The incredible shrinking future of college, by Kevin Carey in Vox

Here is a very informative recent article on the hard-cold reality of the state the higher education is in dubbed as the "enrollment cliff." Some smaller private colleges have announced plans to close. 

An obvious policy fix is to bring in the student of color demographic that has been historically under-represented in higher education. This should get coupled with addressing student debt policies and financial aid support for prospective students. This would encourage many students to enroll. Online degrees are also structuring students from brick and mortar schools. Eliminating barriers to legal immigration would help, too, including creating a pathway to citizenship for DACA recipients.

We'll be hearing in higher education circles about both the enrollment cliff and "deconstruction." The latter, as defined by Shippensburg University President Charles Patterson, is as follows:

 “Presidents these days are in the business of deconstruction,” he said — not in the sense of tearing down what their forebears created, but of rethinking and reconfiguring what universities have and who they are, for leaner times."

There are, of course, regional differences with Northeastern and Midwestern colleges particularly impacted in the more immediate future. All told, the future of higher education is concerning such that expressions of local- and state-level political support by our communities must get underscored in our state legislatures nationwide.

-Angela Valenzuela

#EnrollmentCliff #highered #highereducation #deconstruction

The incredible shrinking future of college

The population of college-age Americans is about to crash. It will change higher education forever.

• By Kevin Carey 
• on November 21, 2022 7:03 am
• 
  
  Violeta Encarnacion for Vox

In 2021, Shippensburg University won the NCAA Division II Field Hockey championship, completing an undefeated season with a 3-0 victory over archrival West Chester. The “Ship” Raiders also won it all in 2018, 2017, 2016, and 2013, which I know because I saw it written in big letters on a banner festooning the fieldhouse on Ship’s campus in south-central Pennsylvania when I visited last month.

Ship was in fine form. Young men and women wearing logoed Champion sweatshirts bustled between buildings. There was a line at the coffee shop in the student union. It was the kind of bright-blue autumn day that you would see on a brochure.

There was no way to tell, from the outside, that Ship was a shrinking institution. Or that the problem is about to get a lot worse — not just here, but at colleges and universities nationwide.

In four years, the number of students graduating from high schools across the country will begin a sudden and precipitous decline, due to a rolling demographic aftershock of the Great Recession. Traumatized by uncertainty and unemployment, people decided to stop having kids during that period. But even as we climbed out of the recession, the birth rate kept dropping, and we are now starting to see the consequences on campuses everywhere. Classes will shrink, year after year, for most of the next two decades. People in the higher education industry call it “the enrollment cliff.”

Among the small number of elite colleges and research universities — think the Princetons and the Penn States — the cliff will be no big deal. These institutions have their pick of applicants and can easily keep classes full.

For everyone else, the consequences could be dire. In some places, the crisis has already begun. College enrollment began slowly receding after the millennial enrollment wave peaked in 2010, particularly in regions that were already experiencing below-average birth rates while simultaneously losing population to out-migration. Starved of students and the tuition revenue they bring, small private colleges in New England have begun to blink off the map. Regional public universities like Ship are enduring painful layoffs and consolidation.

CLASSES WILL SHRINK FOR MOST OF THE NEXT TWO DECADES

The timing is terrible. Trade policy, de-unionization, corporate consolidation, and substance abuse have already ravaged countless communities, particularly in the post-industrial Northeast and Midwest. In many cases, colleges have been one of the only places that provide good jobs in their communities, offer educational opportunities for locals, and have strong enough roots to stay planted. The enrollment cliff means they might soon dry up and blow away.

"What to expect from the 2023 Texas Legislative session," by Rhonda Fanning and Glorie Martinez in the Texas Standard

This Texas Standard article touches on what to expect from the 88th (2023) Texas legislative session. My sources tell me that it's going to be a tough one particularly considering  election results that, as we know, is an artifact of Texas' gerrymandered electoral map in a state where people of color account for 95 percent of the state's population growth between 2010 and 2020 (Li & Boland, 2021). A good read on this is from researchers Li and Boland (2021) out of the NYU Brennan Center for Justice titled, "Anatomy of the Texas Gerrymander: Here's How Texas Republicans crafted one of the most politically and racially skewed maps of this redistrictricting cycle. 

