Engaging Multiple Stakeholders to Ensure College Access and Success for All
Jamie P. Merisotis, President, Lumina Foundation for Education
Governor's Conference on Higher Education, State College, PA
March 17, 2009
Thank you. And my thanks to Governor Rendell, Secretary Zahorchak, and Deputy Secretary Shaw for hosting this conference and inviting a range of stakeholders—including myself—to be part of it. Your timing couldn't be better.
In my travels I often interact with either/or audiences. They're composed of either higher-education administrators or government officials. They're either colleagues from the foundation world, or they're representatives of public-policy institutions. Certainly there's a need for such tightly targeted conversations, but so is there a need for settings like this. The challenges we face in postsecondary education today are so big and so complex that we have to work collaboratively to solve them—and conferences such as this help us do just that.
So let me begin with a word about our work at Lumina and how this multiple stakeholder engagement is so important to our work. We're the largest national foundation—in a field of some 60,000 foundations across America—that focuses exclusively on helping students gain access to higher education ... and to succeed once they get there. Access and success are what we're about. Each year we distribute more than 50 million dollars in grants to partners and stakeholders who share our commitment to this very precise mission.
A little over a year ago we created a stir when we went public with what we call our "Big Goal." People thought we had gone way out on a limb when we announced that by the year 2025, Lumina Foundation wants 60 percent of Americans to hold high-quality two-year and four-year degrees. Sixty percent. That's far beyond the current 39 percent attainment rate that has remained unchanged since it flat-lined back in the 1970s.
The Big Goal represents about 16 million more graduates than the United States is likely to educate if it continues to conduct business as usual. Our motivation in setting the Big Goal was this: The U.S. once had the best-educated population in the world. Now we've slipped behind many of our top economic competitors, such as Canada, Japan, and Korea. Our country is among the few developed nations where older adults are more educated than younger adults.
Some argue that it's not necessary to increase the number of Americans who complete postsecondary education. They say it's enough for the U.S. to educate a small, elite group of thinkers who drive the innovation that leads to economic growth. But the rest of the developed world disagrees. The advanced economies of Europe, Asia, and Oceania are increasingly acting on the assumption that the overall level of educational attainment is the truest measure of the vibrancy of the economy, not the idea that a select few represent a country's brain trust.
Our Big Goal announcement was greeted with some skepticism. We meant it as a rallying cry, but initial feedback included words such as "daunting" and "audacious." Some stakeholders worried that the goal set unrealistic expectations for higher education. They feared that colleges and universities would be held to unattainable standards.
But that was then. This is now. And things have changed. I don't have to tell you about the job market ... the unemployment numbers ... the economic forecasts ... and the workforce projections. You've heard that three-fourths of today's fastest-growing occupations require more than a high school diploma. You know that the majority of jobs created by the newly-enacted stimulus package will require some form of postsecondary education. As President Obama recently said, college success is not just a pathway to opportunity; it's a prerequisite. If followed, the path leads to jobs ... the jobs lead to prosperity ... and prosperity leads to economic and social stability for individual Americans and for the country at large.
Today our Big Goal doesn't seem so audacious. If we're still out on a limb, we have some pretty good branch neighbors. The College Board and the State Higher Education Executive Officers have embraced goals similar to ours. And, three weeks ago, President Obama drew applause from both sides of the aisle when he pledged to Congress that America once again will have the highest proportion of college graduates in the world.
So there you have it. The gauntlet is down, and the race is on. This is not an issue with sharp partisan divisions or radically different world views. The vast majority of leaders in our nation recognize that this goal is the right one to achieve. How we get there, of course, will be a source of debate and dialogue—as it should be.
Indeed, how will we increase the number of college graduates, especially at a time when funds are in short supply and much of the advice we hear takes the form of shop-worn clichés? We're urged to "think outside the box." But we're told to "tighten our belts." And we're warned not to "throw money at the problem."
Thankfully, many proposals go beyond clichés and deserve our consideration. Some are safe; some are risky. Some are costly, and some are controversial. My role today isn't to endorse or reject any specific suggestion. I encourage you to keep the ideas coming. Instead, what I'd like to do is add to the discussion by sharing a broad policy proposal that Lumina Foundation strongly supports. It's one piece of advice that we've offered our new President as he works to return American higher education to a position of global leadership.
The policy proposal is this: Let's make the development of human capital a cornerstone of U.S. economic policy, and let's position postsecondary education as the nation's workforce-development system.
Rather than having economists working over here, education policymakers huddling over there, and labor experts operating somewhere in between, we're suggesting that we unite as partners behind the concept that higher education can and should play a major role in restoring and sustaining economic prosperity and social stability in America. Think of postsecondary education not as an end in itself ... but as a means to an end.
We are not suggesting that training for specific jobs is the only purpose of higher education—quite the contrary. Indeed, this assumption—that workforce development and higher education are different processes—is flawed and behind the times. The reality today is that almost everyone needs two sets of skills: the general thinking and communication skills that we have always liked to think are representative of education beyond high school; and an ever-changing set of skills and knowledge linked to a specific occupation. Everyone—and I mean everyone—needs both kinds of knowledge and skills, and our postsecondary education system is where people should come to get them.
