"Mary F. Howard-Hamilton, Carla Morelon-Quainoo, Susan Johnson, Rachelle Winkle-Wagner, and Lilia Santiague have arrayed a rich collection of articles that address critical issues affecting students of color in graduate and professional degree programs including choice, access, financial aid, retention, STEM degrees, mentoring, curricula, and spirituality. By including the voices and perspectives of students of color from varying racial and ethnic backgrounds, they illustrate the similarities and uniquenesses among and between these perspectices--a strength of this compilation of research... We believe that our field needs an ongoing discussion of policies that will improve the experience of graduate students of color... this book is a good first step in that direction."

"Standing on the Outside Looking In is an ambitious undertaking that will likely exceed readers’ expectations. The well-chosen studies are a rich treatment of an important, yet underexplored, topic. Moreover, most of the studies use research methods that feature the voices of students. As a result, graduate and professional students of color will identify with, and gain inspiration from, the experiences of the participants. For faculty and administrators, this collection provides recommendations that are critical for the success of postgraduate students of color who represent our nation’s next generation of practitioners, policy makers, and scholars."

The entire review can be found here

"This collection of policy research papers illustrates the methodological and practical challenges of multi-state policy research. Most education policy is set by individual states. Therefore cross-state comparisons are useful for examining policy implementation and outcomes. This book advocates for more multi-year and other comparative multi-state policy analyses.
The chapters illustrate a variety of research designs and methodological challenges in state-level policy research and offer rigorous models that would be useful for further investigations.
Although individual chapters could be useful for teaching and senior scholars, I see the book as helpful for early career policy scholars engaging in the research design process because of the excellent examples of quality research.
The suggestions for improving quantitative models are well argued, and the studies that used more constructivist or mixed-methods approaches illustrate the feasibility of important new approaches to government policy research."

“[This book] has the potential to add significantly to our understanding of higher education policy making at the state level and how theory and practice can work together more effectively. The editors bring together an impressive list of contributors who have varying theoretical and practical perspectives on state education policy making. The book addresses important issues for both researchers and practitioners, including how politics shapes policy making, how data informs (and often limits) what can be done, and what would be needed to conduct more thorough investigations into the effectiveness of policies. A major theme of the book is that state policy making and evaluation can be improved through the creation of better data systems and use of analytical techniques for handling panel data. This theme helps separate the book from other books that focus on state higher education policy issues.
This book will be of great interest to many different audiences, including higher education faculty, state education policy makers, graduate students, and practitioners. It promises to help fill the substantial void that currently exists in the work of academics on state education policy and practitioners and policy organizations, and will be a must read for anyone who attempts to examine higher education policies across multiple states.”

"Sparked by the biannual 50-State Report Card on Higher Education…published since 2000, interest in comparative state performance on a variety of educational measures has intensified. This excellent volume, with articles by several of those who have been pioneers in this field, will be of great value to scholars, policy analysts, and legislative staffers charged with understanding and developing sensible state policies for higher education."

“…a groundbreaking and essential text that will allow us to take our multicultural efforts in higher education to the next level. From addressing issues of access and choice, to exploring the realities of a particular field such as science and engineering, to highlighting the specific concerns and needs of particular student of color groups, this edited book has it all. One of the most powerful and unexpected aspects of this collection is the reliance on qualitative research by many of the authors. The rich voices and stories represented do so much more than document the experiences of graduate and professional students of color; they offer ideas, strategies, and solutions for addressing the concerns and barriers that currently exist in higher education. Standing on the Outside Looking In will be of tremendous value to faculty, administrators, staff, researchers, and other higher education professionals.