This report focuses on my research into Governor Nelson Rockefeller's role in the expansion of the State University of New York (SUNY) in general and the Buffalo campus in particular for my new book project, The Business of Education: The Corporate Reconstruction of American Public Universities. This manuscript seeks to rewrite the story of twentieth-century public postsecondary schooling in the United States through a reconsideration of both national policies but also case studies that show how a variety of institutions in different regions evolved into the sprawling, research-focused system of "multi-versities," which replaced the private, independent liberal arts college as the exemplar of American higher education. This project emphasizes that state universities have always been dependent on private benefactors because local, state, and federal governments never provided enough funding to support these institutions.

In New York City, one out of every eight public school students has been homeless at some point in the past five years. One in four (26%) of these students is in high school. In More Than a Place to Sleep: Understanding the Health and Well-Being of Homeless High School Students, we begin to explore differences in risk behaviors and health outcomes between homeless high school students and their housed classmates. Homeless high school students are struggling to not only find a place to sleep, but to meet their mental, emotional, and physical health needs as they pursue educational goals necessary to break the cycle of poverty and homelessness.

Homeless students face disproportionate burdens across the board—they are more likely to fall behind academically due to school transfers, absenteeism, and other instability factors; they are more likely to be suspended; they are less likely to receive timely identification for special education services; and the list goes on. What this report reveals is that these students face yet another set of obstacles to educational achievement— their health and risk behaviors—that, if unaddressed, will make it harder for them to finish school, follow professional goals, and remain stably housed in their own adult lives.

As New York City works to improve outcomes for homeless students, those efforts must incorporate an understanding of risk behaviors and health outcomes, which have been shown to predict well-being and productivity later in life. This report uses data from the Centers for Disease Control’s 2015 Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS), which for the first time includes survey questions allowing us to distinguish homeless from housed students.

One promising approach is ensuring the access of homeless teens to school-based health centers. While homeless students have limited access to these centers, they are more likely than their housed peers to use health services when they are available. Moreover, many shelters could be re-envisioned as Community Residential Resource Centers (CRRCs) where educational resources and support services could be made available to not only homeless students, but all students in the community. 

Meeting the needs of homeless high school students is paramount, as risk behaviors and health outcomes impact their futures. These students have unequivocally worse health outcomes than housed teens. They also make up a disproportionately large segment of students facing the most extreme health risks. At only 12% of the YRBS sample, homeless high school students represent a third or more of all students facing a range of health risks. Without targeted policy and program interventions, the future of these homeless teens is not promising. Just read the accompanying quotes throughout this publication—in their own voices, students share some of their struggles, hopes, and disappointments as they navigate high school while homeless.

The Jim Joseph Foundation created the Education Initiative to increase the number of educators and educational leaders who are prepared to design and implement high-quality Jewish education programs. The Jim Joseph Foundation granted $45 million to three premier Jewish higher education institutions (each institution received $15 million) and challenged them to plan and implement programs that used new content and teaching approaches to increase the number of highly qualified Jewish educators serving the field. The three grantees were Hebrew Union College–Jewish Institute of Religion (HUC-JIR), the Jewish Theological Seminary (JTS), and Yeshiva University (YU). The grant covered program operation costs as well as other costs associated with institutional capacity building. The majority of the funds (75 percent) targeted program planning and operation. The grantees designed and piloted six new master's degree and doctoral degree programs or concentrations;1 eight new certificate, leadership, and professional development programs;2 two new induction programs;3 and four new seminars within the degree programs. 4 The Education Initiative also supported financial assistance for students in eight other advanced degree programs. 5 The grantees piloted innovative teaching models and expanded their use of educational technology in the degree and professional development programs. According to the theory of change that drives the Jim Joseph Foundation's Education Initiative, five types of activities must take place if higher education institutions are to successfully enhance the Jewish education workforce. These activities include (1) improved marketing and recruitment of talented individuals into ongoing education programs, (2) a richer menu of programs requiring different commitments of time to complete and offering varying content, (3) induction programs to support program participants' transition to new employment settings, (4) well-planned and comprehensive strategies for financial sustainability, and (5) interinstitutional collaboration. As shown in Exhibit 1, the five types of activities are divided into two primary categories. The first category (boxes outlined in green) addresses the delivery of programs that provide educators and educational leaders with research-based and theory-based knowledge and vetted instructional tools. The second category (boxes outlined in orange) is not programmatic; rather, it involves sharing knowledge, building staff capabilities, enhancing management structures, and providing technological and financial support to enable the development of quality programming that is sustainable after the grant ends.

Established in 2005 by the Teagle Foundation, the College‐Community Connections (CCC) initiative funds partnerships between New York City community‐based organizations and New York City metropolitan area colleges and universities to help talented and underserved high school students prepare for and succeed in college by engaging them in academically ambitious programs.  Exhibit 1 provides an overview of the CCC partnerships.  

Established in 2005 by the Teagle Foundation, the College‐Community Connections (CCC) initiative funds partnerships between New York City community‐based organizations and New York City metropolitan area colleges and universities to help talented and underserved high school students prepare for and succeed in college by engaging them in academically ambitious programs.  Exhibit 1 provides an overview of the CCC partnerships.  

In 2015, the Teagle Foundation contracted with the Research Alliance for New York ICty Schools to explore the feasibility of a variety of approaches to evaluation CCC. This work--often called an evaluability assessment--was designed to determin ethe current potential for an experimental evaluation that could iluminate the impact of the CCC initiative, and to explore how the grantee partnerships might be better aligned to Teagle's goals in advance of that kind of evaluation. The project surfaced an array of issues and challenges that are relevant not only for Teagle and its CCC partners, but for many CBOs and multi-partner initiatives that are interested in evaluating their work. This report highlights a number of lessons for such, initiatives, particularly those working to support college access.

In 2015, the Teagle Foundation contracted with the Research Alliance for New York ICty Schools to explore the feasibility of a variety of approaches to evaluation CCC. This work--often called an evaluability assessment--was designed to determin ethe current potential for an experimental evaluation that could iluminate the impact of the CCC initiative, and to explore how the grantee partnerships might be better aligned to Teagle's goals in advance of that kind of evaluation. The project surfaced an array of issues and challenges that are relevant not only for Teagle and its CCC partners, but for many CBOs and multi-partner initiatives that are interested in evaluating their work. This report highlights a number of lessons for such, initiatives, particularly those working to support college access.