The problem is less of one that people don't vote, but rather that their votes do not count as a result of this electoral engineering. Sadly, resolving this through the courts will take years.

Accordingly, Barragán's forecast with respect to the recent election outcomes sound right.

"If, in 2020, Republicans felt like they had a mandate to go and push all the social conservative legislation that they felt the voters wanted, I don’t see how this will be any different. They’ve grown their majorities in both the House and in the Senate. So, I think we’ll probably expect to see another pretty conservative session."

A major issue for our community in K-12 education is school funding, that is, increasing the "basic allotment" so that school districts can have the resources they need to increase teacher salaries and provide greater resources to schools. 

Raise Your Hand Texas,  Texans Advocating For Meaningful Student Assessments, and other organizations will also be calling for changes to high-stakes testing and assessment policies, as well as tackling vouchers and charter school bills that compromise traditional public education. There are still the lingering infrastructural issues related, in particular, to fixing Texas' power grid, as well as lowering property taxes and border issues. None of this is exhaustive, of course, but is nevertheless a respectable starting layout.

The regular session always lasts a mere 140 days so let's buckle our seat belts and get on with it!

-Angela Valenzuela

By Rhonda Fanning and Glorie MartinezJanuary 2, 2023 4:17 pmGovernment & Politics, Texas Standard Original

What to expect from the 2023 Texas Legislative session

With only a few days before the start of the next legislative session, politics reporters Niki Griswold and James Barragán preview what’s on the agenda for state lawmakers.

 There’s just over a week left before the start of the 2023 Texas Legislative session. Property taxes, gun control and the power grid are among the top issues on the agenda for state lawmakers.

» TELL US: What do you want to see from the Texas Legislature in 2023?

To take a closer look at what to expect, the Standard was joined by political journalists Niki Griswold, state politics reporter for the Austin American-Statesman, and James Barragán, politics reporter for the Texas Tribune. Listen to the story above or read the transcript below.

This transcript has been lightly edited for clarity:

Texas Standard: This could be a very exciting session. I’m curious how much you see this session being a contrast with the previous legislative session, which went into several overtimes. James?

James Barragán: If, in 2020, Republicans felt like they had a mandate to go and push all the social conservative legislation that they felt the voters wanted, I don’t see how this will be any different. They’ve grown their majorities in both the House and in the Senate. So, I think we’ll probably expect to see another pretty conservative session.

That was the thing about the previous legislative session. There seemed to be a lot of socially conservative hot button issues. How much do you think that this legislative session is going to differ from the previous session, Niki? 

Niki Griswold: From what I’ve seen so far. I think the so-called culture war issue that will really take center stage this legislative session is surrounding LGBTQ rights and also education —how curriculum on the topics of race and sexuality can be discussed in the classroom. 

We’ve already seen a number of bills filed to target the rights of transgender children, as well as battles in the classroom and in libraries over what books should be made available to children, with a lot of focus being on removing subject matter that validates LGBTQ identities. So, I think we’ll have to see how much of a focus that issue is this session versus the more bread and butter issues of lowering property taxes and tackling public school funding. 

The bread and butter issues may well collide with these other culture war issues. I’m thinking back to a couple of sessions in which the so-called bathroom bill emerged, and then there was a push back from corporations and businesses out of concern that it might hurt Texas economically if lawmakers were to move forward. Do you think we’re going to see anything like that emerge, Niki? 

Niki Griswold: It’s funny. Texas does pride itself on being a very business friendly state and hands off government when it comes to the economy. But we did see that fight play out a little bit during the pandemic over vaccine and mask mandates, with the governor pulling back on efforts to require mask mandates. 

We did see some businesses push back against the state’s pretty extreme abortion ban. But so far, the economy is still booming. We still have plenty of industries focusing on expanding their presence in Texas or moving here to do so. So, I don’t know how much of an empty threat it is when businesses say they will be taking their business elsewhere if Texas lawmakers pursue these really conservative policies. 

