Projects

Effective Nudges in Education Policy: A Systematic Review of Federally Funded Financial Aid Programs

The successful completion and renewal of federally funded financial aid applications are essential for increasing college enrollment, particularly for underserved populations. Despite the availability of programs such as Pell Grants and Federal Work-Study, significant barriers still hinder optimal participation (Bettinger et al., 2012). Behavioral economics posits that subtle modifications in how choices are presented, known as ‘nudges,’ can profoundly influence decision-making (Thaler & Sunstein, 2008). However, beyond the commonly studied Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), the broader application of nudges across federal financial aid programs remains underexplored.

This research aims to: a) catalog and analyze various nudges employed across federally funded financial aid programs; b) evaluate the effectiveness of these nudges in improving application completion rates and financial aid uptake; c) Assess the differential impacts of nudges on various demographic groups (Gneezy et al., 2016); d) Provide evidence-based recommendations for policymakers and educational institutions to enhance financial aid administration. The overall goal is to improve the effectiveness of financial aid programs, ultimately increasing accessibility to higher education for underserved populations.
Principal Investigator: Margaret de Leon, University of Toronto

Political Discourse, Affordability, and the Shifting Value Proposition of Higher Education

This paper examines the evolving discourse surrounding the value of higher education within the US political sphere, focusing on how political actors construct narratives of value in relation to escalating college costs and debates over affordability. Utilizing critical discourse analysis and framing theory, this research deconstructs political texts such as Congressional debates, policy documents, and think tank publications from 2015 to 2025 to identify dominant frames and arguments concerning the purpose and perceived worth of higher education. The study investigates how political discourse linkes (or disconnects) the perceived value of a college degree with issues of financial accessibility, particularly in discussions of federal financial and and public funding for institutions. By analyzing rhetorical strategies and underlying ideologies employed by different political actors, this paper reveals the politicization of higher education value and its implications for policy and public perception.
Principal Investigator: Margaret de Leon, University of Toronto

Exploring the Impact of Student Employment on Persistence in Higher Education

This project is a four-year longitudinal study that follows participants throughout their studies in university, and examining the impact of employment on their ability to persist towards graduation. In the first year of the study, I examined the experiences and perspectives of employed students in their first year through semi-structured interviews and follow-up surveys. The preliminary findings of this study reveal that all participants persisted towards their second year, but each reported unique experiences balancing work and school. The findings underscore the importance of considering students’ lived experiences balancing work and school within the broader context of their educational journey to inform institutional policies and practices aimed at enhancing the overall academic experience and rates of persistence for undergraduate students.
Principal Investigator: Margaret de Leon, University of Toronto

de Leon, M. (April 11-14, 2024). A Longitudinal Examination of Working Learners in Higher Education: Findings from the First Year. Presented at the 2024 American Educational Research Association (AERA) Annual Meeting. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States.

A Comparative Analysis of Work-Study Programs in the US and Canada

This study compares federal work-study programs in the US and Canada. Focusing on program structure, accessibility, and impact, it explores how these initiatives affect student employment outcomes, academic performance, institutional belonging, and identity development. Additionally, it examines the institutional benefits, including contributions to operations and faculty research, as well as funding allocation mechanisms and retention strategies for these programs. Through this cross-national analysis, this study aims to inform policy and program development, providing insights into optimizing work-study programs for the benefit of both students and educational institutions.
Principal Investigator: Margaret de Leon, University of Toronto

de Leon, M. (June 15-20, 2024). A Comparative Analysis of Work-Study Programs in the United States and Canada. Presented at the Canadian Society for the Study of Higher Education 2024 Annual Conference. Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

System-Level Governance in California and Ontario

This study employs a comparative case study analysis of higher education governance in California and Ontario, aiming to explore how diverse administrative structures and policies shape quality, accessibility, and outcomes of higher education. By examining the unique and shared elements of these governance systems, this research seeks to offer insights into the effectiveness of various governance models, with implications for policy and practice in higher education. The selection of California and Ontario as case studies is driven by their unique higher education governance structures, offering a rich opportunity for comparative analysis. California’s diverse and tiered system includes public universities, state colleges, and community colleges, each with distinct governance and funding models (Ashby, 2018; Hawkins et al., 2022; Pechman, 1970; Richardson, 1997). Ontario, with its combination of publicly funded universities and colleges, demonstrates a distinct approach to governance, focusing on provincial coordination and policy alignment (Jones et al., 2010).
Principal Investigator: Margaret de Leon, University of Toronto

