Introducing PolicyDirect: A New Web Site to Help Guide Higher Education Decision-Making
Published May 13, 2014
Washington, D.C., July 31, 2012—The Institute for Higher Education Policy (IHEP), with support from Lumina Foundation, is launching today PolicyDirect, www.policydirect.org, a new Web site containing cutting-edge postsecondary education research for a policy-focused audience. PolicyDirect is a one-stop, online resource that delivers more than 300 easy-to-use summaries of academic research that highlights critical findings on important higher education issues such as college preparation, financial aid, productivity, and student success.
PolicyDirect offers a broad collection of research summaries and synopses generated by a dynamic, evaluative process. Considering several criteria—including methodology, cost-effectiveness, and scalability—PolicyDirect experts each year evaluate research studies in 12 key topical areas. They then summarize the best research to provide easily digestible and bottom-line information that can be sorted by criteria and by topic.
“The need for timely and trusted information on postsecondary education opportunity is crucial,” says Michelle Asha Cooper, Ph.D., president of IHEP. “Unlike other resources, PolicyDirect was created intentionally to provide immediate access to evidence-based research that addresses key issues in higher education.”
PolicyDirect is a helpful resource with a straightforward approach to research for everyone who is interested in addressing our nation’s most pressing postsecondary education challenges: Policymakers, higher education organizations, practitioners, philanthropic leaders, and researchers as well as members of the media.
“Timely access to good research is absolutely critical in the effort to increase Americans’ attainment of high-quality college degrees, certificates, and other credentials,” said Jamie Merisotis, president and CEO of Lumina Foundation. “We’re proud to support PolicyDirect because of its great potential to put reliable, actionable research into the hands of those who need it most.”
In addition to its online research summaries, PolicyDirect will offer other resources, including informational Webinars, policy briefs that synthesize research across topics, and a series of research-to-policy events in which a range of stakeholders will convene to discuss issues affecting college attainment.
To learn more about PolicyDirect, please visit www.policydirect.org.
For more information about IHEP and Lumina Foundation, visit www.ihep.org and www.luminafoundation.org, respectively.