Judging by the $27 billion budget surplus, business has been pretty good in Texas. There are a lot of interests across the Lone Star State wanting a little piece of that action. How do you see that playing out, James? 

James Barragán: Yeah, it’s a $27 billion surplus. Actually, Comptroller Glenn Hegar said that it might be more. The big thing is property taxes. He wants it spent on that. The governor has said he wants half of it spent on that. But the House Speaker says, “hold on, wait a minute, maybe we should spend it on infrastructure, a one time expenditure, rather than having to use it over and over and over our property taxes.”

I expect that to be a big fight and that may lead to some horse trading on some of these socially conservative issues and the bread and butter issues that we’re talking about. 

Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick outlined his legislative priorities back in December. Property tax relief is high on his agenda, as are electric grid fixes and border security. Do you think his agenda is going to line up with the governor’s and that of the House Speaker? Do we know who the House Speaker is going to be yet, James? 

James Barragán: We know who’s the current speaker, but we know that Representative Tony Tinderholt has mounted a challenge. Frankly, some people do see this as a check to see how supportive the House is of Speaker Dade Phelan. It looks like he’s got the support. The Republican caucus voted almost unanimously to support Speaker Phelan. But there are some of the more conservative legislators who say, “hey, we’ve got to go further, we’ve got to do more.”  We’ll find out on that first day of the legislative session, if Phelan gets a second session with the gavel.

Niki, do you see any link between the governor, the lieutenant governor and the incumbent Speaker Dade Phelan? Do you detect any tension or any wiggle room among those three? 

Niki Griswold: I think the biggest difference between the lieutenant governor’s priorities for this session and the governor’s priorities is just how to make that property tax relief happen. Gov. Abbott has made it very clear he wants the legislature to spend half of that budget surplus on lowering property taxes for Texas homeowners. But the lieutenant governor has pushed back on that. He’s not supportive of busting the constitutional spending cap to achieve that and is more interested in other funding and budget workarounds to make property tax relief happen. 

The House Speaker has indicated he is a little bit more interested in using that budget surplus for one time investments such as improving infrastructure in the state. That budget surplus is not a sustainable source of funding. So, if the governor were to get his way, it would be a one time only property tax relief for Texas homeowners. I think the big battle will be over those dollars and how to effectively spend that money while still achieving the big priorities, including property tax relief and border security. 

James, is there any chance we’re going to go into overtime in this legislative session like we did the last one?

James Barragán: There’s always that possibility. It’s too early to tell right now. You mentioned the electric grid and the lieutenant governor did say he wants more fixes on that. He did say during a press conference a couple of weeks ago that he doesn’t see himself going home at the end of the spring unless there have been more changes. So, there is that possibility. 

Niki, what do you think? 

Niki Griswold: The lieutenant governor has a lot of power in the state legislature. If he doesn’t feel like one of his priorities might make it across the finish line, he does have the power to hold things up and make sure that the governor can’t get his priorities passed as well. I think we’ll have to see how the dynamic between the big three looks as lawmakers start going to committee hearings. 

If you’re a Democrat in Texas, what are your expectations for the coming year? Where do you see politics headed? 

James Barragán: Well, I think it’s the same conundrum they’ve been in for two plus decades at this point. They go into this legislative session thinking, “defense, defense, defense.” How can I kill off bills that are bad for me and for my constituents? How can I do some deals, make some trades here for legislation? The reality is that Republicans hold the majority in both houses of the legislature, and that’s the way things go. 

Do you think we’re going to see this continued battle between the state leadership and leaders of some of the big cities, Niki? 

Niki Griswold: I absolutely think that is going to be top of mind. Local control versus state government control has been played out for many sessions and I anticipate the same for this session. At the end of the day, I think the Texas legislature also prides itself on allowing for more bipartisan cooperation than you might see in D.C. So, I think there is some overlap in terms of interests for both parties. I’ve heard from plenty of Democrats that they see room for cooperation when it comes to public education funding. I think Democrats are going to be focusing on the issues where they can maybe wrangle some bipartisan support and like James said, play defense on the other issues. 

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Too Far Afield for a Dean of Social Work at the University of Houston?

