Lumina Foundation

transcript testing (speakertext)

matthew — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 20:18:40 +0000

Latinos are the nation's fastest growing student population. Lumina's new Latino student success effort focuses on increasing their degree attainment. Why does Lumina believe it's a national imperative?

Lumina foundation is commited to seeing an increase in the percentage of individuals with high quality credentials and degrees. And when we look at the data, it is clear that the road to that 60% goal must go through the Latino community.

We know that in order for this work to succeed, it's going to take multiple hands, multiple facets, multiple resources, and to just rely on higher education, to change higher education is not enough.

It's also, I think, focusing in a very new way on communities, and how they can work together and evolve their own approaches, strategies and solutions, to what their education needs are in their communities.

As all politics are local, all implementation is local as well. So in order for something to really and needs to take hold at the local level.

Lumina's been true to it's core values in addressing this initiative, not only because of the demographics that are so clear, but also because of the commitment to social justice and to equal opportunity that underlie this project, underlie this nation. Latinos are so much a part of American life that keeping them away from those opportunities is really closing the door on our own future.

It is a must for our economic future. It is a must for our community conversation, not a question mark, but a must.

transcript testing (3play)

matthew — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 16:23:31 +0000

An example from 3Play

Common Core State Standards

Lumina Foundation Announces Fourth-Quarter Grants

matthew — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 18:57:38 +0000

INDIANAPOLIS—Lumina Foundation’s efforts to reach Goal 2025 include grant making, identifying and supporting effective practice, public policy advocacy, convening and public will building. The only way to increase the number of students who succeed in postsecondary education is to change how higher education is structured, funded and delivered. Lumina uses its grant making to drive that change by supporting organizations that are leading efforts in the following areas:

Preparation—Students are prepared academically, financially and socially for success in education beyond high school;

Success—Higher education completion rates are improved significantly; and,

Productivity—Higher education productivity is increased to expand capacity and serve more students.

“Keeping college within reach for all Americans is a value that we strongly believe is of great importance to our nation,” said Jamie Merisotis, president and CEO of Lumina Foundation. “By striving to reach our Goal 2025 of increasing the percentage of Americans with high quality degrees and credentials to 60 percent by 2025, the U.S. will remain economically competitive on the global stage. Our grants this quarter reflect Lumina Foundation’s ardent belief that Goal 2025 is not just a dream, it’s a necessity.”

In the fourth quarter of 2011, Lumina awarded grants totaling more than $7.7 million. These 29 grants went to organizations in 16 states and Washington, DC.

Preparation (22 Grants)

America’s Promise Alliance (Washington, DC) $200,000 to support the Grad Nation Summit and the Grad Nation Action Collaborative.

The Board of Control for Southern Regional Education (Atlanta, GA) $200,000 to investigate interactive mobile phone applications and youth-generated media that connect first-generation students with information about preparing for college.

The Brookings Institution (Washington, DC) $200,000 to investigate the cost structure of state assessments including the costs associated with adopting and maintaining Common Core State Standards assessments by states.

The College Entrance Examination Board (New York, NY) $73,000 to research reform of the federal Pell Grant Program to ensure sustainable and adequate need-based funding.

College Forward (Austin, TX) $200,000 to plan for the development of a new prototype of a financial aid information system that engages students.

College Success Foundation (Issaquah, WA) $100,000 to build capacity and long-term sustainability of the college access system in Washington state.

Community Partners (Los Angeles, CA) $82,200 to advance Southern California College Access Network’s vision, broaden its impact and ensure the sustainability by engaging strategic stakeholders in the work.

Central Indiana Corporate Partnership Foundation (Indianapolis, IN) $50,000 to support the development of an advanced manufacturing and logistics (AML) curriculum.

Education Policy Improvement Center (Eugene, OR) $200,000 to design, prototype and test a transition management system to help students navigate all levels of the transition into open enrollment institutions.

EducationQuest Foundation (Lincoln, NE) $95,800 to support the development and sustainability of the Panhandle P-16 initiative regional access network.

EduGuide (Lansing, MI) $155,000 to provide an online and mobile platform that enables college access programs to multiply their reach, contact hours, manpower and collaborate impact in a measurable and scalable way.

Council for Opportunity in Education (Washington, DC) $100,000 to plan the first series of Student and World Congresses on international student access to higher education.

Illinois Student Assistance Commission (Deerfield, IL) $100,000 to build the statewide coalition and network capacity to engage policymakers, practitioners and the public in pursuing and achieving Goal 2025.

iMentor (New York, NY) $200,000 to see students across the country paired with mentors who can provide the support they need to graduate from high school, enroll in college, and be successful in today’s workforce.

