analysis of 38,154 southwest high school graduates shows that their post-high school paths and plans are related to whether an individual has meaningful workforce participation in Southwest. If their paths and planning for after high school involve programs with regional ties such as attending a college in the region or engaging in career and technical education (CTE) programs, they are significantly more likely to work in the region. However, if their paths and planning take them outside of Southwest, such as attending colleges outside the region, or performing well on ACT and MCA testing, they are significantly more likely to find work outside the region. There is a narrative that outlines what paths and plans students should make for success after high school, but that narrative is outdated. This old narrative, that young people need to leave rural areas to find better job opportunities, is being replaced by a new narrative that better links the educational plans and paths to local workforce demand. In this analysis, CTE programming indicates that having local ties to the labor force and increasing awareness among youth of the local opportunities available is a key part of the path and plans that keep them in Southwest. However, the data also indicates that the old narrative still holds sway: students that plan for and take a path that earns a more "advanced" degree tend to not stay and work in Southwest, despite there being significant demand for their skills locally. These students are pulled to other areas of Minnesota, and in particular, from wherever they graduate college. Adding to the complexity for southwest Minnesota is the increasing competition of border states. In particular, the state of South Dakota has developed an entire recruitment and marketing campaign targeted at our young people in southern Minnesota. And the data indicates that the region is losing nearly 20% of their own students to other states. But it is also known that students are confronted with many messages, narratives and experiences that shape their perceptions of their local opportunities. Although this analysis paints a story of how to move forward, there are likely many other factors at play that can impact Southwest's labor force.

The Collaborative Minnesota Partnerships to Advance Student Success (COMPASS), a statewide education system designed to support schools' and districts' efforts to accelerate student learning, offers professional development opportunities with various levels of support. Through COMPASS school districts and charter schools are provided a variety of resources, evidence-based practices, and facilitated guidance to support schools in areas of Literacy, Math, and School Climate and Mental Health using the Minnesota Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MnMTSS) continuous improvement framework. As part of the federally-funded Region 10 Comprehensive Center (R10CC), the Center for Applied Research and Educational Improvement (CAREI) at the University of Minnesota has collaborated with the Minnesota Department of Education (MDE) to develop a wealth of written resources to support implementation of MnMTSS across Minnesota schools and districts. This brief summarizes what was learned from three Minnesota school districts who participated in COMPASS cohort learning experiences. The report introduces each district and describes how their teams engaged in the cohort courses, how their participation impacted local MnMTSS development and implementation, and what lessons they learned along the way.

Community colleges and broad-access universities (those with minimally selective admissions policies) provide an opportunity for students across the United States to attain postsecondary degrees and economic mobility. However, graduation rates from such colleges are often low and there are many obstacles that can be difficult to overcome, especially for students who must balance work or family responsibilities, older students, students from low-income backgrounds, and students of color who face additional systemic barriers. Furthermore, the COVID-19 pandemic introduced unprecedented challenges for college students, making the pursuit of higher education even more difficult. Since about 2000, researchers have been collecting evidence on what forms of support are effective in helping students earn their degrees. Evidence shows that interventions that include multiple program components that support students over several years are associated with larger impacts on student outcomes. Building on the existing body of research, MDRC designed and is evaluating the Scaling Up College Completion Efforts for Student Success (SUCCESS) program, a multifaceted student support program designed to effectively promote student success and be financially sustainable. SUCCESS combines evidence-based components, including coaches engaged in active outreach to students, monthly financial incentives for students who meet program requirements, strategies to encourage students to enroll full time, and a data-driven program management system. Starting in 2019, 13 colleges across five states (California, Indiana, Minnesota, New Jersey, and Ohio), along with their state higher education agencies, have worked with MDRC to customize and launch SUCCESS. Eleven of the 13 colleges are participating in the randomized controlled trial. A previous brief presenting early findings from the first study cohort illustrated that the SUCCESS program in the 2020-2021 academic year, as adapted for the context of the pandemic, had no discernible effect on students' academic progress. This report provides updated insight into the SUCCESS program after one year of participation for the first three evaluation student cohorts, covering fall 2020 through summer 2022. The main implementation finding from that time period is that the program implementation varied by college and term, and did not fully align with the SUCCESS model, largely due to the adaptations implemented during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, students who were offered SUCCESS had a different college experience from students in the control group--they were more likely to be told about the importance of full-time enrollment and, on average, they had substantially more contact with their advisors or coaches. [The following organizations supported the SUCCESS demonstration: the Minnesota State System Office and the Ohio Department of Jobs and Family Services.]

