Whether learners are seeking to master the integumentary system, defibrillate a patient, or manage a traumatic brain injury, Osmosis can provide a video tutorial. In the coming years, Osmosis and Elsevier will continue to promote health literacy among medical doctors, doctors of optometry, registered nurses, nurse practitioners, and their patients.
Continue reading
The Smart Justice Think Tank (SJTT) will develop a guiding framework to inform a common agenda for scholars, advocates, practitioners, legislators, and re-entry organizations in post-secondary higher education in prison and on-campus programs.
Continue reading
In view of the inherent value of sharing news and analysis about the topics that are most important to us and to our community, the Michelson Philanthropies network published more than 230 articles in 2021, far more than in years past.
Continue reading
“Inclusive Access,” “First Day Access,” and “Equitable Access” may stir images of students using their course materials without barriers; however, the new website created by the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition (SPARC) tells a fuller picture. Rather than a product in and of itself, “inclusive access” and similar programs are a billing mechanism which adds the cost of course materials directly to student’s tuition and fees. This Michelson Spark Grant funded resource from SPARC, with partners from the Association of American Colleges and Universities, the Student PIRGs, ISKME, and others, provides institutions, educators, and students with resources and tools to determine if inclusive access makes sense for their campus.
In the past, when considering if such a contract was an appropriate fit it was challenging to find information beyond the marking materials for the products themselves. To address that, InclusiveAccess.org provides easy to understand perspectives on the different questions educators and institutions should be asking before signing on such as, What are the savings? Can students retain access to materials? What about student data?
“Right now, inclusive access has largely been driven by vendors who go to campuses and offer a program. And that’s backward, we want people to decide for themselves,” Nicole Allen, SPARC’s Director of Open Education shared with the Chronicle of Higher Education.
To do so, the website also links visitors to a contract library of similar deals across the country, giving a broader perspective on what many of these deals contain and powerful questions for policymakers concerned about the rising costs of higher education.
The launch of the website was met with a positive reception from the higher education community as a whole–both the Chronicle of Higher Education and Cory Doctorow covered the launch of InclusiveAccess.org. Doctorow‘s thread breaks down the long term trends and practices that allow publishers to “make out like bandits, at students’ expense” with the new billing mechanism as part of a long term move towards industry consolidation.
This is not the first time we have worked on this issue. In 2020, the Michelson 20MM Foundation funded US PIRG’s research into automatic textbook billing through the Spark Grant Program resulting in “Automatic Textbook Billing: An Offer Students Can’t Refuse.” The report analyzed the automatic textbook billing contracts of 31 colleges across the country and found that almost half of the contracts failed to disclose discount structures, nearly seventy percent of discounts disappeared if participation quotas were not met, and a third had uncapped annual price increases.
Over the next months and years, we are excited to work with our partners across the higher education, nonprofit, and policy communities to continue to ensure students have real inclusive and equitable access to their course materials.
Michelson 20MM is a private, nonprofit foundation seeking to accelerate progress towards a more just world through grantmaking, operating programs, and impact investing. Co-chaired and funded by Alya and Gary Michelson, Michelson 20MM is part of the Michelson Philanthropies network of foundations.
The year 2020 was California’s worst fire season on record with 9,639 wildfires and 4.2 million acres burned. Simultaneously, over 3,600 incarcerated firefighters returned home. A critical factor in reentry success for those returning home from prison is securing stable employment.
Last year, Michelson 20MM awarded a Spark Grant to the Forestry and Fire Recruitment Program (FFRP) to further their work in building a self-sustainable, fee-for-service model that provides transitional employment and reentry support, while helping participants navigate the firefighting career maze. With formerly incarcerated firefighters eager to serve, this opportunity is win-win—the state gets support to address its severe firefighter labor shortages, and formerly incarcerated firefighters get access to gainful employment.
Second Cohort of Graduates
On Saturday, May 15, 2021, FFRP hosted its second graduation honoring 35 graduates for successfully completing the Wildland Fire Academy, a rigorous 10-month professional development program. FFRP Executive Director, Brandon Smith kicked off the event by sharing more about the Academy’s education and training programming, which includes additional services such as providing inreach/prerelease services to 34 fire camps in California, supporting with the firefighting application process, obtaining certifications, preparing for interviews, and facilitating networking—all necessary support services for the success of each graduate.
