NEBHE's Policy and Research arm serves as a resource to education, government, and business leaders throughout New England. It seeks to provide timely information, research and analysis on issues related to higher education and workforce development to decision-makers and the public throughout New England. Members of the Policy and Research team have experience engaging with New England state and regional leaders on issues such as affordability; developmental education; college completion; innovative higher education business and classroom models; institutional cost; and performance-based funding.
In conjunction with The New England Journal of Higher Education, the Policy and Research team is engaged in several regional and national initiatives, including:
Policy Analysis
Policy and Research engages our vast regional and national network to perform policy analysis on a variety of topics in higher education, including: developmental education; college completion; reinventing the university; productivity; economic funding models; and public policy. In addition to publishing reports and analysis, Policy and Research strives to engage policymakers and higher education leaders through presentations, state visits, and other activities.
Developmental Math Demonstration Project
The NEBHE Developmental Mathematics Demonstration Project was funded by the Lumina Foundation to pilot the usage of Khan Academy in community college developmental math courses and in pre-matriculation programs. The network of New England colleges and state systems participating in the project will use Khan Academy content and tools to improve student outcomes and accelerate the reform of developmental math programming.
New England Data Project
Increasingly, New England states are using data to guide instruction, improve teacher quality, close persistent and pernicious achievement and attainment gaps, and decrease the number of students required to take non credit-bearing remedial coursework. Despite these efforts, states to date have not been able to develop robust data systems to inform and improve college and career-readiness initiatives and policies, measure high school performance and answer key questions on secondary and postsecondary progress and success measures. The New England Data Project was funded by the Balfour Foundation to analyze these existing state high school to college data initiatives and prepare a six-state plan for expanding the region’s capacity to use data to improve college readiness and success.
AIR.U
In June 2012, the New England Board of Higher Education announced its participation in the AIR.U consortium. AIR.U will work to plan and deploy several pilot networks in university communities in order to create a roadmap for the deployment of super Wi-Fi networks through the use of unused television channels (also known as "white spaces). NEBHE’s participation is part of a larger goal to support higher education institutions and surrounding communities in exploring broadband technology and network development.
Trends and Indicators
The New England Journal of Higher Education publishes updated tables and charts exploring "Trends & Indicators” (T&I) in New England’s demography, high school performance and graduation, college enrollment, college graduation rates and degree production, higher education financing and university research.
