Seeing the Big Picture: What We Read to Keep up with Change in Higher Ed

Higher education is changing fast, whether you can see it happening or not. Where we at Team Switchboard sit—the intersection of alumni relations, advancement, and career services—it can be especially hard to keep up.

There are a few go-to publications we all read for insight, like Inside Higher Ed, the Chronicle of Higher Education, and Times Higher Education, but there are dozens more sources of in-depth coverage of higher education.

Here is a list of nine think tanks and publications whose work we read regularly to stay informed.

The Hechinger Report

The Hechinger Report

Nonprofit Publication
Who should read it: Anyone who gives a darn about education.

The Hechinger Report is an independent, non-profit newsroom that covers education from kindergarten through college. A lot of their work focuses on inequities in education, and they take an in-depth, data-heavy approach that sets their writing apart from standard reportage.

Hechinger's award-winning coverage is too good to miss.

 

New America

New America

Think Tank
Who should read it: People looking for progressive solutions in education.

New America, once known as the New America Foundation, has covered everything from cybersecurity to political reform since 1999. Their research and other writing on education focuses on finding progressive solutions to problems in education today.

 

Diverse Education

Diverse Education

Publication
Who should read it: 
People who care about the inequities playing out in higher education every day.

Diverse Education covers stories concerning inequities in higher education no one else does. Most of their reporting is on smaller stories at individual campuses across the country, but together they make up a patchwork that represents the whole of higher ed.

History is built on the work of meticulous journalists, and Diverse is exactly the sort of publication that supplies that coverage.

 

The Urban Institute

The Urban Institute

Think Tank
Who should read it: Higher ed wonks and people trying to keep up with them.

Urban is one of the nation's leading think tanks, perhaps best known for its focus on quantitative analysis. 

If you're tired of people bandying about the same old claims about issues in higher education, Urban is the place to go to evaluate those suppositions.

 

Brookings

The Brookings Institution

Think Tank
Who should read it:
 People in, or aspiring to, leadership positions.

Brookings is a big name—the big name—in the D.C. think-tank circuit. Much of the content they publish is about what you'd expect from the New York Times's opinion pages, but with more graphs.

But they do publish longer reports, too. And whipping out the name Brookings in a conversation will instantly get you street cred.

 

Education Dive

Education Dive

Publication
Who should read it:
Ed tech enthusiasts and news junkies.

When the Chronicle and Inside Higher Ed aren't enough for you, Education Dive will satisfy your craving for more news. They pick up on ed tech news and research reports that other publications often don't.

 

Institute for Higher Education Policy

The Institute for Higher Education Policy

Think Tank
Who should read it: 
Solution seekers.

IHEP publishes research reports every few months or so that look for solutions to problems facing higher ed. While most of their work concerns high-level policy, some of it can be put to use in higher ed administration.

 

The Career Leadership Collective

Group
Who should read it
: People who care about the future of career services.

The CLC is a newly formed group of career services leaders sharing their thoughts on and experiences with the evolution their offices are undergoing.

If you work in career services or work with people who do, the CLC is something you should be watching for new ideas and useful conversations.