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Lumina supports programs that advance the "Big Goal " of increasing the share of Americans with high-quality postsecondary degrees and credentials to 60 percent by 2025. Our partners in higher education, public policy and the business community focus on scalable models that can accelerate progress toward the Big Goal and ensure three critical outcomes: college preparation, college success and productivity in higher education. High-quality and relevant degrees are essential to these three critical outcomes to support workforce effectiveness, social prosperity and civic health.

This month, we highlight one effort to build on existing learning outcomes efforts, drawing on the best lessons from the United States and other countries.

Tuning USA |   The 'relevant' college degree
Tuning USA is a faculty-led pilot project aimed at defining what students must know, understand and be able to demonstrate upon degree completion. Tuning USA methodology is based on similar work to increase the transparency around what a degree represents under Europe's Bologna Process. This video shows how the Tuning process can make a college degree more relevant for students, academics, and employers. Learn more by listening to our podcasts on Tuning.

3 critical outcomes lead to achievement of the big goal.

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

Success Higher education attainment rates are improved significantly.

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

 
Access | Shortchanging poor, minorities
Opportunity Adrift: Our Flagship Universities Are Straying From Their Public Mission, from The Education Trust makes the case that leading public universities are failing at enrolling and developing students from low-income families and underrepresented minority groups. The report finds that overall flagships direct financial aid to wealthy students who can afford the cost of a public school while many high-achieving minority and poor students wind up at lesser institutions or do not attend college at all.

Data | Year 13: information critical 
High schools must ramp up their efforts to track how graduates perform in their first year of college, says  The Promise of Proficiency from the Center for American Progress and College Summit . Without such data and information, the report concludes that high schools are left to rely on anecdotes and guesswork.

Alignment  | The college-readiness divide
Many states have developed P-16 councils, but most do not move beyond the initial stages of dialogue to build effective statewide college-readiness initiatives. States, Schools, And Colleges: Policies to Improve Student Readiness for College and Strengthen Coordination Between Schools and Colleges, from the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education, outlines specific elements and actions for states to consider as they implement systemic college-readiness strategies.

Attainment Gap | Why some Latinos forego college
Latinos value family and financial commitments. These values also may dissuade some young Latinos from pursuing a college degree. Latinos and Education: Explaining the Attainment Gap , from the Pew Hispanic Center, finds that among Latino youths who have a high school education or less and are not currently enrolled in school, 74 percent say they need to help support their family and, therefore, do not continue their education.  
 
Policy | Making the case for workforce alignment
Revving the Education Engine , from the Education Commission of the States, calls on education, policy and workforce leaders to re-examine how they leverage public investments in education to support state and regional economic and workforce goals. The report includes examples of promising policies and programs that help states align higher education as the arbiter of student supply and workforce demand.

Preparation | Success at every step
Success at Every Step: How 23 Programs Support Youth on the Path to College and Beyond from The American Youth Policy Forum, examines school reform initiatives, access programs, and work-based learning opportunities that help students complete high school and prepare for college and careers. The report also makes recommendations on how policymakers can support college- and career-readiness efforts.


Student success | A financial struggle to finish
The No. 1 reason many young adults drop out of college is an inability to juggle school, work and basic living expenses, according to With Their Whole Lives Ahead of Them  from Public Agenda. The report provides suggestions that can make it easier for working students to complete college, including allowing part-time students to receive financial aid and scheduling more classes on nights and weekends.

Degree completion | Juggling work and college 
Community college students are working too many hours at the expense of academic success, according to Working Too Hard to Make the Grade from CALPIRG. Among the report's findings: Students work an average of 23 hours per week to cover college costs, while existing financial aid resources are underutilized.

Attainment | Study examines barriers to transfer
Financial, social, academic and institutional factors often prevent community college students from transferring to four-year institutions. Bridging the Gaps to Success: Promising Practices for Promoting Transfer Among Low-Income and First-Generation Students shows how six Texas community colleges are reversing this trend.

