Tens of millions of Americans with publicly accessible criminal convictions face significant collateral consequences that affect their employment, housing, and family life, which not only harm these individuals but also limit society's access to their skills, productivity, and participation. In response, policymakers have enlarged the scope and enhanced the accessibility of criminal-record expungement laws. Little is known, however, about how individuals perceive, navigate, and take advantage of these new, broader laws. This article presents findings from a large-scale survey of 1,439 expungement applicants and recipients in Detroit, Michigan conducted in partnership with Project Clean Slate (PCS), a city initiative assisting residents with expungement. The research team complement the research team’s quantitative survey results with administrative data from PCS and detailed interviews with PCS staff and other experts on various aspects of criminal records and expungement in Michigan. The research team’s study explores how individuals learn about expungement and eligibility criteria, their motivations for seeking record relief, the challenges they face in the process, and how, if at all, they overcome these barriers. The research team’s results reveal both the successes and limitations of the petition-based expungement process, including positive evaluations of the process but also barriers to awareness and procedural difficulties that prevent many eligible individuals from obtaining relief. Despite generally positive experiences among PCS clients, challenges such as state-level administrative errors, process delays, and uncertainty about the visibility of expunged records persist. While the recent move in some states toward automated expungement represents progress, petition-based expungement remains crucial in most jurisdictions, requiring continued efforts to improve access and reduce burdens.

This study examines the role of legal fines and fees, also known as legal financial obligations (LFOs), in North Carolina's justice system between 1985 and 2019. These monetary sanctions play a critical role in the criminal legal system, serving a punitive and revenue generating function. A significant gap exists in access to comprehensive longitudinal data on how these sanctions have evolved. To address this gap, this research traces historical changes in North Carolina's criminal code, focusing on the raising, lowering, and repealing of fines and fees over time. Using archival research and statistical analysis, the study uncovers patterns in legislative changes, including a significant increase in fines and fees around the 2008 housing crisis, a notable increase in new fines introduced in 1997, and a consistent increase in fees associated with particular statutes suggesting a financial dependency on these fees for court funding. Findings emphasize the financial dependency on monetary sanctions for court funding and highlight the need for a transparent, centralized means to inform evidence-based policymaking. Although focused on North Carolina, the methodology offers scalability for broader, national analysis, providing crucial insights for future legal reforms.

Violence by K–12 students against peers, teachers, school staff, or their school communities writ large is disturbingly common. As a result, ensuring that schools have effective ways to identify and prevent such incidents is becoming increasingly important. A variety of concerning behaviors or disturbing communications, including—but not limited to—direct threats can precede acts of violence. However, even in an era in which incidents of violence are increasing, only a fraction of cases of concerning student behavior have the potential to escalate to violence. Even among explicit threats of violence, many are made impulsively by students who do not have the capacity or intent to follow through, either as ways of trying to act tough or in reaction to perceived disappointment or rejection. Some others are better viewed as calls for help by students who do not know how to productively seek support to address challenges that they do not yet comprehend. Schools need systems and resources to distinguish and respond effectively across all of these possibilities, ideally with an appropriate combination of actions that can maintain safety and can provide students with the right supports and interventions. Support-focused interventions can address the underlying causes of problematic student behavior and also lead a student toward a more favorable, positive path into the future. By using supportive counseling and other interventions, behavioral threat assessment and management is widening the options available for school leaders and staff to address problematic behavior that has the potential to develop into violence. To be effective, school behavioral threat assessment and management teams need a broad set of tools, including options appropriately matched (1) to the specifics of a student's problematic behaviors, (2) to the unique school community and environment, and (3) to the needs and circumstances of the student or students involved.

This research team found that online STEM courses present challenges that are distinct from the challenges students face in in-person courses. In online courses, they experience greater isolation, which can decrease their motivation. What is more, while the learning materials available in many online courses are plentiful, students often are unsure of the best way to employ those resources, and many find that their previous learning strategies are insufficient in the online STEM context. And in part because of limited interactions with instructors and peers in online courses, they may also experience difficulties in seeking help when they need it. Nevertheless, in responding to these challenges, many students bring with them strengths that can help them stay motivated and adopt new learning strategies. The research team intentionally asked students about learning skills and developmental processes that have previously been identified in research on online learning. Processes described in the collaborative’s self-directed learning (SDL) framework are thought to work together to support student success. Motivational processes cultivate useful foundational emotions and beliefs for learning (e.g., a sense of belonging and confidence), even under challenging circumstances. Metacognitive processes, which include identifying needs and reflecting on one’s situation and potential resources, harness those positive emotions and beliefs to formulate plans. Students put plans into action by employing applied learning processes such as seeking help and using effective strategies. Finding success with these strategies feeds into motivation, and the cycle continues. Across the four themes described above, the research team see these interrelated processes play out in practice. Students who have frequent and constructive interactions with peers and faculty feel more motivated and express more willingness to seek help. Positive experiences provide opportunities for students to reflect on their learning strengths and needs and adopt new learning strategies. This may feed a virtuous cycle of confidence, increasingly effective approaches to online learning, and success. Based on interviews with the research team sample students about their online course taking experiences and especially about what instructional strategies worked well for them, the research team offer faculty the following recommendations to build students’ SDL skills in online courses: uncover and acknowledge students’ SDL strengths, prioritize instructor-to-student connection, create varied and frequent opportunities for student-to-student interactions, and help students navigate course resources, activities, and assignments.

