The Other 85 Percent

I have made several posts referencing the work of Peter Ewell. Mr. Ewell wrote an article in the November-December 2008 publication of Change, titled “No Correlation: Musings on Some Myths About Quality.
Mr. Ewell leads off with “For an enterprise dedicated to truth, American higher education harbors a lot of myths.” He then [...]

I first wrote about the problems in the 21st Century GI Bill last July. Well, the problems are finally getting some media attention.
When asked by the reporter for Inside Higher Ed who wrote this recent article why I thought that the bill included the disincentive for distance education, my response is that I don’t know.  [...]

A recent article claims that the current report of the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) “challenges online learning assumptions.”  But this is not the first time that NSSE has documented that students in online programs report that they are very engaged in their learning, more so than their counterparts who participate in face-to-face programs.
I [...]

I have posted several times about Transparency by Design, a consumer information and accountability initiative. Well, I have great news. This program was recently recognized by the Lumina Foundation for Education with a $629,000 grant.
This will allow the institutions involved in Transparency by Design the opportunity to expand our work. The initial public [...]

In a previous post, I questioned what Measuring Up actually measures and whether the message to state policymakers was off-base because it fails to acknowledge the contributions of cross-border online institutions, particularly in providing higher education opportunities to adults.  Clearly, those involved in Measuring Up understand that there are issues with data. Dennis Jones [...]

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation announced the award of $69-million in grants to help low-income young people complete a college degree or certificate by age 26. These grants will particularly help community college students, and will make a difference and start the effort to double the number of young people who attain a [...]

An article in the Chronicle of Higher Education describes a program by the American Council on Education (ACE) to grow programs designed for veterans and to identify programs that “actually work.” The focus on veterans, outcomes, effectiveness, and the use of data for improvement is great. This initiative has the potential to benefit [...]

In June there was a meeting to “conceive a new agenda for public higher education,”
held at the Miller Center of Public Affairs at the University of Virginia.  A report of the meeting has just been released, and includes the following recommendation:
Focus on adult learning and training in response to the demands of rapid economic, technological, [...]

Recently, the Center for American Progress issued a call for increased Federal government support for adult learners. The report asserts that there are both individual and societal benefits when adults earn postsecondary degrees.  The authors cite increased postsecondary education attainment as resulting in such societal benefits as a more competitive workforce, a more highly [...]

Earlier this year, The Korn Ferry Institute published a book titled Letters to the Next President: Strengthening America’s Foundation in Higher Education. The book was the idea of Stephen Joel Tractenberg, who served as president of The George Washington University from 1988-2007. Tractenberg edited the book with contributions from some 20 other [...]