WEPC’s new enrollment dashboard helps track student demographic shifts and patterns across Massachusetts districts. Learn more about enrollment across school type, grade, race/ethnicity, and income. Explore the dashboard here: wheelockpolicycenter.org/high-quality...

Massachusetts School Enrollment Dashboard

This interactive dashboard examines the gap between the predicted and actual enrollment in Massachusetts public, private, charter, and home schools.

wheelockpolicycenter.org

The Wheelock Educational Policy Center is thrilled to announce that Krystafer Redden will join us as our new Executive Director, beginning July 27th. Read the full announcement: mailchi.mp/bu/spring-in...

July is Disability Pride Month. Here at WEPC, we conduct rigorous research on specialized education policies to drive equity and improve support systems for students with disabilities. Explore our research on Specialized Services here: wheelockpolicycenter.org/specialized-...

Specialized Services

There is both a moral imperative and federal mandate to provide students who require specialized services, such as English language learners and students with disabilities, equal access to instruction...

wheelockpolicycenter.org

Special ed oversight is moving from the Dept. of Ed to HHS, bringing the topic to the forefront of the national conversation around education. Worth revisiting: WEPC finds across three states that special education substantially improves learning, with gains right after classification.

Special Education Substantially Improves Learning: Evidence from Three States

Analysis of the impacts of special education classification on learning outcomes. Shows strong support for positive influence of special education.

wheelockpolicycenter.org

Recent research from WEPC on a similar Massachusetts initiative found dramatically increased enrollment as community college was made free. Check out the policy brief below as we continue to build a fuller picture of the future of community college across the country.

Early Returns: Reversing Enrollment Declines in Massachusetts Community Colleges

Analysis of Massachusetts MassReconnect free community college program. Evaluates enrollment impact, student demographics, financial aid distribution, and persistence rates for free tuition initiative...

wheelockpolicycenter.org

NBER@nber.org · 2mo ago

New research on Tennessee Promise, a statewide free community college program, finds higher enrollment, more associate's degrees, and no harm to four-year completion, from Paige Schoonover, Jonathon Attridge, Celeste K. Carruthers, and Jilleah G. Welch www.nber.org/papers/w35226

Check out and share WEPC's Spring Newsletter! Updates on leadership, brand new initiatives, our latest research, and a new job opening are all below.

BU WEPC - Spring 2026 Newsletter

We're sharing a lot of news this spring. 📬 After five remarkable years, our Executive Director Meagan Comb is stepping down — and we're excited to announce what comes next for WEPC leadership. We're a...

mailchi.mp

WEPC is hiring a Research Scientist to lead quantitative research on Connecticut's educator workforce! Boston-based, $85-100K, starts Summer/Fall 2026. Learn more below and apply by sending a letter of interest + CV to wheelockpolicy@bu.edu.

We're thrilled to welcome Dr. Jennifer Ash to WEPC! Formerly of NCRERN at Harvard, she'll lead PARABL — our new initiative helping education leaders build research agendas that drive large-scale policy change. Welcome, Jenn! @jenn-ash-ed-policy.bsky.social

Nearly every state is rethinking teacher licensure, but policymakers lack the research to guide those decisions. A new brief from Meagan Comb at WEPC and @cedr.bsky.social at @caldercenter.bsky.social, "Guardrails or Barriers," makes the case for closing that gap. Read the brief: bit.ly/4w1cKtx

Guardrails or Barriers: How changes afoot in teacher licensure could help settle decades-long debates

Change is afoot with teacher licensure. In almost every state we know of, there is a conversation happening about the requirements that determine who can become a teacher. But not all states are movin...

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🚨New research suggests positive learning impacts from special education across three states and larger gains than previous estimates. Full brief: bit.ly/wepcsped26 Stephanie Coffey, @joshua-goodman.com, Amy Ellen Schwartz, Leanna Stiefel, Marcus Winters, Yunee H. Yoon @buwheelock.bsky.social

Special Education Substantially Improves Learning: Evidence from Three States

Analysis of the impacts of special education classification on learning outcomes. Shows strong support for positive influence of special education.

bit.ly

#AEFP2026 has come to a close, and we are so proud of the incredible work shared by @buwheelock.bsky.social faculty, students, and WEPC partners. Thank you to everyone who engaged with our research. We look forward to seeing you again next year!

The final day of #AEFP2026 is about to start! We still have a few presentations from WEPC and @buwheelock.bsky.social faculty, including work on school enrollment shifts after the pandemic from @abigailfrancis.bsky.social and @joshua-goodman.com. Join us for the final day!

Day 2 of #AEFP2026 is underway! See presentations from WEPC and @buwheelock.bsky.social faculty, including two WEPC moderated sessions and new research on improving and diversifying the STEM pipeline from @joshua-goodman.com and @hanyuncui.bsky.social at 10:00. We hope to see you there!