The senior faculty guard at the University of Houston School of Social Work took it upon themselves to push out their social justice dean. As stated by this former School of Social Work Dean Alan Dettlaff, it will most definitely have a chilling effect on scholars like him that value racial justice and abolitionist work in the academy.

This story makes me wonder whether the senior faculty actually do not know what abolition means today—a problem that Dr. Dettlaff cites—or whether they actually did know but disapproved. 

Abolitionism is a word and concept that begins in the academy that holds resonance for lots of folks outside of the academy primarily, I think, because it addresses root causes of inequality.

Lest we reinscribe oppression, abolition assumes a stance of assessing harmful systems with the idea of replacing them with one that humanizes and serves everybody fairly and equitably. As long as our focus is on quick policy fixes, we're not addressing root causes.

In the area of high-stakes testing, I have always said that eliminating high-stakes tests is not a policy fix even at its best—should we ever arrive at the day that we abolish them and we very well might. Rather, we have to also attend to the underlying value structure that allows us to even conceive that it's okay to lose some kids and not others. 

Why can we not make a world where failure is more mythic than real. Why can we not make a world with no "dropouts?" In this world, it's not whether a student graduates from high school, but when. One could even graduate early if they were so motivated. In a word, this is abolitionism—and a world that I dream of under any name.

A final thought. Given that abolitionism was an apparent draw for many students to the college, this decision to send Dr. Dettlaff back to the faculty ranks will most definitely not set well with them. All else equal, he is quite admirable. 

It's all pretty devastating to think about. Leaders like him are far and few between. One sees why.

-Angela Valenzuela 

Too Far Afield?

University of Houston pushes its dean of social work back

down to the faculty. He says some professors objected to his 

views on racial justice and abolition.

Colleen Flaherty

 

January 6, 2023 | Inside HigherEd

Alan Dettlaff

 

(Alan Dettlaff/Twitter)

The University of Houston suddenly removed its dean of social work last month. The university has said it did so to better align the Graduate College of Social Work with broader institutional priorities. The former dean, Alan Dettlaff—who is returning to the social work faculty, for now—says his views on racial justice got him fired.

“I’ve said many times, one of the things I’m most proud as dean is that we were focused as a school on racial justice before summer 2020, when a lot of people started to come on board and develop programming and messaging around that—we’ve been focused on that for a long time,” Dettlaff told Inside Higher Ed of the college’s orientation during his seven-year tenure.

Continue reading here.

I'll be posting a lot more than usual on policy and policy agendas to this blog in the coming weeks and months now that we're entering the 88th 2023 Texas Legislative session. Under the guise of House Bill 1006 by Carl Tepper (R-Lubbock), banning Diversity Equity and Inclusion (DEI) in Higher Education is on the table. According to this piece in the Texas Monthly by Dan Solomon, it does have a chance of passing considering the current policy climate that seeks to limit the teaching of race in K-12 schools. 

I want to think that it's a little premature to say that this bill has a chance particularly since this involved higher education in a state that is in great need for diverse educational contexts so that the parallel needs of our state's highly diverse public can get addressed.  I would also hope that our higher education leadership at all levels vigorously defends this need for greater diversity, equity and inclusion.

Eyes wide open.

-Angela Valenzuela

A Texas GOP Lawmaker Wants to Increase “Viewpoint Diversity” by Banning Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Higher Ed

Representative Carl Tepper offers a substantial rewrite to a portion of the Texas education code targeting programs that represent marginalized groups. 

by Dan Solomon | Texas Monthly | December 21, 2022

During the 2023 legislative session, which begins in January, we’ll be taking a close look at the notable—and, yes, silly—bills that come under the consideration of the august bodies that make up our state government to help you understand what your lawmakers are spending their time on.  

The bill: House Bill 1006

Filed by: Carl Tepper, Republican, District 84 (Lubbock)

What it would do: HB 1006 would make a number of changes to the Texas Education Code. Many of them are relatively minor, such as striking the words “serve the public” from the section outlining each institution’s responsibilities and tweaking a line about their duty to “transmit culture” to one about how institutions should “permit the diffusion of culture.” It also adds some new responsibilities to the list. One is to “foster a diversity of viewpoints” and “maintain political, social, and cultural neutrality.” And to a list of enumerated “expressive activities” protected by the First Amendment or the Texas Constitution it adds “published or unpublished faculty research, lectures, writings, and commentary.”