In 2015, the Minnesota Legislature passed statute 135A.012 Higher Education Goal, which enacted a goal that 70% of Minnesota adults (ages 25-44) will have attained a postsecondary certificate or degree by 2025. In recognition of existing gaps in attainment, the law also sets 30% and 50% educational attainment benchmarks for all races and ethnicities as interim goals. Current estimates show that 63.0% of Minnesotans aged 25-44 years completed a postsecondary credential. This percentage has steadily increased compared to 2015 estimates (57.5%). In order to reach the 70.0% educational attainment goal set by the Legislature, however, Minnesota still needs an additional 104,420 persons age 25-44 to complete a postsecondary credential by 2025. This yearly report provides an update on where Minnesota is at in their state postsecondary educational attainment goal. [For the 2022 report, see ED625506.]

This brief is part of the Affirming Equity, Ensuring Inclusion, and Empowering Action initiative. The brief describes the emerging practice of direct admissions, including how the practice has been designed, what outcomes it has produced, and considerations for policymakers debating the implementation of a direct admissions program in their state or system. Direct admissions policies address the barriers associated with the admissions process. Direct admissions removes complexity, simplifying the college application process, saving students time and money, and eliminating barriers that disproportionately impact students from minoritized backgrounds due to unevenly distributed social and cultural capital. Direct admissions policies provide students with an early guarantee of college admission at a critical point in high school. This guarantee of acceptance signals the students' college-going potential and reduces the uncertainty and risk of applying. Direct admissions programs tell students that they are college material and that there is a place for them. This holds the potential to overcome wide racial gaps in college-going beliefs. This brief provides summaries of how Idaho, Hawai'i, and Minnesota have adopted and designed direct admissions programs for the public institutions in their states. [Eileen and Harold Brown provided additional funding for this series of briefs.]

Sing Play Learn with MacPhail® Online Early Childhood Music Partnerships strives to increase access to high quality music education for early childhood students in greater Minnesota. The program is designed so that student participants benefit developmentally with gains in executive functioning, social-emotional skills, foundation in musical concepts, and cognition and language development through musical learning experiences. The evaluation gathers qualitative and quantitative data to answer outcome and implementation research questions.

Corequisite remediation involves placing students who have been designated as underprepared directly into college-level courses with concurrent supports--such as in-class tutoring, online learning labs, or a supplemental class--rather than making them take non-credit-bearing developmental courses first. Despite the growing number of studies on corequisite remediation, there are still questions about which practices can address the needs of and advance equity for diverse groups of students, particularly students who struggle with basic math or English skills. CAPR researchers partnered with the Charles A. Dana Center to study and offer formative feedback about the implementation of corequisite course models at four colleges participating in the Corequisite Research Design Collaborative, the Dana Center's initiative for implementing equity-minded, holistic corequisite course models. CAPR researchers partnered with the Charles A. Dana Center to study and offer formative feedback about the implementation of corequisite course models at four colleges participating in the Corequisite Research Design Collaborative, the Dana Center's initiative for implementing equity-minded, holistic corequisite course models. This research brief and the supplement highlight the findings on the design and implementation of corequisite courses at the four colleges, as well as findings from a survey administered to students who were enrolled in these courses in fall 2021 and spring 2022. The researchers found that the implementation of corequisite support courses helped students understand course content and increased their engagement with their coursework. In general, students appeared more comfortable engaging in support courses than in the paired college-level courses. This suggests that support courses can play an important role in improving student engagement by providing an additional space for students to interact with the course content, their peers, and faculty. [This report was written with Ellen Wasserman. For the supplement, see ED631329.]

Many schools are embracing improvement planning as a deliberate endeavor to enhance their educational practices and increase equitable access to high-quality learning for all students. Schools that are committed to continuous improvement and providing a high-quality education to their students are more likely to engage in comprehensive school improvement planning processes. One such example comes from Great Minnesota Schools (GMS), a nonprofit based in Minneapolis, which supports schools' proactive efforts to build on their existing strengths to reach new student performance and other goals through improvement planning. This analysis provides an overview of the Bellwether School Improvement Cohort Program (Cohort Program) and its work with schools supported by GMS. The authors present an overview of Bellwether's three-stage process, starting with a comprehensive school "health" assessment, moving to stakeholder engagement, and finally to program implementation and progress monitoring. The authors then preview lessons learned from case studies of two schools -- Global Academy (Global) and Prodeo Academy (Prodeo) -- that have participated in the Cohort Program. Overall, findings from accompanying case studies suggest that the Cohort Program has helped build the organizational capacity of these schools to improve student achievement.

