Educational attainment defines workforce success, and a robust workforce drives economic stability and growth. Therefore, everyone has a stake in developing systems that promote strong education outcomes and successful transitions to the labor market: businesses and employers that aim to simultaneously build up the next generation of consumers and strengthen the future workforce; elected officials who wish to sustain the city's current prosperity and growth; parents and concerned community members who want a vibrant, healthy community; and youth themselves, who by and large want to lead stable, productive lives.

Momentum has been building -- now is the time for the District of Columbia to develop such a system. Recent studies suggest thousands of youth between the ages of 16 -- 24 are disconnected, which is commonly understood to mean young people who are neither in school nor working. High dropout and unemployment rates and low post-secondary education attainment rates among District youth have led to a series of thoughtful and focused examinations of how the District of Columbia can reconnect youth to opportunity. Raise DC, the District's public/private partnership dedicated to establishing cradle to career alignment, is leading the charge with its focus on youth reconnection. This -- combined with the engagement of the foundation sector on the needs of disconnected youth and the recognition of other government and community working groups on this emerging and high-need sector of the youth population -- has opened the window of opportunity to combat youth disconnection through cohesive, evidence-driven, and cross-sector systems change.

As student debt continues to climb, it's important to understand how our once debt-free system of public universities and colleges has been transformed into a system in which most students borrow, and at increasingly higher amounts. In less than a generation, our nation's higher education system has become a debt-for-diploma system -- more than seven out of 10 college seniors now borrow to pay for college and graduate with an average debt of $29,400. Up until about two decades ago, state funding ensured college tuition remained within reach for most middle-class families, and financial aid provided extra support to ensure lower-income students could afford the costs of college.

As Demos chronicled in its first report in the series, this compact began to unravel as states disinvested in higher education during economic downturns but were unable, or unwilling, to restore funding levels during times of economic expansion. Today, as a result, public colleges and universities rely on tuition to fund an ever-increasing share of their operating expenses. And students and their families rely more and more on debt to meet those rising tuition costs. Nationally, revenue from tuition paid for 44 percent of all operating expenses of public colleges and universities in 2012, the highest share ever. A quarter century ago, the share was just 20 percent. This shift -- from a collective funding of higher education to one borne increasingly by individuals -- has come at the very same time that low- and middle-income households experienced stagnant or declining household income.

The Great Recession intensified these trends, leading to unprecedented declines in state funding for higher education and steep tuition increases.This brief updates our previous analysis of state funding trends by examining trends in state funding and tuition since the Great Recession.

In the spring of 2015, large numbers of districts across the country will begin releasing scores on new, Common Core-aligned assessments. These scores will provide us with an initial look at how well our students are prepared for college and career based on the higher bar set by the Common Core State Standards (CCSS).

Despite widespread adoption by most of the nation in 2010, according to the 2013 PDK/Gallup Poll of the Public's Attitudes Toward the Public Schools, 62 percent of respondents say they have never heard of the Common Core State Standards Initiative.

To help prepare education practitioners and advocates for the changes ahead, we examined how recent changes in state assessments were communicated to stakeholders, and the results of those efforts. We interviewed parents, district and school administrators, state education officials, education advocates, union representatives and school board members in states that made changes to their assessments or cut scores in order to raise the bar of student expectations similar to Common Core-aligned assessments efforts now.

The findings offer a lens into what works for system leaders eager to develop strong support for new CCSS assessments and their overall efforts to ensure that all students graduate from high school ready for college and career.

In the spring of 2015, large numbers of districts across the country will begin releasing scores on new, Common Core-aligned assessments. These scores will provide us with an initial look at how well our students are prepared for college and career based on the higher bar set by the Common Core State Standards (CCSS).

Despite widespread adoption by most of the nation in 2010, according to the 2013 PDK/Gallup Poll of the Public's Attitudes Toward the Public Schools, 62 percent of respondents say they have never heard of the Common Core State Standards Initiative.

To help prepare education practitioners and advocates for the changes ahead, we examined how recent changes in state assessments were communicated to stakeholders, and the results of those efforts. We interviewed parents, district and school administrators, state education officials, education advocates, union representatives and school board members in states that made changes to their assessments or cut scores in order to raise the bar of student expectations similar to Common Core-aligned assessments efforts now.

The findings offer a lens into what works for system leaders eager to develop strong support for new CCSS assessments and their overall efforts to ensure that all students graduate from high school ready for college and career.

In the spring of 2015, large numbers of districts across the country will begin releasing scores on new, Common Core-aligned assessments. These scores will provide us with an initial look at how well our students are prepared for college and career based on the higher bar set by the Common Core State Standards (CCSS).

Despite widespread adoption by most of the nation in 2010, according to the 2013 PDK/Gallup Poll of the Public's Attitudes Toward the Public Schools, 62 percent of respondents say they have never heard of the Common Core State Standards Initiative.

To help prepare education practitioners and advocates for the changes ahead, we examined how recent changes in state assessments were communicated to stakeholders, and the results of those efforts. We interviewed parents, district and school administrators, state education officials, education advocates, union representatives and school board members in states that made changes to their assessments or cut scores in order to raise the bar of student expectations similar to Common Core-aligned assessments efforts now.

The findings offer a lens into what works for system leaders eager to develop strong support for new CCSS assessments and their overall efforts to ensure that all students graduate from high school ready for college and career.

This report explores an underappreciated part of our higher education system. The report looks at the role of community colleges in women's education, including challenges women face in completing a certificate or degree, or in transferring to a four-year institution. The particular concerns and needs of student mothers and barriers women face in pursuing STEM and nontraditional fields are examined in detail. The report includes recommendations that will strengthen community colleges for all students.