The Institute for College Access and Success (Oakland, CA) $350,000 to support non-partisan research, analysis, education and outreach to improve financial aid policies and practices that help increase college affordability, college completion and reduce student debt burden.

The Imagine Fund (Lansing, MI) $100,000 to support the development of six College Access Networks that demonstrate collective community impact based on the Strive civic infrastructure framework.

National Council of the Young Men’s Christian Association of the USA (Chicago, IL) $250,900 to support the integration of college access and success within the Young Men’s Christian Association of the USA’s continuum of education achievement programs and activities.

North Carolina Center for Public Policy Research (Raleigh, NC) $245,300 to support policy research and recommendations on issues of college affordability, financial aid and college completion in North Carolina.

Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors, Inc. (New York, NY) $1,560,000 to support state-level K-12 and postsecondary collaboration and alignment on the design and implementation of the Common Core State Standards and assessments.

San Francisco Education Plan (San Francisco, CA) $150,900 to provide all San Francisco public high school students with online access to an interactive college and career platform.

Student Assistance Foundation of Montana (Helena, MT) $98,800 to establish the network management systems and policies needed to achieve long-term sustainability and Goal 2025.

University of South Florida Board of Trustees (Tampa, FL) $100,000 to enhance and maintain the sustainability of the Florida College Access Network.

Success (4 Grants)

Education Commission of the States (Denver, CO) $500,000 to move the states from information sharing and networking to the adoption of proven statewide remedial education policy and practice reforms.

The Links Foundation, Incorporated (Washington DC) $149,400 to increase the number of community college students who transfer to and graduate from Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs).

National Student Clearinghouse (Herndon, VA) $544,300 to enhance student level data to better track postsecondary education outcomes and concurrent enrollments.

The Southern University System Foundation (Baton Rouge, LA) $50,000 to increase the number of African-American males with bachelor’s degrees.

Productivity (3 Grants)

American Association of State Colleges and Universities (Washington, DC) $414,900 to explore the use of the Degree Qualifications Profile to measure and improve student learning at four-year universities.

American Historical Association (Washington, DC) $817,200 to apply the Tuning process to the discipline of history.

The Board of Control for Southern Regional Education (Atlanta, GA) $486,000 to assist states and systems in developing and implementing policies with potential to help educate more students.

Merisotis on Lumina’s productivity work and the DQP

matthew — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 21:08:52 +0000

Lumina President Jamie Merisotis speaks to Radio Higher Ed, a podcast series featuring higher ed policy leaders about Lumina’s productivity agenda and on building public will for the big goal.

Download audio file (RadioHigherEd002F.mp3)

Quality Counts 2012

cammi — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 16:12:59 +0000

A well-educated workforce is widely viewed as the path to economic stability and competitiveness, yet new findings from this report show the United States struggling to deliver a high-quality education to all students. The report, from Education Week, examines how other nations get students ready for life after high school, plus the challenges U.S. policymakers face in improving American education for the demands of a 21st century workforce. More »

State High School Tests: Changes in State Policies and the Impact of the College and Career Readiness Movement

cammi — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 16:10:37 +0000

Fewer students are required to pass exit exams to graduate from high school today, but more states are administering college and career readiness exams and adopting new assessments based on the Common Core State Standards, according to this annual report from the Center on Education Policy. This publication provides state profiles of trends in high school testing, exit exams, college entrance exam policies, and college- and career-readiness assessments. More »

Western Policy Exchanges: The College Access Challenge Grant Program

cammi — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 16:07:02 +0000

This policy brief from the Western Interstate Policy Commission assesses ideas and practices that states in WICHE’s College Access Challenge Grant Network are using to increase the number of low-income students who enroll and succeed in higher education. This brief focuses on state partnerships, FAFSA completion programs, peer mentoring, and need-based financial aid. More »

Benchmarking Trends in Education Philanthropy in 2011

cammi — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 15:45:03 +0000

College and career readiness remains a top priority for education grant makers. According to this report, from Grantmakers for Education, nearly 70 percent of grant makers made “major investments” in this area in 2011. More »

Hard Times: Not All College Degrees Are Created Equal

cammi — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 15:37:25 +0000

College is still worth the investment, but employment opportunities depend on a student’s major, concludes this report from the Georgetown Center on Education and the Workforce.

The Role of Minority-Serving Institutions in National College Completion Goals

cammi — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 15:33:58 +0000

Minority-Serving Institutions have become leaders in educating, serving, and graduating low-income, first-generation, and minority students and, therefore, play a central role in improving U.S. college completion rates, contends this report from the Institute for Higher Education Policy. The publication is the first in a series of reports from Lumina’s MSI Models of Success program. More »