Most of these changes wouldn’t be substantive, and are meant primarily to signal values rather than to create strictly actionable parts of law. One part of the bill calls for a more substantial change, however, to a part of the education code outlining that “each institution of higher education shall adopt a policy detailing students’ rights and responsibilities regarding expressive activities at the institution.” The bill would add a clause that those policies must “demonstrate a commitment to intellectual freedom and viewpoint diversity,” and also that they must prohibit the funding, promotion, sponsorship or support of “any office of diversity, equity, and inclusion,” or any office that operates under another name but which supports the goals of diversity, equity, and inclusion. It also adds language to the code prohibiting “the endorsement or dissuasion of, or interference with, any lifestyle, race, sex, religion, or culture.” 

What does all that esoteric jargon mean? In plain language, HB 1006 looks to ban publicly funded colleges and universities from advancing the DEI initiatives that have become increasingly common at such institutions. Those initiatives aren’t generally popular among right-wingers, many of whom see DEI as another oppressive liberal acronym, right up there with CRT (“critical race theory”), ESG (“environmental, social, and governance”), and BDS (“boycott, divestment, and sanctions”), all of which have been the subject of laws in recent legislative sessions. 

How to square a bill that requires universities to “demonstrate a commitment to intellectual freedom and viewpoint diversity” and also bans establishing diversity, equity, and inclusion offices in any form? The key here is that “viewpoint diversity” is meant to refer to conservative views, and not views such as, “This university would be a more diverse, equitable, and inclusive place for all students if it had an office devoted to ensuring that students from marginalized backgrounds had additional resources to ensure that they receive equal opportunities on campus.” This is how you end up with a bill that seeks to expand “intellectual freedom” by creating new restrictions on what schools are allowed to do. 

Does the bill have a chance of passing? Sure, this bill or something similar could certainly pass. In 2021, an anti-CRT bill, which restricted how race, slavery, and history could be taught in public schools, passed during a special session, just a few months after the passage of an anti-ESG bill that targeted financial firms that divest from oil and gas companies. (An anti-BDS law, which required all state contractors to pledge not to boycott Israel, passed in 2017, was rewritten in 2019, and was found unconstitutional by a federal judge earlier this year). 

The Legislature enjoys passing this sort of bill, even if banning DEI offices in higher education wasn’t on Dan Patrick’s list of top priorities heading into the session. 

Faculty Members Stella Flores, Denisa Gándara and Angela Valenzuela Ranked as Influencers in Educational Practice and Policy

Friends:

Rick Hess Straight Up (RHSU) annually publishes in Edweek rankings of top influencers in education (see 2023 RHSU Edu-Scholar Public Influence: Top 10 Lists). Congrats to all 200 scholars that made the list, and particularly to my fellow colleagues in the College of Education at UT, namely, Dr. Stella Flores and Dr. Denisa Gándara for making it to the list. 

My sense is that most of us aren't actually trying to make "the list," but rather that we're all working hard trying to influence positive change at multiple levels, meaning, local, school district, city, state, and national levels. Thanks to the RHSU team for doing the hard work of generating this annual list and thanks to the College of Education at UT-Austin for posting this notice. Getting acknowledged in this way is affirming, especially considering just how hard we all work.

-Angela Valenzuela

Faculty Members Stella Flores, Denisa Gándara and Angela Valenzuela Ranked as Influencers in Educational Practice and Policy

By Kendall Payne

Jan. 5, 2023

The College of Education congratulates Department of Educational Leadership and Policy faculty members Stella Flores, Denisa Gándara and Angela Valenzuela for being named to the 2023 RHSU Edu-Scholar Public Influence Ranking list.

Each year, 200 university-based scholars make the list and are scored in nine publicly available metrics including their Google scholar score, book points, highest Amazon ranking, syllabus points, education press mentions, web mentions, newspaper mentions, congressional record mentions and Twitter score. According to RHSU, these rankings reflect, in roughly equal parts, the influence of a scholar’s academic scholarship and their influence on public debate as reflected in old and new media.