In 2013, California enacted an ambitious school funding reform—the Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF). The LCFF fundamentally overhauled the state’s prior K–12 education finance system by distributing state grants to K–12 school districts, county offices of education, and charter schools based on student characteristics, including both grade level and whether they belong to groups identified for additional support: those from low-income families, English learners, or foster youth. More than a decade after its enactment, a growing body of research indicates the LCFF has helped to improve student outcomes, especially in K–12 school districts that enroll large shares of students with greater educational needs. This report intends to establish a conceptual framework that California policymakers and education stakeholders may consider for potential adjustments to build on the solid foundation the LCFF created and continue to improve outcomes for students throughout the state. The LCFF distributes roughly $4 out of every $5 that K–12 schools receive from the state budget and local property tax revenue. The remaining 20% of these funds supports special education, before- and after-school care, summer programming, state preschool, and other programs such as child nutrition. The LCFF reaches all K–12 school districts except approximately 130 districts that are designated as basic aid because their level of local property tax revenue is high enough to exceed their LCFF target allotment without state aid. Basic aid districts serve approximately 5% of the state’s students. The base grant portion of the LCFF provides K–12 school districts grants per the average daily attendance of their students, adjusted to reflect the number of students at various grade levels. The base grant accounts for approximately 80% of LCFF dollars and is the main source of funding for California schools. In recognition that students face greater educational challenges when they attend schools with high concentrations of students with greater needs, the LCFF’s concentration grant targets additional funding to school districts that enroll large shares of students from low-income families, English learners, or foster youth. The LCFF concentration grant initially provided 50% of the base grant for school districts that enrolled more than 55% of students from these categories. This value was increased to 65% of the base grant as part of 2021–22 state budget legislation. Analyses in California have found that LCFF-induced increases in per-pupil spending have: improved students’ math and reading achievement; reduced the probability of grade repetition; increased the likelihood of high school graduation and college readiness; and decreased suspensions and expulsions. Moreover, improvements in student outcomes have been more pronounced for cohorts exposed to funding increases for more of their school-age years.

The Department of the Lottery generates funds for education by selling draw and scratch-off games. Lottery transfers to the Educational Enhancement Trust Fund decreased in Fiscal Year 2023-24 to $2.4 billion, $65.8 million (3%) less than the prior fiscal year. According to department officials, this decrease in transfers is due to a decrease in sales from broad economic factors such as inflation and rising interest rates that constrained consumer budgets. The department continues to outperform the legislative performance standard for its operating expense rate, which is the second lowest in the nation. In the past fiscal year, the department made several efforts to increase revenue, including adding new lottery retailers, changing the product mix, and installing 500 additional vending machines. The department also introduced enhancements and upgrades at existing retailers, offered promotions to increase player engagement, and created a program to recognize and reward high-producing sales representatives. In addition, the department implemented several operational initiatives over the past year, including conducting investigations of unauthorized activity, implementing responsible gaming initiatives, and upgrading its retailer management software tool. The department is also under contract to launch a new prize payment system after April 2025; the system will enhance convenience for lottery customers by allowing players to redeem winning tickets through the lottery mobile app.

Home prices and rents in Florida held steady in 2023 and 2024 following rapid growth in the preceding years. The state continued to increase its single-family supply, particularly in fast-growing Central and West Central counties, although sales volume continued a two-year downward trend. The multifamily stock also continued to grow, with new rental developments coming online in urban centers and fast-growing mid-sized counties. Florida’s single family home inventory reached nearly 5.9 million homes in 2024. Seventy-one percent of these homes are homesteaded, indicating that they serve as the owner’s primary residence rather than as second homes, vacation homes, or rental properties. Multifamily rental developments provide 1.7 million units. Three-quarters of these are located in developments with 10 or more units. One-quarter are located in 2-9 unit properties, mostly duplexes. The report found that the state has 1.6 million condominium units. Only 37% are homesteaded, indicating that most condominiums are second homes, vacation units, or rentals. Mobile homes on their own parcels make up approximately 437,000 units, of which just over half are homesteaded. These are individually owned parcels that are distinct from the state’s 2,293 licensed mobile home parks with 290,885 lots for rent. Using the most recently available data, the authors estimate that there are now 883,863 low-income, cost burdened renters in Florida. Sixty-two percent of these households live in Florida’s nine large counties (population 825,000 or more); 35% live in medium-sized counties (population 100,001-824,999); and 3% live in small counties (population 100,000 or less).

