Conferences

Recent evidence demonstrates that the academic achievement gap between children from high- and low-income families has risen substantially in recent decades in the US, as has the disparity in college completion by family income. Indeed, the income achievement gap is now much larger than the black-white achievement gap, a reversal from the pattern 50 years ago, when black-white educational disparities dominated socioeconomic disparities.

The project’s second milestone was a conference with three main goals: (1) present detailed empirical pictures of current governance structures, market dynamics and career trajectories in the access sector; (2) specify what empirical research on broad-access governance, market dynamics and careers is necessary to improve college performance; and (3) specify necessary investments required in data collection, basic research, student training and professional mentoring. Commissioned papers may be found here. The conference’s summary document is titled "Three Ideas for Broad-Access Higher Education."

This event assembled scholars, policy analysts, and practitioners from relevant academic disciplines to define a new research agenda for broad-access postsecondary education. Commissioned papers (found here) and conference discussions contributed to the development of a new research framework for broad-access higher education, the project’s first major milestone.