April 2025 Research Rundown
By Joey Gebin
We are delighted to share that April’s Research Rundown—our curated list of recent, relevant research we think is worth adding to the education equity conversation—was written by our fabulous Capitol Pathways intern, Joey Gebin, a student at Macalester College. We’ve been lucky enough to have Joey with us for the entire legislative session, and you can imagine our delight when she shared an interest in research. Joey wrote about articles on access to higher education and diverse teacher workforces, including:
- Homelessness and foster youth in Higher Education
- How California, Texas, and D.C. build diverse teacher workforces
- Early impacts of the FAFSA requirement in Texas
Early Impacts of the FAFSA Requirements in Texas
Annenberg Institute at Brown University, January 2025
This study is one of the first to investigate the impact of a 2021-2022 policy in Texas that requires all public high school seniors to complete a financial aid application. Cost is a significant barrier for many students to pursue higher education, and completing the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) is essential to accessing federal, state, and institutional financial aid. Using a sample of Texas high schools from the 2018-2019 to the 2022-2023 school years, the author investigated the effect of the financial aid application requirement on both FAFSA completion and college enrollment rates.
When compared to FAFSA completion rates before the policy’s adoption, Texas saw an increase ranging from 3.1 to 7 percentage points across public high schools. The requirement also had a positive effect on college enrollment, but only for high schools with the lowest share of FAFSA completions. More research is needed to determine why that is; it’s also important to note that some impacts on college enrollment may be attributed to schooling disruptions and economic challenges caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The author suggests that personalized and targeted policy implementation, coupled with additional support and resources at the high school level, may enhance the FAFSA requirement in increasing college enrollment rates.
Why This Matters in Minnesota
We’ve written about why FAFSA completion matters in closing achievement gaps for students of color, and this study suggests that statewide efforts are essential to improving completion rates, though they are not sufficient on their own. In recent years, the Minnesota legislature has explored many mechanisms to improve FAFSA completion, including a 2021 state goal to increase filing by five percentage points every year, with a focus on closing gaps in filing for students of color (we are still very far from achieving this goal). Minnesota has an abundance of programs and grants to financially support students, but FAFSA completion is required to access these state and federal grants, and low completion means millions of dollars left unused every year. Policymakers should continue considering meaningful pathways to increasing financial aid applications for high school and lowering barriers to higher education.
The Role of State Policy in Supporting Students Experiencing Homelessness and Former Foster Youth in Higher Education
The Urban Institute, January 2025
This article examines how state policy can support students experiencing homelessness and former foster care youth in higher education through access to essential resources and services. This is based on research that shows that before students can engage in learning, their basic needs must be met, a fact that particularly affects vulnerable student populations. The authors examine the effects of Florida’s 2022 policy to expand eligibility for fee exemptions to match the federal definition of homeless children and youth and include students who have been involved in shelter, dependency, and termination of parental rights proceedings. Florida also passed legislation simplifying the documentation process and improving on-campus support services for these students. The authors found that these policy changes caused a significant increase in the use of homelessness fee exemptions across the Florida College System (FCS) and the State University System (SUS).
On average, there was a large upward trend in homelessness fee exemptions, with increases of 18% and 14% in FCS and SUS, respectively. The disparity between these statistics might be attributed to a broader reach and impact in FCS, which serves smaller state colleges, because of different admission policies, outreach, and demographic characteristics. Despite this increase, the findings underline deeper structural barriers in access and success in higher education for students experiencing homelessness and former foster youth, including financial challenges and housing barriers. The authors suggest that in order to improve the policies, policymakers should consider including dedicated appropriations for institutions that implement these exemptions effectively.
Why This Matters in Minnesota
The success of Florida’s fee exemption expansion is promising, as it suggests that improving resources and programs for vulnerable students expands access to higher education. Minnesota has similar higher education grants for vulnerable students, including Fostering Independence Grants (FIG) and the Emergency Assistance for Postsecondary Students (EAPS) Grant Program. Additionally, programs like the North Star Promise and Direct Admissions are important to increase access to higher education and address financial barriers to higher education. While Minnesota has an abundance of programs to support students, there remain questions about accessibility to grants, as many of them require FAFSA completion. Minnesota ranks 40th in the nation for FAFSA completion, so as Minnesota continues to address barriers to higher education, it’s important for policymakers to consider how to address these disparities, specifically for foster youth and students experiencing homelessness.
What Can California, Texas, and Washington, D.C. Teach Us About How to Diversify the Teacher Workforce?
National Council on Teacher Quality, February 2025
This policy brief from the National Council on Teacher Quality (NCTQ) comments on findings from the NCTQ’s Teacher Diversity Dashboard, a benchmark aimed at showing trends in the teacher workforce. Research shows that teachers of color matter for all students, especially students of color, as same-race teachers improve academic, social-emotional, and behavioral outcomes. The brief provides an overview of national trends on teacher diversity and presents factors that impact teacher diversity in selected states. Nationally, the diversity of the teacher workforce is slowing down compared to the diversity of adults with degrees; however, California, Texas, and Washington, D.C. are outliers from this trend. There are very different driving forces behind teacher diversity in each state.
In Texas, the percentage of teachers from historically disadvantaged groups has consistently been higher than the percentage of working-age adults from disadvantaged backgrounds since 2014. The authors attribute this diversity to the prevalence of alternative teacher preparation programs, high interest in teaching, and increased uncertified teachers in classrooms. This presents a point of caution: while alternative prep programs in Texas are more racially diverse, the authors found that these programs have higher turnover and in some cases, lead to lower student achievement rates, suggesting they are not adequately preparing candidates. In order for teachers to stay in the classroom and improve outcomes for students, preparation programs need to be held to high standards.
In California, there has been a consistent trend in teacher diversity with a 4% increase annually since 2014. The authors attribute the increase to state-level prioritization, research-based advocacy, and strong data infrastructure, which will allow the state to understand specific barriers to entry for teachers of color. California shows promise to continue increasing teacher diversity, but the authors warn policymakers to maintain high standards for teachers.
Washington, D.C. has the most diverse teacher workforce in the country. The authors attribute this to state and district prioritization, innovative teacher preparation pathways, strategic hiring, and economic incentives, such as housing stipends for teachers. The report suggests that D.C. will likely continue to lead the movement toward a diverse teacher workforce, considering their retention rate for teachers of color is higher than that of white teachers, which is the inverse trend of most states nationwide. The authors encourage D.C. to study the root cause of this trend so best practices can be replicated in other states.
Why This Matters in Minnesota
As of 2023, students of color made up 38% of Minnesota’s K-12 students, but teachers of color only make up 6% of the total teacher workforce. The findings of this brief are important, as they demonstrate that there is not a singular way to create a more diverse teacher workforce. In Minnesota, tiered licensure allows increased access to permanent licensure for teachers trained in other states or through non-traditional preparation programs, which is particularly impactful for teachers of color, who are more likely to hold a Tier 1 or Tier 2 license. Despite increasing pathways to licensure, recent legislation has eroded this system, creating new boundaries that are preventing high-quality educators from non-traditional backgrounds from entering the classroom. In the Senate, the only funding proposal for these pathways is a cut to the grants that target increasing licensed teachers of color. As the legislature continues to look into ways to provide students with talented teachers, it remains imperative to continue to support quality teachers from diverse backgrounds.