The Other 85 Percent

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 [...]

It is rewarding to see this article on Inside Higher Ed that students are “flocking online.” Having spent many years in various forms of distance learning and over a decade in online learning, it is interesting that many universities are just now dealing with the issues that flow from a change in delivery method.  And [...]

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 [...]

How about this for a call to action?
“To address the global problems of war and peace, economics, poverty, health, and the environment, we need a world citizenry with ready access to knowledge about science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM); social, behavioral, and economic sciences; and the humanities. Our primary, secondary, and higher educational systems in [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

The SAT and ACT exams have long been used in admissions by land-based colleges and universities.  However, Inside Higher Ed reports that this is changing.  The National Association for College Admission Counseling (NACAC), in a major shift, is encouraging colleges to “consider dropping the SAT or ACT as admission requirements.”  The news report states that [...]

I have written several times about an initiative called Transparency by Design, which is intended to provide prospective adult college students with information about which programs and colleges that would be best for them. One thing that the schools participating in the Transparency by Design effort plan to report on is how well students who [...]

In an earlier post, I referenced Peter Ewell’s book on accreditation, and his discussion of five core values that undergird American higher education accreditation.  One of those core values is the combination of academic freedom and shared governance.  Both of these concepts are cited by some who resist increased accountability and assessment, and both concepts [...]