Currently, only eight states are on track to reach the level of educational attainment required to meet our country's future workforce demands. Washington and California lead the pack; Pennsylvania is doing better than most, but it isn't among the top eight. Right now Pennsylvania ranks on par with the nation in the percentage of young adults, ages 25 to 34, with college degrees. This state stands at about 38 percent, and projections indicate that you'll narrow — but not close — the gap in the next 15 years.
To prepare the number of career-ready workers that our country needs, we must aggressively reach out to traditionally underserved students. I include in that group: low-income students, students of color, first-generation students, and the new wave of adult learners who have been displaced by the current economic downturn. Achievement gaps within these populations have not only endured for decades, they're actually widening — and that is an ominous sign in light of demographic and economic trends.
Research tells us that the U.S. population will swell by 56 million in the first two decades of this century. Of that 56 million people, 46 million will be members of minority groups. We're well on our way to becoming a minority-majority nation.
In many states—Pennsylvania among them—the population groups that are on track to grow the fastest are the same population groups that post the lowest levels of academic success. As an example, Latinos make up the youngest and most rapidly expanding population in our country, but they have the lowest educational attainment, by far. Projections indicate that by the year 2025—the same year Lumina hopes to reach the Big Goal—one out of every four new workers will be Hispanic. Yet right now, only 18 percent of Latinos in the U.S. — 19 percent in Pennsylvania — hold associate degrees or better. That's not good enough. We must improve.
Stated plainly, our future workforce as a nation — indeed, our economic, social, and cultural prosperity — will very much depend on how well we educate this emerging majority. If we're serious about reaching out to these populations and equipping them with marketable skills, we're going to have to protect two important areas that often fall victim to budget slashes. The first is need-based financial aid, and the second is developmental education.
Lumina Foundation and many of our colleagues in philanthropy believe that inadequate support in both of these areas will only delay our country's economic recovery. It will leave the nation poorly positioned when business picks up and skilled workers are in greater demand. We see need-based aid and developmental education not as drains on a state's resources but as investments in its future workforce. I was encouraged to read that Pennsylvania's proposed budget contains an 11 percent increase in need-based grant money for students to attend college. I hope this is attainable in the final analysis, and I encourage other states to follow your lead.
As states shape their education budgets, I also encourage them to do all they can to support and improve developmental education. Without question, this will be a critically important tool as we seek to improve attainment rates—and it's a tool we need to sharpen.
Right now, about 28 percent of all students who enroll in postsecondary education require some developmental education. And of the students who do take developmental-ed courses, less than 40 percent ever go on to earn a degree. Still, recent research shows that, if done the right way, developmental education can be an effective strategy for boosting attainment rates.
The fact is, developmental education works for many students—but it suffers from a serious image problem. Although it is a vital steppingstone to success for millions of students, too many policymakers see it as a "do-over"—a costly band-aid to cover inadequacies in the K-12 system. Too many faculty members view it as professional purgatory. Too many students see it, at worst, as a badge of dishonor or, at best, a series of hurdles blocking the path to "real" college classes.
We need to change all of that.
At Lumina Foundation, we're working in partnership with several other national foundations in efforts to de-stigmatize developmental-ed and make it a priority in policy and in practice. Through these efforts, which are just getting under way, we hope to redefine the way students, policymakers and faculty view developmental education. We also hope to improve the way institutions deliver it, the way state policies support it—even the way instructors teach it.
Not surprisingly, this effort to strengthen developmental education is centered in the nation's community colleges—a group of institutions that represent another vital tool in increasing attainment rates.
Today, 46 percent of all U.S. undergraduates—and 55 percent of Latino students—are enrolled at community colleges. Clearly, if we hope to meet our goal—and the President's goal—for college completion, these two-year institutions will be key. They provide broad access; they offer vital programs that serve the needs of the workforce; they are a cost-effective gateway into higher education, and they offer development education.
Five years ago Lumina Foundation recognized the important role that community colleges were likely to play in preparing underserved, under-prepared, and under-funded students for the workplace and for life. We launched an initiative called Achieving the Dream as a data-driven effort to improve success rates, particularly among low-income students, first-generation students, and students of color. More than 80 colleges now participate in Achieving the Dream, including seven Pennsylvania colleges that joined the initiative in 2006.
The investments we have made in Achieving the Dream are now bearing fruit. Colleges are learning important lessons about how to close those pernicious achievement gaps and foster student success. In fact, I understand that some of those lessons were shared in a breakout session that immediately preceded my remarks.
Still, at the risk of repeating what you may have already heard today, I'd like to make just three points about what we're learning from Achieving the Dream.
- First of all: Start with the data. When colleges look closely, consistently and systematically at their student outcome data—and then use that data strategically to address achievement gaps—student performance can improve.
