Serena Klempin

Income Support Policies for Low-Income Men and Noncustodial Fathers: Tax and Transfer Programs

Both wages and labor force participation have been declining for young, less-educated men since the mid-1970s. The purpose of this article is to examine how key income-security policy areas—including unemployment insurance, payroll taxes and the Earned Income Tax Credit, and child support enforcement—affect these men. The article concludes with policy recommendations to improve the impact of work-based subsidies on poverty among low-income men. Subsidized jobs in transitional job programs could play a critical role in helping these men to access these subsidies.

Leadership for Transformative Change: Lessons From Technology-Mediated Reform in Broad-Access Colleges

ABSTRACT Community colleges and broad-access 4-year institutions can serve the vital function of increasing educational equity in the United States, but only if they engage in organizational change to address low completion rates. Drawing on qualitative case studies of 6 colleges, this study explored the influence of different types of leadership approaches on the implementation of a technology-mediated advising reform and assessed which types of leadership were associated with transformative organizational change. In-person interviews were conducted with 101 college administrators, faculty, and staff, and follow-up interviews were conducted with 88 participants. Using Heifetz’s theory of adaptive change, we found that transformative change requires multitiered leadership with a unified commitment to a shared vision for the reform and its goals. In addition, although we found that upper-level institutional leaders and midlevel project leaders both had important roles to play, the role of midlevel project leaders was particularly vital and complex.

How Colleges Use Integrated Planning and Advising for Student Success (iPASS) to Transform Student Support

This paper examines technology-mediated advising reform in order to contribute to the understanding of how colleges engage in transformative change to improve student outcomes. Conceptualizing such change as occurring along three interrelated dimensions of organizational functioning (structural, process, and attitudinal), we seek to understand the contexts that encourage or discourage transformation of advising and student support. We use in-depth pre/post data from six colleges deploying integrated planning and advising for student success (iPASS) to investigate the reform process. Three of the six colleges made steps toward transforming their student support delivery, shifting along all three dimensions. We identify four contextual features that appear to underpin colleges’ likelihood of transformative reform. Technology and vendor relationships form an important foundation. Reform vision and rationale, leadership, and the college’s orientation toward student success are important institutional influences. Our findings support the hypothesis put forth by Karp and Fletcher (2014) in their Readiness for Technology Adoption framework that technology is necessary but not sufficient for transformation, and that project-level and organizational factors are perhaps more important. Moreover, the findings demonstrate that technology can spur substantial institutional change, but only under certain circumstances.

Improving Student Services for Military Veterans

It is essential to consider how recently separated service members can succeed in obtaining educational credentials that will help them gain employment and reintegrate into their communities. Education is a key component in the transition back to civilian life and employment for many new veterans. Enrollment in college allows veterans to upgrade existing skills or gain new skills in order to transition to a new career. And successful completion of college programs provides veterans with valuable credentials that may validate uncredentialed skills they gained in the military. The Post-9/11 GI Bill of 2008 expanded previous tuition benefits for veterans in order to make college an accessible post-service option. The U.S. Veterans Administration estimates that 1.4 million individuals used the Post-9/11 GI Bill between 2009 and 2015. 1 Many service members find it difficult to align the skills and knowledge gained via military service to the civilian labor market, particularly if they separate while holding a relatively low rank, are classified as having a disability, come from a minority background, or served in service and support occupations in the military. 2 Half of Post-9/11 service members experience at least some period of unemployment upon separation from the military. 3 As the number of veterans is expected to increase over the next five years, 4 it is essential to consider how recently separated service members can enter college and succeed in obtaining educational credentials that will help them gain employment and reintegrate into their communities. This review explores strategies taken by five community colleges to better serve veteran students so that they feel more comfortable at college and are better able to persist and earn a credential. Approximately 40 percent of student veterans attend community colleges. 5 These local, publicly funded, open-access institutions are a good deal financially for veterans. Although the Post-9/11 GI Bill places a cap on tuition coverage for private universities, it covers the cost of public universities and community colleges in full. 6 In addition, community colleges are at the vanguard of initiatives such as competency-based education that could help veterans complete a certificate or degree faster (in part by enabling them to receive academic credit for military training), which in turn could help them connect to the labor market more quickly.

Colleges’ Experiences Integrating Support Services for Military Veterans

Although militaryconnected individuals are using their education benefits, not all are earning a postsecondary credential that could help them transition into the civilian workforce. The Post-9/11 GI Bill of 2008 expanded previous tuition benefits in order to make college an accessible post-service option for veterans. The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs estimates that 1.5 million individuals used the Post-9/11 GI Bill benefits between 2009 and 2015 (Worley, 2015). However, as with all emergent policies and programs, there is room for improvement. Although military-connected individuals are using their education benefits, not all are earning a postsecondary credential that could help them transition into the civilian workforce (U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, 2015).

Supporting Military Veteran Students: Early Lessons From Kohlberg Prize Recipients

As local, publicly funded, open-access institutions, community colleges are a good deal financially for veterans. The Post-9/11 GI Bill of 2008 has increased postsecondary education participation rates of military service members and veterans.1 Such participation is critical for military-connected individuals as they transition to civilian life. Postsecondary education enables military-connected individuals to upgrade their existing skills, gain new skills, or earn a credential that helps translate their skills into nonmilitary occupations. However, federal statistics indicate that while the Post-9/11 GI Bill has increased higher education participation rates overall, a higher percentage of veterans have entered for-profit colleges than have entered public institutions. In 2007–2008, 14 percent of veterans enrolled in college were at for-profit institutions, and 42 percent were at community colleges; by 2011–2012, these proportions had shifted to 24 percent and 37 percent, respectively.2