Stella Flores is an associate professor and examines the effects of state and federal policies on college access and completion outcomes for low-income and underrepresented populations including immigrant and English learner students. 

Denisa Gándara is an assistant professor and examines the development of higher education policy decisions and the effects of these decisions on students who have been excluded from and underserved in higher education. An additional line of research she explores is how various approaches to funding colleges and universities might promote or hinder social equity.

Angela Valenzuela is a professor and specializes in urban education from a sociological and multicultural perspective, with a focus on minority youth in schools, particularly at the K-12 level. 

David Yeager, associate professor in the Department of Psychology in the College of Liberal Arts, was also named to this year’s list. 

 

Happy New Year! Check out Dr. Angela Valenzuela's Policy Analysis Course Readings in anticipation of the 88th (2023) Texas Legislative Session

Happy New Year, my dear friends and colleagues:

The holidays are always a good time to catch up on readings, social media, news, and videos earmarked for viewing. As a university professor, I am always thinking of my students and my classroom. 

For my master's-level, Policy Analysis class this semester—that conveniently coincides with the 88th Session of the Texas State Legislature—I have my students develop policy briefs and portfolios on the bill (or bills) of their choice that they'll be following throughout the semester. Though not required, invariably, there is always a subset of students that ends up testifying on legislation in House or Senate hearings. All students do a mock presentation based on their policy briefs at the end of the semester so that they can at least simulate the act of giving testimony before a legislative body.

To be specific, my master's students this semester are in the Education Policy and Planning (EPP) program within the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy (ELP). From here, many of them go on to careers in policy think tanks, to work in policy-focused non-profits, external relations for school districts, including assuming positions in the Texas State Legislature, the Texas Education Agency, Washington, D.C. and the like. 

A number have even become heads and leaders of coalitions or legislators themselves. So what our graduate students really appreciate is the opportunity to experience the Texas Legislative Session that meets biennially, or every other year.

This course doesn't always line up with the legislative session so when it does, that's a bonus. We also have a parallel Policy Analysis course for our EPP doctoral students taught by EPP faculty member and colleague, Dr. Christopher Brown whose approach will similarly have his unique signature.

Selecting required readings is never an easy or simply task, yet happy to share these below in case any of this interests you and you'd like to follow along.

 

Required Readings

Bérubé, M., & Ruth, J. (2022). It's not free speech: Race, democracy, and the future of academic freedom. Baltimore, MD: John Hopkins University Press.

Cullen, D. (2019). Parkland: Birth of a movement. London: Hachette UK.

Garcia, D. R. (2022). Teach truth to power: How to engage in education policy. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Krochmal, M., & Moye, T. (Eds.). (2021). Civil rights in black and brown: Histories of resistance and struggle in Texas. Austin, Tx: University of Texas Press.

Lopez, F. & Sleeter, C. (2022). Critical Race Theory and its critics: Implications for research and teaching. NY: Teachers College Press.*

Phillips, S. (2022). How We Win the Civil War: Securing a Multiracial Democracy and Ending White Supremacy for Good. NY: The New Press.

 *This book will be available for purchase soon.

In combination with articles that I am also assigning, these are recently-published texts that speak both to the art of policy making together with policy agendas and movements themselves, including, as you might infer from the readings, on today's "culture wars." By the way, for what it's worth, not a single "pinko-Marxist" text in the bunch!

The act of choosing some texts is inescapably the act of not choosing others. That said, the fact that I have had all of these students previously, I can pretty well anticipate what will be the pulse of the classroom and what will serve them well both for the class, but also for their chosen careers in policy. And they, of course, are taking other classes with other faculty in our program, department, college, and university who are making similar judgements like mine.

I'm excited about the semester and feel honored to cap off the entering EPP 2021 master's cohort with what I trust will be a very engaging experience this Spring. I've already informed them that session begins next Tuesday and so it's time to "buckle up" for the ride.

As a personal aside, I always say that those of us in policy have the most fun!

Happy New Year to all.  Feliz año nuevo!