Financial Aid Policies as Catalysts for Equity and Access in Higher Education: A Comparative Conceptual Analysis of the United States and Canada

Financial aid policies in higher education play a crucial role in shaping access and opportunity for historically underrepresented students, making it a pivotal domain where protest and collective action can drive change. Financial aid policies have the power to serve as public acts that can transform educational landscapes and create equitable and inclusive futures. This study employs international comparative research to examine how activism and advocacy have historically impacted financial aid policies in the United States (US) and Canada to challenge prevailing disparities in access and equity in higher education in both systems.
Principal Investigator: Margaret de Leon, University of Toronto

de Leon, M. (March 10-14, 2024). Financial Aid Policies as Catalysts for Equity and Access in Higher Education: A Comparative Analysis of the United States and Canada. Presented at the 68th Annual Meeting of the Comparative and International Education Society. Miami, Florida, United States.

Evaluating High Impact Educational Practices: A Systematic Review

This research project explores the relationships between high-impact practices and higher education outcomes (e.g., persistence, graduation, future employment, etc.). High-impact practices are educationally purposeful teaching and learning activities, such as undergraduate research, internships, and first-year seminars. The project seeks to explore and evaluate the existing literature on this topic systematically. This project reviews previous literature and frameworks related to high-impact practices, conductive quantitative meta analyses, while also preparing a manuscript for peer review.
Principal Investigator: Dr. Daniel Corral, Assistant Professor, Department of Leadership, Higher and Adult Education, University of Toronto

Corral, D., de Leon, M. (November 15-17, 2023). A Systematic Review of Undergraduate Research Programs. Presented at the Association for the Study of Higher Education 2023 Annual General Conference. Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States.

Community College Baccalaureate Pathways

This research project explores the continuing education decisions of community college baccalaureate (CCB) graduates. CCB students represent a small but growing share of postsecondary graduates. The project seeks to understand how student-level (e.g., demographics, financial aid, and family income) and unique program characteristics (e.g., distance and tuition) are associated with CCB graduates’ 1) likelihood of pursuing further education, and 2) conditional on pursuing further education, what their education trajectories and decisions are.
Principal Investigator: Dr. Daniel Corral, Assistant Professor, Department of Leadership, Higher and Adult Education, University of Toronto

Creating Equitable Structures in Early Secondary School Mathematics

The Grade 9 Mathematics Research Project (2021- 2024) is a partnership between 16 secondary schools and OISE, University of Toronto. The project is to understand how best to implement the 2021 Ontario Grade 9 mathematics curriculum. This project adopted two goals: 1) to investigate current practices, pedagogical strategies, and challenges in implementing the new mathematics curriculum, and 2) to develop case studies of teachers who are teaching mathematics courses in Grade 9. The participants for this study included 27 grade 9 mathematics teachers. The data collected for this project came from semi-structured interviews, which were then transcribed and coded for emerging themes. This presentation will outline the motivation, the methodology and findings of the research.
Principal Investigator: Dr. Douglas McDougall, Professor, Department of Curriculum, Teaching and Learning, University of Toronto

Measuring Student Power and Leadership in Student Governance

This project examines the perspectives of university student leaders and illustrates how students are portrayed in education politics and leadership research literature. The Ladder of Children’s Participation Theory (Hart, 1992) is applied to postsecondary and K-12 contexts to measure how much power students have in empirical cases reported in education research and scholars’ normative visions for student voice that outlines how much power students should have in education. The paper will focus on the following questions: 1) What are the key influences on student satisfaction in participating leadership positions? 2) What kind of power do student leaders have in students’ associations? 3) What are the perceptions and experiences of student leaders in a university or college? 4) How do students assess leadership training? Key findings include an alarming rise in appointed student and youth councils instead of democratic student governments that are gaining prominence both in educational leadership research and in practice. A way forward is theorized to redefine the student voice in ways that acknowledge the inevitable education micropolitics that students are inherently part of as well as the challenges that students face in such.
Co-Investigators: Justin Patrick, Henry Ssali, Alice Romo, Kelly Zian, Margaret de Leon