Smith also shared more about the special significance of the naming of FFRP’s fire department, the Buffalos. Named after the Buffalo Soldiers, a group of African American soldiers who helped change attitudes about race as a result of their heroic peacetime service fighting a 1910 wildfire in Idaho and Montana remembered as one of the worst disasters in the region’s history. Though Buffalo Soldiers weren’t exactly welcomed in Avery, Idaho, they ultimately played a vital role in evacuating and then saving the town. This commemoration has both historical significance and points to the need for continued work towards removing stigma and archaic barriers justice-involved candidates face in pursuing firefighting careers.
A Celebration for the Entire Family
The Wildland Fire Academy Commencement Ceremony was incredibly thoughtful in its graduation approach, creating virtual stages in the homes of graduates that included family. A family member pinning the firefighting badge on graduates while they proudly displayed their certificates of completion helped further commemorate this important milestone in each graduate’s reentry journey.
“It doesn’t matter where you come from or your walk in life… you can achieve…I had doubts, but Chief [Royal] Ramey said to trust the process. Without this program, I don’t know where I would be, but certainly not doing this well,” shared Dylani Montoya, a 2021 cohort graduate.
Leaders across the state also joined the event to commend these graduates and share inspirational messages, including Senator Steve Glazer, Councilmember John Kennedy, and Prince Ogidikpe, a District Representative from Assemblymember Eloise Reyes’ Office. To round out the program, John Legend (singer, songwriter, producer, activist, and founder of FREEAMERICA) shared a congratulatory message for graduates, commending them on their incredible accomplishment.
“FFRP is making a critical impact in advancing reentry and equity work in the state of California. We proudly celebrate these 35 graduates and thank them for their service as they enter the firefighting profession,” shared Phillip Kim, CEO of Michelson 20MM.
A total of 26 graduates from the cohort have been hired at CAL FIRE, Pioneer Fire Department, US Forest Service, EMT School, Ventura Training Center, and Union Career.
Michelson 20MM was founded thanks to the generous support of renowned spinal surgeon and inventor Dr. Gary K. Michelson and his wife, Alya Michelson. The Michelson 20MM Foundation is dedicated to supporting and investing in leading organizations, technologies, and initiatives that seek to transform learning and improve access to educational opportunities that lead to a meaningful career. Learn more at www.20mm.org.
The Michelson 20MM Smart Justice Initiative (SJI) launched in 2019 to support individuals and communities impacted by our country’s punitive legal system forge brighter, more prosperous futures. The initiative leverages higher education as a catalytic force for transforming the lives of system impacted individuals and works to advance higher education in prison programming.
According to the Public Policy Institute of California, approximately 115,000 individuals are incarcerated in prisons across the state. An estimated 95 percent will eventually be released, making it critical that educational programs exist inside our prisons, as such programs have been shown to go a long way in ensuring better outcomes for returning citizens and our communities. RAND estimates that every $1 invested in prison education generates $4 in economic return, which makes education not only a cheaper alternative to prison, but also enhances public safety since prisoners who receive a college education are half as likely to recidivate as those who do not. Most importantly, we’ve seen first-hand the personal transformation of incarcerated participants time after time as a result of higher education programming. Despite all this, there is but one Bachelor’s program offered by a single California’s public university in our Cal State University system and none in our University of California (UC) system. But that may soon change.
We are excited to announce a Michelson Spark Grant has been awarded to the University of California, Irvine (UCI) as part of our Smart Justice funding round. UCI will establish the first UC bachelor’s degree-granting program in a California state prison. The project will provide an innovative pathway to higher education for justice-involved students. By 2022, working in partnership with Southwestern College, a First Chance Pell Site already offering an associate’s degree in Sociology to students incarcerated at Richard J. Donovan Prison (RJD), UCI plans to matriculate 20-25 students into UCI’s Department of Sociology.
The outcomes of this work will stretch far beyond the initial student cohort. The project is highly replicable, designed to grow in reach and impact over time, catalyzing other successful partnerships between community colleges, prisons, and University of California campuses to successfully provide bachelors degrees and high quality higher education for individuals incarcerated throughout the Golden State. The pathway UCI is building for people in California prisons to earn a UC BA will be a proverbial “first,” utilizing existing protocols guaranteeing transfer into the UC from community colleges. Not only are they building an infrastructure replicable across the UCs, but they are conceptualizing the program as an engine of discovery, generating knowledge to support better prison higher education programs in California and elsewhere. Our hope is that the learnings of this work will help seed similar programs throughout the state and beyond.
