The Other 85 Percent

This recent coverage of the 21st Century GI Bill reveals that veterans tend to enroll in community college and for-profit institutions because of cost, convenience, and because these institutions cater to their needs. The bill is a very good thing for veterans and is the right thing to do. It basically provides veterans [...]

Richard Vedder, a member of the Spellings Commission, has recently written this commentary in which he calls for colleges to become more transparent. Among the things he calls for are measures of learning outcomes, student engagement, and research with alumni to assess how successful they are. He describes transparency as “vital in evaluating [...]

I recently attended a higher education conference where the head of a large state university system talked candidly about the impact of online education on public universities and public research universities, in particular. It was a frank and thoughtful assessment of the issues confronting these institutions.

This week one of the giants of higher education, and especially higher education for adults, the University of Phoenix, released its inaugural “Annual Academic Report.” The report covered student satisfaction ratings, scores on the Measurement of Academic Proficiency and Progress (MAPP), the Standardized Assessment of Information Literacy Skills (SAILS) and financial information. The university [...]

I have been following the presidential candidates and hoped that, per this article, Senator Obama had addressed higher education. However, the text of the speech reveals that this was about K-12, and references to either TRIO or GEAR UP was made in passing. Hopefully, as the campaign heats up over the next several [...]

Last week the higher education media reported on an important publication by Cliff Adelman, who has been cited previously in this blog.
Article 1
Article 2

Recently, Alan Contreras, the administrator of the Oregon Office of Degree Authorization, spoke to college and university presidents and board members at the annual meeting of the North Central Association of Colleges and School’s Higher Learning Commission annual meeting. He stated that, in his view, there are three critical variables that higher education institutions [...]

I am pleased to see that others are concerned about the lack of focus on adult learners and look forward to seeing the data referenced in this article in The Chronicle of Higher Education. Thanks to CAEL and NCHEMS for teaming up to gather this data and draw attention to the needs of adult [...]

This article by Nancy C. Rodriquez in University Business lays out the problems facing college transfer students in Kentucky.  In an earlier posting, I referenced Kentucky’s desire to increase the number of college graduates in that state.  Kudos to Kentucky for this, a desire that is shared by many other states. 

Judith Eaton offers an interesting projection about what the ultimate impact will be of the current call for greater higher education accountability. While her view may be a bit extreme, it captures the dilemma of what to do when the public presses for increased information and transparency from colleges and universities. If information is provided, [...]