- Second: Student success can be a transformative idea. With strong and committed leadership, a college can reorient itself and make student success—not merely enrollment—an institution's central priority.
- Third: Broad engagement generates momentum. By collaborating on a student success agenda with all of its stakeholders (including area employers, policymakers and the public), a community college can serve as a vital economic engine—at a time when this nation needs all of the locomotive power it can muster.
Another way to increase the transformative power of American higher education is to unleash its penchant for innovation—and that is a central goal of Lumina's newest initiative, called Making Opportunity Affordable. If you're not familiar with Making Opportunity Affordable — MOA, for short — let me briefly explain. MOA is a multi-year initiative focused on increasing productivity within U.S. higher education, particularly at two-year and four-year public institutions. We want to help schools become more productive so they can use the savings that they generate to serve more students and serve them better.
In December Lumina announced MOA grants to 11 states where elected officials and higher-education leaders are developing and refining strategies that will cut costs and use the savings to educate a greater number of students. These states will be working toward removing public and institutional regulations and policy barriers so the campuses can implement new approaches. The initiative will focus on how to best gauge returns on investment without sacrificing quality. That last point is important: We're adamant that quality should never be compromised in the interest of reaching enrollment goals.
Let me give you a quick overview of some of the projects that the grants will support:
- Colorado plans to accelerate efforts to re-enroll adults who are fewer than 30 credits shy of finishing a degree or certification program.
- Indiana is looking at a new funding formula for higher education that includes financial incentives for course and degree completion.
- Maryland is focusing on strengthening and expanding the postsecondary pipeline between two-year and four-year institutions in areas of workforce shortages. Those areas include teaching, nursing, and engineering.
- Mississippi is planning to advance a system-wide redesign of its developmental education courses.
- Ohio is forming a statewide Efficiency Council that will identify and disseminate best practices across the system in a high-profile, public forum.
- California will use grant money to study student flow from point of entry—enrollment—through what they call the "bottleneck experiences" where students are most at risk of becoming frustrated and dropping out.
These programs are designed to increase productivity and demonstrate how to use resources effectively and efficiently. At the end of 2009, the 11 states that are serving as laboratories for innovation will compete for multimillion-dollar Opportunity Grants to implement their plans. Stay tuned for progress reports.
Part of the challenge of improving efficiency and effectiveness is that measures of productivity are not well developed. As a starting point, we believe that practices of collecting, measuring, and analyzing data deserve increased exploration on all campuses. We think every institution should track basic information such as student enrollment, progress, and program completion according to ethnicity, income, and age. Every institution should define and report learning outcomes in a manner that clearly shows the value added.
I would even argue that every state should have a student-unit record system that combines K-12, higher-education, and employment data. The best of these systems would permit cross-state tracking and analyses. By taking these steps, higher-education institutions could more precisely identify and measure productivity gains.
Earlier, I resurrected some familiar clichés to make a point: "Think outside the box;" "Tighten your belt;" "Don't throw money at a problem." Well, here's another one: "Everyone wants progress, but no one wants to change." Like most clichés, there's an element of truth to that one. Change can be uncomfortable, particularly if the change involves practices that have been in place for decades. But we live in uncomfortable times.
There are new and better ways for colleges and universities to do what they do — innovative and cost-efficient methods that serve students well and meet immediate workforce needs. New ideas often emerge in response to the kind of economic pressures we're now experiencing. Sometimes it's the absence of new money that prompts new action that otherwise wouldn't be possible.
We also should learn a valuable lesson from the experience of the news media. Like higher education, the media was convinced that its role was so essential, so vital to our democracy that the fundamental operating model would not need to change. But circumstances have altered all of that, not only because of technology, but because the ways in which Americans get news and information have been transformed. Now, we are looking at the cessation of major newspapers, industry mergers, and a general sense that the fourth estate is no longer the sacrosanct enterprise that we once believed.
Higher education is, of course, different, but we should not lose sight of the obvious parallels. Economic conditions, changing learning styles, technology...all of these things are transforming the way people acquire and generate knowledge. We would do well to heed the lessons of the news media's experience and get ahead of the curve, making the necessary changes to our business model before circumstances dictate those changes.
Throughout my talk I've mentioned several works in progress that Lumina has a stake in. We don't yet know the results for many of them. We don't know if lessons learned in Colorado will have application in Pennsylvania. Two of our roles that we take seriously are that of connector and convener. As we learn the results of our work — and our partners' work — we're committed to sharing the information with the public and especially with you, the members of the higher-education and policy communities.
After all, as an organization dedicated to fostering success in higher education, we're keenly aware that knowledge is power ... and that power works best when it's shared.
In fact, that's the fundamental purpose of our Big Goal: We want to magnify the power of postsecondary education, to share it as broadly as possible so that it can be used to improve individual lives and ensure our society's economic health and social stability.
We are committed to this cause, and we are very grateful to share it with so many committed partners—including all of you. So thank you for all you've already done to increase student success—and for your leadership as we work together to improve American higher education and, thereby, enhance our collective well-being as a nation.
Thank you very much.
Board