Batten alum Maureen Coffey (MPP '21), a policy analyst on the early childhood policy team at Center for American Progress, says that lack of affordable child care costs families, employers and the entire economy. In an op-ed for MarketWatch, Coffey and co-author Hailey Gibbs outline how a comprehensive national approach could solve the problem.

New research describes recent shifts in net tuition by family income and institution type and assesses the role of changes in state funding in generating these shifts.

The Hechinger Report shares findings from Batten School Professor Sarah Turner's latest research on where, and for whom, college tuition costs are rising.

Batten School Professor Sarah Turner and co-author Diane Whitmore Schanzenbach found that high unemployment during COVID diverged from prior downturns and enrollment at community colleges dropped, with the drop larger among men.

Weak labor markets typically lead young workers to invest in skills. High unemployment during COVID diverged from prior downturns: enrollment at community colleges dropped by 9.5 percent between 2019 and 2020, with the drop larger among men. 

Using data from the Virginia Community College System (VCCS), this case provides the first detailed profile on the academic, employment, and earnings trajectories of the SCND population and how these compare with VCCS graduates. The scholars show that the share of SCND students who are academically ready to re-enroll and would benefit from doing so may be substantially lower than policy makers anticipate.

Batten School professor Ben Castleman and colleagues explore programs enacted by states to increase enrollment in community colleges. Despite these efforts, numbers have been steadily declining for much of the 2010s. Is there a way to get adults back to community college?

Batten School professors Daphna Bassok, Ben Castleman, Sarah Turner and Jim Wyckoff were among 200 scholars nationwide to rank as highly influential in education policy, according to Education Week.

What keeps someone from activating their library card or returning a book? Brooklyn Public Library worked with behavioral science experts including Batten professor Benjamin Castleman and alum Katharine Meyer (MPP '16) to find out.

Congress is considering universal pre-K and subsidies for child care. Batten's Daphna Bassok and other researchers spoke to The New York Times about how these policies can benefit children, and when they can backfire.