The Minnesota Department of Human Services (DHS) contracted with Child Trends in 2022 to conduct an independent evaluation of Parent Aware to explore its effectiveness in supporting the state's children, families, and early care and education (ECE) workforce. As part of this evaluation, the team at Child Trends conducted an analysis of Rating and Indicator data for programs earning Parent Aware Star Ratings in nine Full-Rating Cohorts from January 2019 (Ratings issued June 30, 2019) through January 2023 (Ratings issued June 30, 2023). The purpose of this report is to share findings from this analysis that demonstrate how programs select Indicators to earn points that translate to their requested Star Ratings. In this report, the authors discuss how programs were rated, how previous Ratings related to earned Ratings, how programs performed on different Indicators, which optional Indicators programs commonly "opted-out" of, and any differences across program types. Programs are required to renew their Ratings every two years, although programs at the One-, Two, or Three-Star Level may choose to apply earlier for a new Rating. With this in mind, the team also examined programs that earned multiple Re-Ratings during the study timeframe to identify any trends in Ratings over time. Specifically, the authors address the following research questions in this report: (1) What do programs' requested and earned Ratings look like over time?; (2) How do programs' requested Ratings compare to their earned Ratings?; (3) How do programs' previous Ratings compare to their earned Ratings?; (4) How many points did Three- and Four-Star Rated programs earn, by Category and in total?; and (5) Which Indicators-for-points at the Three- and Four-Star levels are programs "opting out" of and, where relevant, how many points were earned?

Youth mental health concerns are on the rise and can have serious implications for student well-being and success (Clayborne et al., 2019). Consequently, more educators and mental health professionals are identifying mental health as an important student need (American Academy of Pediatrics, 2021). This report summarizes the key principles underlying comprehensive school mental health and trauma sensitive schools. The present synthesis of studies and reports emphasizes core features, key principles, and associated core components. [This report was co-produced by the Wisconsin Evaluation Collaborative and originally prepared for the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction (DPI).]

There are nearly 1 million credentials in the United States that students and workers can take advantage of, but how information about these credentials is collected and communicated is oftentimes inconsistent and hard to access. In February, we invited a group of postsecondary and workforce development experts to consider how policymakers can leverage credential transparency to further state workforce and attainment goals. Inspired by those conversations, this Policy Brief highlights data capacity, governance and funding as key policy areas and provides considerations that states, systems and practitioners can use to develop credential transparency. [This brief was produced with Credential Engine.]

Post-secondary education enrollment and completion disparities exist for Minnesota's Black, Indigenous, and Persons of Color (BIPOC) and lower-income students. One outcome measure demonstrating the impact of system-fed disparities in K-12 education is a student's level of readiness for college-level courses following high school graduation. Given that academic preparation is a significant predictor of persistence and completion in college, developmental education serves as a bridge between the academic readiness of students enrolling in a postsecondary education and the academic skills needed to succeed in college level work. This paper examines Minnesota public high school graduates from the classes of 2014-2021 who enrolled in postsecondary education and subsequently enrolled in developmental education courses. This report uses student-level data within the Minnesota Statewide Longitudinal Education Data System (SLEDS) on Minnesota public high school graduates from the Minnesota Department of Education and college enrollment data from the Minnesota Office of Higher Education and the National Student Clearinghouse and provides one measure of academic readiness of Minnesota's public high school graduates.

The purpose of this document is to provide information and resources on special education for charter schools and charter school authorizers. The information in this report should not be relied upon as a comprehensive or definitive response to specific legal situations involving special education compliance. This report includes a: (1) Minnesota authorizer primer; (2) Minnesota charter school primer; and (3) Minnesota special education primer glossary.

A major purpose of this ongoing project was to develop a shared understanding and language among divisions of the Minnesota Department of Education regarding the Multi Tiered System of Support Framework (MTSS) (e.g., School Climate; Teaching and Learning; Special Education; Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion) to more efficiently and consistently support local educational agencies (LEAs) and provide districts with tools, resources, and technical assistance to support implementation. The project developed a unifying framework for guiding continuous improvement, connecting silos, and enhancing collaboration. This report describes the project outcomes.

Increasing education funding is a topic of discussion every year at the Minnesota State Legislature. In January, Governor Tim Walz proposed a 4% increase to the basic education formula allowance within the K-12 general education revenue program, the "education formula" that determines the majority of funding school districts receive from the state. Whenever any changes to the general education revenue program are proposed, it brings up an ongoing question--will some districts benefit more than others? To help with this transparency issue, this report examines how an increase to one component of the general education revenue program--the basic education revenue formula allowance--would impact districts across the state, and in doing so, hopefully provides some insight into how the general education revenue program works.

