Lumina’s big goal calls for increasing the proportion of
Americans with high-quality degrees and credentials
to 60 percent by the year 2025. To meet this goal,
the nation must increase the number of degree-seeking
adults.
Lumina Focus Magazine | Adult education comes of ageU. S. adult learners total 6.8 million and account for as much as 70 percent of college enrollment. At the same time, these students drop out of college at a higher rate, 39 percent versus their full-time traditional counterparts at 18 percent. Lumina Foundation Focus magazine’s ‘
Adult ed’ grows up examines reform efforts to increase the number of adults with high-quality degrees.
Adult learners | When working adults go back to school
Lumina’s Dewayne Matthews speaks with Brian Bosworth, president of FutureWorks, about the challenges non-traditional, working adults encounter in their pursuit of higher education. Listen to the podcast.
Preparation |
GI Bill expands college access for vets
A flood of service men and women are trading in their uniforms for a college degree. As of Aug. 1, many Afghanistan and Iraq veterans became eligible for additional higher education benefits under the post-9/11 GI Bill. The expanded benefits also bring a new set of challenges for many postsecondary institutions, as they try to cater to veterans’ unique needs.
Read more and review From Soldier to Student, a new report from the American Council Education that examines on-campus veterans programs.
Access | More adults taking GED test
Higher skilled, higher demand jobs have prompted more adults to take the GED test, according to a report from the American Council on Education
. Nationwide, 777,000 adults took the GED in 2008, a 7-percent increase over the previous year. In 22 states, the percent increase rose more than 10 percent, while in Louisiana and New Hampshire, GED testing increased by 40 percent.
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critical outcomes
lead to achievement
of the big goal. | |
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Preparation |
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Students are prepared academically, financially and socially for success in education beyond high school. |
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Success |
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Higher education attainment rates are improved significantly. |
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Productivity |
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Higher education productivity is increased to expand capacity and serve more students. |
College Readiness | ACT results show slight increase
The percentage of U.S. high school graduates meeting all four of ACT’s
College Readiness Benchmarks increased slightly in 2009. At the same time, the pool of students taking the ACT continued to expand. The signs are encouraging, but the data shows schools must do more to ensure that all high school graduates are ready for college.
Information & Encouragement | Parents and student success
The beliefs of parents of low-income eighth graders about higher education and financial aid help shape their children’s future college aspirations and serve as a key predictor of whether these children eventually enroll in college, says a study by Deborah M. Warnock, a sociologist at the University of Washington. Findings from Inequalities at the Outset
suggest that public information campaigns about financial aid need to begin well before students reach high school.
Equity | Ensuring college readiness for allWhen low-income and working-class families of color recently gathered at a San Francisco Unified School District board meeting, they told school leaders that college and career paths should be for everyone, not just a select few. Their unified message of educational equity gave way to the board’s approval of ”
College and Career Ready for All,” a policy directive to align high school graduation requirements with the University of California A-G course sequence. The mandate also could boost graduation rates among minorities who are underrepresented in graduating classes.
Public Policy | Pilot program boosts AP success
Research indicates that students who score well on Advancement Placement exams may be more likely to persist and earn a degree in college. A recent pilot effort to expand AP programs resulted in a 65-percent increase in student enrollment in introductory college-level courses and an even bigger increase among minority students. Read the results of the pilot in
Raising Rigor, Getting Results from National Governors Association.
Student Success | Pell Grant recipientFor many students, the Pell Grants program serves as an economic lifeline to higher education opportunities. Nearly 40 percent of students who completed a bachelor’s degree in 2000 received some financial assistance through Pell Grants, according to a new
NCES study. Findings show that when controlling for parents’ education, undergraduate risk characteristics and transfer history, recipients had a shorter time-to-degree than non recipients. Read A Profile of Successful Pell Grant Recipients: Time to Bachelor’s Degree and Early Graduate School Enrollment.
Non-Traditional Students | A changed higher ed landscapeNontraditional students, including first-generation students, older adults and ethnically diverse students, are the new majority on college campuses. The group of minority students with the largest increase in college enrollment
-300 percent from 1980 to 2007
-is Hispanics. College presidents of 12 Hispanic-Serving Institutions share their strategies for meeting the needs of this new student population in Leading in a Changing America: Presidential Perspectives from Hispanic-Serving Institutions, from
Excelencia in Education.
Persistence | On track to complete? Not all students who enter community college set out to complete a formal program of study. A new NCES
study analyzes outcomes for beginning community college students according to how “directed” they are toward completing a program of study. The study shows that levels of direction may factor in student persistence and degree attainment.
Engagement | College success factors for first-generation students
Many first-generation students who begin their postsecondary education at a four-year institution are at risk of leaving without a degree or “reverse transferring” to a two-year college. According to a working paper titled Institutional Transfer and Management of Risk in Higher Education
, the strongest indicator of transfer status is a student’s ability to access key supports such as guidance, financial help, and goal setting.
Accountability | Higher education performance measured
What students know when they graduate from college and the value that knowledge offers to a state is of increasing interest to policymakers. A study from the Delta Cost Project shows how public colleges use available resources to produce graduates with credentials that are valued in their employment markets. Results are compared across states. Read
The Dreaded P Word: An Examination of Productivity in Public Postsecondary Education.
Learning Outcomes | A different twist on rankings
While sometimes controversial, higher education ranking systems can be a powerful incentive to drive change and improve the quality of postsecondary institutions.
WhatWillTheyLearn.com, from the American Council of Trustees and Alumni
, is a new Web site that offers a different twist on rankings by “grading” universities on education versus reputation. Focusing on what students will learn, the site and an accompanying report assign five schools with an average tuition of $5,400 a grade of “A.” Twenty-five institutions with an average tuition of $33,000 received an “F.”
Adult Learners | Site provides adults with online
learning options
College Choices for Adults, from WCET and the Transparency by Design
initiative, provides adult learners with tangible data about 12 online colleges, including information on what students are supposed to learn in the colleges’ specific fields of study and measures of whether they did. Future enhancements to the Web site include data about student progress rates, student satisfaction, and general education learning outcomes.
news
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Goal 2025 & ultra-transparency
In a posting on the Communications Network blog, Bruce S. Trachtenberg
comments on the “openness” of the communications strategy for Lumina Foundation’s Goal 2025. more »
Prosperous nation is an educated nation, says VP
During a recent speech in Chicago, Vice President Joe Biden credits educational attainment as responsible for 58 percent of any city’s success (as measured by per capita income). “A 1 percent increase in the number of Chicago residents earning a college degree will produce $7.2 billion to the local economy,” Biden said. Watch the video from CEOs in the Cities.
more »
Merisotis on death of Sen. Kennedy
Lumina’s president and CEO, Jamie Merisotis reflects on the work of Senator Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts. more
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