Just wrapped up “Sharing the Load or Carrying the Costs?” on higher ed finance. Thank you to panelists @mdannenberg1.bsky.social, Jessica Taketa, Eyob Villa-Moges, @jwhitmore.bsky.social for a great discussion on affordability and policy! Learn more: bit.ly/wepcmassreconnect #AEFP2026

Spotlight Policy Dialogue is coming up soon at 3:15 in Vevey 1! Sharing the Load or Carrying the Cost? Policies in Higher Ed Finance Panelists: @mdannenberg1.bsky.social, Jessica Taketa, Eyob Villa-Moges, @jwhitmore.bsky.social Learn more with our new brief: bit.ly/wepcmassreconnect #AEFP2026

Early Returns: Reversing Enrollment Declines in Massachusetts Community Colleges

Analysis of Massachusetts MassReconnect free community college program. Evaluates enrollment impact, student demographics, financial aid distribution, and persistence rates for free tuition initiative...

bit.ly

Day 1 of #AEFP2026 features several presentations from WEPC and @buwheelock.bsky.social faculty, including brand new research on early educator wage growth from @piacar.bsky.social. We will also be hosting a can’t miss Policy Dialogue on higher ed finance at 3:15. Join us!

In just a few days, WEPC will be at this year’s Association for Education Finance and Policy (AEFP) Conference in Chicago! Stay tuned for info on the 15+ panels and presentations from our faculty and staff, and check out a full program below. bit.ly/WEPC-AEFP2026 #AEFP2026 @buwheelock.bsky.social

🚨New research looks at early impacts of MA’s free community college policies. Early evidence suggests expanded access & a reshaping of who shows up on campus. Full brief ➡️ bit.ly/wepcmassreco... @joshua-goodman.com, @doughesm.bsky.social, Morgan Fleming, Yunee H. Yoon @buwheelock.bsky.social

Top story in today’s @NYT’s “Headlines” talks about declining enrollment & districts efforts to recruit families back to the public system. @joshua-goodman.com & @abbyfrancis.bsky.social’s recent work highlighting trends in MA suggest where to focus these efforts. www.nytimes.com/2025/08/05/u...

A powerful description of the move out of ESL to mainstream classrooms. Along with our state-level analyses (link below), it underscores the need for more thoughtful support of key transitions as we try to maintain strong academic trajectories for students. wheelockpolicycenter.org/partnerships...

Reclassifying English Learners

The authors of this study use data from Indiana to examine the causal effects of English learner reclassification on later student outcomes, including test scores and attendance rates.

wheelockpolicycenter.org

Chalkbeat@chalkbeat.org · last yr.

Language acquisition is rarely a linear path.

This was such a great conversation about the impact of federal research funding. I think a lot of folks outside of academia don't realize the value or impact of federal research dollars- and they need to, if we want that funding to continue! Please listen & share!

Boston University Wheelock College@buwheelock.bsky.social · last yr.

In this “Conversations with the Dean”, Dean Penny Bishop speaks with Leslie Dietiker, Naomi Caselli, and Elizabeth Bettini about how federal research funding drives equity, innovation, and long-term impact. Read More: http://spr.ly/633254shWZ #BUWheelock #BostonUniversity #EducationResearch

Have to love a conference that kicks off w/ an elementary school mariachi band. Excited to present later today at the Education Commission of the States national forum w/ @sparccenter.bsky.social & IDOE on special education workforce shortages.

Last week just-out work by @joshua-goodman.com & @abbyfrancis.bsky.social was featured on the @educationnext.bsky.social podcast. Listen for interesting convo of key insights and implications. www.educationnext.org/the-educatio... Full policy brief at: wheelockpolicycenter.org/high-quality...

🔥What’s the only thing hotter than this week’s weather?🔥 Our new @wheelockpolicybu.bsky.social working paper: “School Enrollment Shifts Five Years After the Pandemic” In it, BU Wheelock PhD @abbyfrancis.bsky.social and I ask: Has the pandemic permanently changed families' schooling choices?

Today's @bostonglobe.com features my thoughts on the recent, rapid rise of private after school math tutoring. TLDR: These classes have been valuable for our kids and others unchallenged by current school offerings, but also likely exacerabte inequality in math. www.bostonglobe.com/2025/05/12/o...

#Earlycollege programs hold lots of promise for increasing college-going/completion rates. But access & opportunity to these innovative pathways are important to understand. We examined representation in ECPs for #EnglishLearners in MA and found... wheelockpolicycenter.org/specialized-...

English Learners' Access to Massachusetts Early College Programs

The authors of this study examined the extent to which English learners are participating in Massachusetts Early College programs.

wheelockpolicycenter.org

Celebration Alert! BU Wheelock ranked for the first time among the top education policy programs in the nation. This highlights the programs significant contributions to shaping policy and advancing research in education! @wheelockpolicybu.bsky.social Read More: spr.ly/6181Fszrz

Terrific group of researchers @wheelockpolicybu.bsky.social!

Wheelock Educational Policy Center@wheelockpolicybu.bsky.social · last yr.

Our @buwheelock.bsky.social Ed Policy prog. is 1st at the college to be ranked in a specialization area by US News & World Reports. Celebrating our first appearance at #24! Excited to see this stellar group of faculty recognized & appreciative of our past & current leadership for continued support

Wohooo!

Joshua Goodman@joshua-goodman.com · last yr.

Huge thanks to our former Dean @davidchard1.bsky.social for helping build our group and to our current Dean @pennybishop.bsky.social for continuing to support us. And to Wheelock Educational Policy Center (@wheelockpolicybu.bsky.social), which facilitates our research in every way imaginable.