This paper explores past episodes of technological disruption in the US labor market, to learn lessons about the likely future impact of artificial intelligence (AI). This paper measures changes in the structure of the U.S. labor market going back over a century. Researchers found that the pace of change has slowed over time. The years spanning 1990 to 2017 were less disruptive than any prior period. General-purpose technologies (GPTs) like steam power and electricity dramatically disrupted the twentieth-century labor market, but the changes took place over decades. Researchers argue that AI could be a GPT on the scale of prior disruptive innovations, which means it is likely too early to assess its full impacts. However, this paper presents four indications that the pace of labor market change has accelerated recently, possibly due to technological change. First, the labor market is no longer polarizing. Second, employment growth has stalled in low-paid service jobs. Third, the share of employment in STEM jobs has increased by more than 50% since 2010, fueled by growth in software and computer-related occupations. Fourth, retail sales employment has declined by 25% in the last decade, likely because of technological improvements in online retail.

Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinics (CCBHCs) are designed to increase access to and improve the quality of behavioral health services. This includes, at a minimum, a set of 9 core outpatient services that adhere to federally defined standards in the CCBHC certification criteria, including 24/7 mobile crisis response. CCBHC services and recovery supports must be responsive to the needs of local communities served, incorporate evidence-based practices, and establish care coordination as a central part of service delivery. Services and supports provided by CCBHCs must also be recovery-oriented and trauma-informed. CCBHCs are required to serve anyone with a need for behavioral health care, regardless of age, ability to pay, or place of residence. This includes serving people with serious or complex mental or substance use conditions and providing developmentally appropriate care to children and youth. This resource document briefly explains the three different types of Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinics and the pathways to becoming each. For example, the Section 221 CCBHC Demonstration Program allows participating states to establish CCBHCs by creating a state-certification process based on federal criteria. In addition, the Independent State Medicaid CCBHC and Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA)-administered CCBHC Expansion (CCBHC-E) grant programs assist states implement the model through a Medicaid State Plan or receive grant funding from SAMHSA to implement the model. It is designed for the use of potential Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinics, clinic leadership and staff, and state government officials, to support their engagement with the Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinics model.

American healthcare has become increasingly consolidated over the past few decades. Health systems are acquiring hospitals, hospitals are acquiring physician practices, physician practices are pairing up, and cross-market mergers, in which providers combine across geographic market boundaries, are becoming more common. Too often, the result is to tamp down on competition and drive up costs. The report builds on a convening held in Washington, D.C. in May 2024 that brought together 17 health policy experts to consider the status of consolidation among healthcare providers, the challenges it poses to healthcare, and the legal, regulatory, and policy frameworks that can influence its impact. While any policy reforms are certain to face resistance and court challenges prior to implementation, the working group report emphasizes the importance of taking action to foster a more competitive healthcare marketplace that better serves the public interest. In an optimal policy environment, the structures to promote competition would already have been put in place before so many communities became dominated by so few health systems. Addressing consolidation today is something of a catch-up game, and any policy reforms are certain to face resistance and court challenges prior to implementation. The narrative among many health providers has been that, like it or not, they have to become part of a consolidated entity to survive. But the evidence to support this claim is limited, and there are hints that public sentiment and political will are shifting as research documents the rising healthcare prices that accompany consolidation, without clear improvements in quality. A constituency may be emerging that is prepared to challenge assumptions about healthcare systems, promote policies designed to foster a more competitive healthcare marketplace, and better serve the public interest.

Few studies have empirically examined the impact of school salad bars on elementary students’ fruit and vegetable (FV) consumption within the National School Lunch Program (NSLP). This natural experiment evaluated the impact of salad bars on FV selection, intake, and waste within elementary schools. Seven school pairs, matched on Title I status and percentage of students from ethnic or racial minority backgrounds, were randomly selected. All schools served pre-portioned FV at baseline. One school within each pair received a salad bar; the other continued to serve pre-portioned FV (Control). Digital imagery plate waste methods were applied at baseline and 4–6 weeks after schools installed salad bars (post). Images were rated in the laboratory to determine FV selection, intake, and waste (servings [1 NSLP serving = ½ cup]). Multilevel modeling evaluated group (Salad Bar vs Control) and time (baseline vs post) differences and group-by-time interactions. Differences in outcomes by Title I status were also examined. Across schools, mean NSLP participation was 54%. Students in Salad Bar schools selected and consumed) more FV at post, compared to baseline. Control students decreased FV selection with no change in intake from baseline to post. Group, time, and group-by-time interactions were significant. When examined separately, results suggest that these effects are driven by fruit. Salad Bar students increased fruit selection, intake, and waste from baseline to post; no significant changes were observed in controls. There was no significant change in vegetable selection, intake or waste for either group. Findings did not differ based on Title I status. Salad bars were effective in increasing elementary school students’ fruit selection and intake yet did not increase vegetable selection or intake. Additional efforts are needed to increase vegetable intake and minimize fruit waste from salad bars. Consistent findings across schools, regardless of Title I status, suggest potential for salad bars to yield increased fruit intake across socioeconomic groups.