The evidence is clear that extending higher education to people who are currently or formerly incarcerated benefits individuals, families, communities, and society. For individuals, completion of a B.A. degree is a proven and effective step to successful reentry from prison to community, ultimately enabling formerly incarcerated individuals to support themselves and their families. As California continues to lead the nation in reforming its sentencing laws to shorten terms of incarceration, the public safety benefits of prison education, especially the impressive evidence that higher education cuts recidivism rates in half, is increasingly relevant to communities across the state. Finally, society benefits as the overall cost of incarceration falls, the tax-base of the state increases, crime rates decrease, and higher education benefits the upward economic mobility of more Californians.
“Investing in UCI to establish the first UC Bachelor degree program will help unlock the brilliance and genius of individuals behind bars.” says Dr. Gary K. Michelson, Founder of Michelson 20MM. “These investments embody the ethos of our work— innovative, catalytic, and transformational. We hope it will spark additional systemwide programs to ensure students in our prisons achieve their highest academic potential.”
It is our privilege and pleasure to partner with UCI in support of this innovative initiative. We hope it will spark similar UC bachelor’s degree programs in prison settings all across the state, as providing such educational pathways benefits all of society.
The Michelson 20MM Foundation was founded thanks to the generous support of renowned spinal surgeon and inventor Dr. Gary K. Michelson and his wife, Alya Michelson. Michelson 20MM is dedicated to supporting and investing in leading organizations, technologies, and initiatives that seek to transform learning and improve access to educational opportunities that lead to a meaningful career.
The U.S. Public Interest Research Group, a Michelson Spark Grant recipient, released the findings of its latest study examining the murky tactics textbook publishers are using to boost flagging profits, often at the expense of student choice. “Automatic Textbook Billing: An Offer Student Can’t Refuse?” spotlights how under new contracts struck between publishers and institutions of higher education, students are being automatically charged for digital learning materials and deprived of the opportunity to shop around. The report reveals some troubling trends that call into question whether these terms are in the best interest of students and faculty.
Supported by a Michelson Spark Grant, the U.S. Public Interest Research Group (PIRG) embarked on a first-of-its-kind review examining a new business model that textbook publishers are employing to maintain their position of power in the broken textbooks market. Last month, PIRG released the results of its study in the report, Automatic Textbook Billing: An Offer Student Can’t Refuse?
Following decades of exponential growth that far exceeds inflation, textbook prices have plateaued in recent years as the result of affordability measures such as the used book market and open textbooks. To combat their declining profits, publishers have entered into contracts with institutions of higher education that leverage their new “inclusive access” programs, which can be more accurately described as automatic billing.
Automatic billing allows publishers to add the costs of course materials directly onto a student’s tuition bill. The long-term goal of this model is to promote digital textbook access codes. These codes act as a subscription that provide access to a publisher’s digital library and homework submission platform for a set amount of time. Students are unable to access learning materials after their subscription ends, and since they never own a physical product, they are unable to recoup their costs on the used textbook market.
PIRG reviewed 52 contracts struck between textbook publishers and 31 institutions of higher learning, representing some 700,000 students. The report reveals troubling clauses that are often contained within these contracts, which do not have the interest of the students or faculty in mind. Some of the key findings include:
The clauses call into question whether textbook publishers are focused on providing benefits to their student consumers. Many of the contracts provide incentives for administrators to push faculty to adopt automatically-billed access codes. Furthermore, restrictions on publicizing these arrangements – and responses PIRG received when filing their records requests – reveal that publishers do not want the true nature of these contacts to come to light.
Some publishers may contend that this model provides value to students. If this were true, students would be clamoring to opt into these charges. However, the programs are set up in a murky way that undermines meaningful price transparency and choice for students and faculty.
PIRG’s report is a great resource for campus administrators as they evaluate whether automatic billing contracts are best for their students. The document offers a set of guiding questions institutions can use when making course materials decisions. It also provides recommendations for schools seeking to renegotiate existing automatic billing partnerships in order to best serve students.
We are proud to support PIRG in furthering consumer protections for students in the textbook and instructional materials market. We hope the findings galvanize the adoption of materials and contractual terms that promote choice and long-term affordability.