Policies analysis is multifaceted. As outlined by Patton, Sawicki, & Clark (2013) it involves several steps including problem identification, determining policy objectives, establishing evaluation criteria, suggesting and assessing possible alternatives, and implementing, monitoring, and evaluating new policies or revisions. Evidence based policy analysis is about generating/gathering facts, exploring options and helping identify productive paths forward when addressing complex interconnected issues and challenges. A reasoned, evidence-based review of possible approaches is used to articulate, examine, and evaluate options. Strengths and weaknesses are identified based on the initiatives intended outcome/policy objectives that maintains compliance with external mandates and builds on internal priorities. The intent is to optimize and agree on productive approaches, implement them to expedite goal attainment and monitor/assess progress and performance. Another aspect of policy analysis focuses on reviewing the formal mandatory framework of standards under which the institution manages its affairs. Organizational policies identify and codify the institution’s established approach for complying with external requirements and benefit from periodic review and updating.
Community Workforce Program (CWP)
- CWP is designed to provide job opportunities to local Miami Dade County residents of traditionally underserved and underdeveloped neighborhoods.
Southern Association for Institutional Research (SAIR)
- Dedicated to the advancement of research leading to improved understanding, planning, and operation of institutions of post-secondary education. SAIR provides a forum for the dissemination of information and interchange of ideas on problems of common interest in the field of institutional research, planning and assessment.
Southern Regional Education Board (SREB)
- Working with states to improve public education at every level.
- The Miami-Dade Beacon Council, a public-private partnership, is the official economic development organization for Miami-Dade County.
The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC)
- SACS is the regional body for the accreditation of degree-granting higher education institutions in the Southern states.
BEBR - Bureau of Economic and Business Research
- CareerSource South Florida is responsible for initiating state and federally funded workforce development programs in Miami-Dade and Monroe counties. CareerSource South Florida assists employers and job seekers with employment services, labor market information, and provide training for economically disadvantaged adults, youth, dislocated workers, individuals transitioning from welfare to work, and refugees.
Center for Postsecondary Success (CPS)
- CPS at Florida State University provides support and fosters collaboration among those who are interested in conducting research on student success and institutional effectiveness, and to identify and evaluate potential institutional, state, and federal policies and programs that may serve to improve those outcomes.
Florida Association for Institutional Research
- The primary purpose of the Florida Association for Institutional Research (FAIR) is to serve professionals in post-secondary education institutions and agencies whose interests include research, planning, and policy analysis.
Florida Department of Education
- EDStats: Interactive Reporting
Florida Education & Training Placement Information Program (FETPIP)
- Follow-up Reports (Job Placement for Completers)
- Information about college and universities in the state of Florida.
- Florida Department of Economic Opportunity
- A nonprofit mentoring, college success, and college scholarship organization dedicated to transforming Florida one student at a time. Working statewide throughout Florida, our mission is to break the cycle of poverty for low-income, underrepresented, academically qualified students by providing opportunities for degree attainment through postsecondary education.
- Provides short analysis of topics impacting community colleges from a national perspective.
- A national, nonprofit leader in championing evidence-based institutional improvement through a long-term, sustainable commitment to improving student success.
American Association for Community Colleges (AACC) Research
- Delivers more in-depth coverage of issues and trends impacting community colleges from a national perspective.
- Provides an open learning space with content for faculty and assessment professionals through resources and tools that support student learning outcomes assessment, teaching and learning, program review and accreditation.
Association for Institutional Research
- AIR is a global association that empowers higher education professionals at all levels to utilize data, analytics, information, and evidence to make decisions and take actions that benefit students and institutions and improve higher education.
- PayScale’s College Salary Report helps individuals research schools, majors, and careers to discover which fields of study offer the most income potential, as well which are most transferable to different career paths.
- CDS provides a clear, standard data items and definitions to determine a specific cohort relevant to each item. Data items and definitions used by the U.S. Department of Education in its higher education surveys often serve as a guide in the continued development of the CDS.
Community College Research Center - Teachers College, Columbia University
- An independent research organization that studies community colleges and their potential to improve educational equity and social mobility in the United States.
- Excelencia in Education is redoubling its efforts to ensure that:1) the issues surrounding Latinos’ status and success in higher education are widely known and gain urgency; 2) the solutions and tools for implementation are broadly understood; and 3) the network of results-oriented advocates ready to leverage change grows.
Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce (CEW)
- The Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce (CEW) is an independent, nonprofit research and policy institute that studies the link between education, career qualifications, and workforce demands.
- The IPEDS Trend Generator is a fast and simple way to view Integrated Postsecondary Education Data Systems (IPEDS) federal and state data over time.
- A national nonprofit that drives change in the American workforce and education systems to achieve economic advancement for all.
- The living wage calculator was created to estimate the cost of living in local communities and regions based on typical expenses and family unit size.
National Center for Education Statistics
- Classification of Instructional Programs (CIP)
- College Navigator
- Data Lab
- Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) Data Center
National Community College Benchmark Project (NCCBP) & Institute
- The National Community College Benchmark Project provides institutions with access to the most comprehensive set of indicators available for measuring and comparing performance, charting accountability, and supporting continuous improvement (includes 6 modules and 500+behchmarks).
National Student Clearinghouse
- An independent research organization that studies community colleges and their potential to improve educational equity and social mobility in the United States.
Society for College and University Planning (SCUP)
- SCUP is a professional association that create a range of learning opportunities, from publications to our annual SCUP conference, for our community to share perspectives, resources, best practices, and fresh ideas that move challenges to solutions—building upon a culture of integrated planning.
The League for Innovation in Community Colleges
- An international nonprofit organization dedicated to cultivating improvement and advancement among community colleges.
The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC)
- SACS is the regional body for the accreditation of degree-granting higher education institutions in the Southern states.
- Chrisinger, David. (2022). Public Policy Writing That Matters. Baltimore, MD: Hopkins Press. https://www.press.jhu.edu/books/title/12432/public-policy-writing-matters
- Dunn, William N. (2018). Public Policy Analysis: An Integrated Approach (Sixth Edition). New York, NY: Routledge - Taylor & Francis. https://www.routledge.com/Public-Policy-Analysis-An-Integrated-Approach/Dunn/p/book/9781138743847
- Patton, Carl V., Sawicki, David S. & Clark, Jennifer J. (2013). Basic Methods of Policy Analysis and Planning (Third Edition). New York, NY: Routledge - Taylor & Francis. http://surjonopwkub.lecture.ub.ac.id/files/2019/01/Basic_Methods_of_Policy_Analysis_and_Planing.pdf
- Wildavsky, Aaron. (1979). The Art and Craft of Policy Analysis. London: Palgrave Macmillan. https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-1-349-04955-4