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Research Agenda

Lumina Foundation sees research as a key strategy to advance its mission to improve access and success in postsecondary education, and welcomes the submission of innovative and well-conceived projects from academic researchers and centers, government agencies, associations and other organizations. The Foundation is interested in research for its ability to drive change and improvement in educational systems by answering questions that allow policymakers, education leaders, practitioners, parents and students to make better decisions.

The Foundation is deeply concerned about the ultimate impact of the research it supports, and therefore focuses considerable attention on dissemination of results, synthesis of research across studies and disciplines, and the improvement of research utility for stakeholders. Lumina also has named a Research Advisory Committee to assist the Foundation in using research to improve policy and practice in higher education.

By releasing the Foundation's research agenda, we hope to encourage the development of strong research proposals that are directly tied to Lumina's programs, initiatives and priorities. Beyond this, however, we hope the research agenda may also stimulate more independent research on the issues that Lumina has identified as being both important and understudied.

Based on the goals, strategies and priorities of its strategic plan, the following research areas are of particular interest to Lumina Foundation in 2008:

1. Increasing levels of higher education attainment among all groups

   The U.S. faces a challenge to increase levels of higher education attainment, particularly among students from groups that have traditionally been underserved by higher education, including low-income students, students of color and adult learners. The clearest evidence of this challenge is that the U.S. is slipping in international rankings of the number of postsecondary degree holders in the adult population. Among older adults - those between the ages of 55 and 64 - the U.S. has the highest percentage of college degree holders among all countries ranked by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). This represents the success of the U.S. educational system of the 1960s.
   Among young adults (ages 25-34), the U.S. ranks only eighth. The U.S. educational system of today has not expanded opportunity in the way other countries have. To close the gap and match the level of degree attainment of the highest performing nation in the OECD, the U.S. would need an additional 10,000,000 college degree holders in the adult population (25-34), representing an increase of approximately 30 percent over current levels.
   Since rates of college degree attainment are increasing in almost every OECD country faster than in the U.S., the gap will continue to widen until the U.S. significantly improves rates of both college participation and completion, particularly for under-represented groups. Most of the growth of the U.S. population in the next 15 years will be from groups traditionally under-represented in higher education.
   The non-Hispanic White population will increase by 10.2 million by 2020; the African-American population will increase by almost the same amount (9.5 million), and the Hispanic population will increase by 24.1 million. Unfortunately, college attainment rates for these groups are far from equal. While 30.6 percent of the White non-Hispanic adult population of the U.S. has a college degree, only 17.7 percent of African Americans and 12.1 percent of Hispanics have completed college.
   While much is known about the factors that influence college participation, retention and completion, as reflected by the Foundation's What We Know series, there is a continuing need for research that can lead to significant improvements in college success among students from underrepresented groups and adult learners. Comparative analyses of higher education systems that are producing improved student outcomes, including those in other countries, may help yield the answers. The Foundation has a particular interest in research that contributes to a better understanding of the following:
   • The relationship of public policy to the performance of the higher education system and to improving equity and student outcomes.
   • Processes of change in higher education, particularly ways that effective practice and policy can be adopted more rapidly and on a much wider scale.
   • Application of proven strategies in a coherent and systemic way to increase educational success for specific populations.

2. Making higher education more affordable for all students, and especially those for whom cost is a barrier to opportunity

   The Foundation is focusing considerable attention on the need to reduce the cost of college to both students and society. Recent research suggests that college is becoming significantly less affordable to students and families, that both institutional practice and public policy have shifted resources away from approaches that improve financial access to higher education, and that the rising net price of college is preventing increasing numbers of students from entering and succeeding in college.
   Making higher education affordable, while maintaining or improving quality, will be impossible without reducing the cost of operating higher education institutions and delivering programs. Understanding how to reverse these trends and make higher education affordable for the increasing numbers of students who need it is a growing national priority.
   The Foundation has a particular interest in research that contributes to a better understanding of the following:
   • Changing institutional practice, public policy and consumer behavior in ways that will reduce costs while maintaining or improving quality and increasing student access, persistence and success.
   • New funding approaches, educational delivery systems, public policy regarding affordability and costs, and alternative governance structures that can increase affordable educational opportunity.

3. Developing data-driven decision-making approaches in higher education

   The Foundation continues to support research- and data-driven approaches to improving higher education access and success, and has incorporated data-driven decision-making models into its major initiatives. Data are useful at all levels of the educational system - from guiding the day-to-day actions of faculty and program staff to designing and implementing public higher education policy at the state and national levels. Disaggregated data on student access, persistence, and success are particularly useful to determine how best to serve students from under-represented groups. Data-based approaches should be used to make resource allocation decisions and to set campus and system priorities. To fully realize the potential of data-based approaches, however, both the quality of data and the skill with which data are applied must be addressed.
   The Foundation has a particular interest in the expansion of data-based decision-making to improve access and success in postsecondary education through strategies including:
   • Development of the data infrastructure where appropriate, especially in the expansion of online databases and analytic tools for decision-makers and policy analysts.
   • Better understanding of how higher education leaders and policymakers can use data to guide more effective decision-making to improve student access and success. This work includes the use of indicators, ranking systems and outcomes-based public accountability systems for higher education.

4. Stronger definitions of equity, quality and success in higher education

   Student success is at the heart of any educational enterprise, but student outcomes in higher education are poorly understood and not generally considered in either campus-level or public policy decision making. Quality in higher education is too often defined in terms of inputs and resources rather than student success and learning. The Foundation believes that a better understanding of student success in higher education is essential to developing stronger, and ultimately more useful, definitions of quality. Recent research supported by the Foundation suggests that a better understanding of student learning will be particularly important in the development of approaches to increase the success of underrepresented students in higher education. The Foundation has an interest in supporting research that can lead to a better understanding of the results of the higher education system in terms of student learning, completion and graduation, and transition to further education and employment. This could include research that contributes to a better understanding of the following:
   • What constitutes success for adult students.
   • How improved student preparation can lead to improved outcomes.
   • Value-added approaches in higher education assessment and accountability.
   • Clearer delineation of the multiple learning outcomes of higher education.

Lumina Foundation welcomes inquiries and proposals that relate to these topics and hold significant potential for advancing access and success in higher education. The Foundation has a particular interest in strong and active partnerships that can link these priorities to those of organizations that have an impact on practices and policies that affect student success.