In June 2021, the Minnesota Legislature appropriated significant investments in child care, using $537 million in Child Care and Development Funds from the federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARP). Investments included: $304 million in direct payments to providers through Child Care Stabilization Grants; $22.5 million for Child Care Facility Grants for facility improvements, minor renovations, and related equipment and services; and $1 million for the Retaining Early Educators through Attaining Incentives Now (REETAIN) program. This money was temporary and provided much needed relief, as well as a unique opportunity to try novel approaches to solving a variety of challenges that exist in early education. The goal of this project is to understand the impact of ARP funds on increasing wages and retention of the early childhood education workforce to inform future investments. This brief explores the initial impact of that federal funding on Minnesota's child care industry. Ongoing analysis will further determine the impacts on the early childhood workforce; an in-depth report will be forthcoming in 2024.

State postsecondary education data systems are vital assets for policymakers, researchers, and the public. The State Higher Education Executive Officers Association's (SHEEO) Communities of Practice project builds upon SHEEO's efforts to measure the capacity and effective use of state postsecondary data systems and provides states with opportunities to develop solutions to common system issues. The seventh Community of Practice convening, "Improving Equity and Opportunity through Postsecondary Data," was held September 28-29, 2022, in Denver, Colorado. The two-day meeting included more than 80 representatives from 17 states: Arkansas, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawai'i, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Minnesota, Missouri, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Texas, Washington, and the District of Columbia. Teams included representatives from SHEEO agency academic affairs, workforce, diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), and research and data offices and their partners at state agencies and two- and four-year postsecondary institutions. Given the recent impacts on higher education from the COVID-19 pandemic, social justice unrest, and economic pressures facing the country, a focus on equity and opportunity was timely for this Community of Practice. SHEEO agency staff communicated a need to inform state attainment and economic goals through improved collection and use of postsecondary student unit record data. Within and across state teams, Community of Practice attendees were able to learn more about the nuances and impacts of equity-and opportunity-focused data collection, disaggregation, and visualization; to better understand how to effectively communicate and illustrate the need for and the contributions of equitable student success in their states; and to reflect on their capacity, partnerships, and resources available to effectively engage in this work. In this paper, SHEEO shares the presentations, resources, and team activities from the convening. This information can be used by SHEEO agencies to reflect on their current practices, plan and develop effective data policies, and better use data to improve postsecondary equity and opportunity outcomes in their states.

Math Corps is an evidence-based tutoring program serving students in grades 4 through 8 that increases opportunities to learn and practice fundamental math skills related to understanding whole and rational numbers. Its intent is that all students, in particular students who are Black, Latino, and/or experiencing poverty, will reach grade-level proficiency in math. AmeriCorps tutors are matched with a school and provide support to approximately 24 students, in pairs or groups of three, for 90 minutes each week in 30- to 45-minute, in-person sessions. The success of the program is built on the collective value of three core features: (1) tutors who share backgrounds or lived experiences with the students they serve; (2) personalized tutoring using evidence-based curriculum; and (3) tutor training and coaching. This study aims to provide evidence of the impact of the Math Corps tutoring program on student math achievement through a regression-adjusted matched comparison design, as well as descriptive evidence about program attendance and participants' math confidence, sense of belonging in Math Corps, and student-tutor relationship quality and focus group data. This report is one in a series of six reports on math tutoring programs. The goal of this report series is to inform the tutoring field more broadly and support the provision of high-quality tutoring to as many students in the priority communities as possible. [This report was prepared with Math Corps.]

The Study Abroad Health and Safety Report informs students and parents about significant health and safety incidents while studying abroad. Incidents, as reported on the Study Abroad Health and Safety Survey, are defined as deaths and hospitalizations that occurred during participation in a study abroad program. Minnesota legislation (Minn. Stat. § 5.411) aims to strengthen student safety by asking Minnesota colleges and universities with study abroad programs to annually report the following information: (1) Hospitalizations and deaths of students during program participation; (2) Country, primary program host, and program type of each incident; and (3) Whether the program complies with health and safety standards set by the nationally recognized Forum on Education Abroad or a similar standard.

In March 2022, Child Trends contracted with the Minnesota Department of Human Services (DHS) to conduct an independent evaluation of Parent Aware, Minnesota's quality rating and improvement system (QRIS) for early care and education (ECE) programs. The evaluation, required by the 2021 Minnesota Legislature, includes several research activities aimed at assessing the effectiveness of Parent Aware in supporting the state's children, families, and ECE workforce. This brief summarizes work completed for two activities conducted for the evaluation--a literature review and interviews with QRIS administrators in six states--and provides considerations for DHS in their ongoing efforts to refine and improve Parent Aware.