State Postsecondary Education Research : New Methods to Inform Policy And Practice

"Although individual chapters could be useful for teaching and senior scholars, I see the book as helpful for early career policy scholars engaging in the research design process because of the excellent examples of quality research."―The Review of Higher Education

“This book will be of great interest to many different audiences, including higher education faculty, state education policy makers, graduate students, and practitioners. It promises to help fill the substantial void that currently exists in the work of academics on state education policy and practitioners and policy organizations, and will be a must read for anyone who attempts to examine higher education policies across multiple states.”―The Journal of Higher Education

This book provides an in-depth examination of the challenges and opportunities inherent in conducting cross-state higher education policy research. The authors of each chapter use their individual research projects to demonstrate the array of methodological, theoretical, analytical, and political challenges inherent in conducting comparative state-level policy research.

Donald E. Heller is Director, Center for the Study of Higher Education, and Professor of Education and Senior Scientist, at the College of Education, The Pennsylvania State University.

Kathleen M. Shaw is Associate Professor of Urban Education and Chair of the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies at Temple University.