WISCAPE: Wisconsin Center for the Advancement of Postsecondary Education
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Research and Analysis

WISCAPE supports an array of research activities in keeping with its mission of informing and improving postsecondary education policy, research, and practice through the creation and exchange of knowledge. This includes in-house projects ranging from analysis of postsecondary education policies and programs to literature reviews and environmental scans focused on finding innovative solutions to pressing problems, as well as limited funding of external projects. WISCAPE also advances academic research on postsecondary policy and practice through support of its affiliates’ research efforts and by funding two faculty positions, called WISCAPE Scholars, in the School of Education.

Featured Projects

Wisconsin Scholars Longitudinal Study

The Wisconsin Scholars Longitudinal Study (WSLS) is the first state-wide longitudinal study of the impact of private need-based financial aid on college persistence and graduation.

Improving Educational Outcomes in Manufacturing Engineering, Technologist, and Technician Education (METTE)

The METTE project seeks to improve student success in two-year college programs that prepare postsecondary students to enter employment or transfer to baccalaureate programs in fields related to manufacturing as engineering technologist and technicians.

The Project aims to:

  1. Acquire highly needed knowledge on key factors and program features related to student success, and
  2. Use the results to enhance the research-guided innovation capacity of technical and community colleges.