Degree completion | Promoting Latino graduation
Increasing college completion rates of Latinos is key to achieving the nation's education attainment goals. Taking Stock: Higher Education and Latinos, from Excelencia in Education examines the current higher education state of Latinos and suggests changes to successfully produce more graduates who can meet the country's growing workforce demands. Also, listen to our latest podcasts with Sarita Brown from Exelencia in Education and Richard Jarvis from the University of Texas at El Paso.

Equity | The college-achievement gap 
A new report on how low-income and minority students fare in higher education shows a wide gap in graduation rates at public four-year colleges and alarming success disparities at two-year institutions. Charting a Necessary Path lays the groundwork to assess progress under the Access to Success Initiative, an reduce the gaps between college enrollment and completion for low-income and minority students by 2015.


Workforce development | Study: Worker retraining works
The majority of individuals who completed job retraining during the first 18 months of Michigan's No Worker Left Behind program either kept their jobs or secured new employment, according to a state review. No Worker Left Behind offers up to $10,000 over two years to workers who attend community colleges or other training programs. Read Michigan's No Worker Left Behind - Outcomes for First 18 Months.

Engagement | Investment vs. outcomes
In a time of constrained resources with a growing sense of urgency to educate a larger share of the U.S. population, colleges and universities need better ways to document the cost-effectiveness of student success programs in relation to outcomes. Calculating Cost-Return for Investments in Student Success introduces a calculation tool to help campus and program administrators compare the costs of student success programs to the programs' impact on student retention.

Accountability | Impact of new GI Bill
Demand for Post-9/11 GI Bill benefits has been unprecedented. Meanwhile, a backlog of claims and outmoded technology hinder the program's implementation and are delaying payments to some veteran students, says Implementing the Post-9/11 GI Bill: Lessons Learned and Emerging Issues, from the American Association of State Colleges and Universities.
 
Research | Assessment: Then & now
Many of the same issues that defined the accountability and assessment movement of the 1980s still exist today, according to Assessment, Accountability, and Improvement: Revisiting the Tension . The report, from the National Institute for Learning Outcomes Assessment, offers insight on what institutions should do to productively manage these tensions in terms of documenting, reporting and using what students have learned and can demonstrate as a result of their college experience.

news Lumina announces board chair-elect Dr. Marie V. McDemmond will assume the role of Chair of the Board for Lumina Foundation at its annual meeting of the directors in March 2010. more » Faster FAFSA For 20 million students who submit the FAFSA every year, applying for financial aid just got easier. The 2010-11 FAFSA-on-the-Web is streamlined to be shorter, simpler, and more user-friendly. more » Foundation's ex-CEO to lead Achieving the Dream William Trueheart, former president and CEO of The Pittsburgh Foundation, has been selected as CEO of Achieving the Dream: Community Colleges Count. more » Improving education: What works The National Conference of State Legislatures will hold its 18th annual National Education　Seminar in New York City on March 12-14. more »

data points College enrollment at all-time high Some 11.5 million students, or 39.6 percent, of all young adults ages 18 to 24 were enrolled in either a two- or four-year college in October 2008, up from 38.8 percent that same month in 2007. Source:  Pew Research Center » Latino males and higher education Despite significant increases in the numbers of Hispanic students entering four-year institutions, the proportion of Latino males relative to Latinas declined from 57.4 percent in 1975 to 39.2 percent in 2006. Source: Advancing in Higher Education: A Portrait of Latino/a College Freshmen at Four-Year Institutions, 1975-2006 » No reader left behind During the first nine months of 2009, 1.4 percent of national news coverage from television, newspapers, news Web sites, and radio dealt with education. A total of 2.9 percent was devoted to two-year institutions, compared to 12.5 percent for colleges and 14.5 percent for universities. Source: Invisible:1.4 Percent Coverage For Education Is Not Enough »