Unlocking the Nation’s Potential

A Model to Advance Quality and Equity in Education Beyond High School

September 9, 2019

Profound changes in the economy, in society, and in educational systems and institutions require equally profound changes in the way we regulate the sector and assess the quality of college degrees and other credentials earned after high school. This report, which aims to be at least a first step in that change effort, proposes three specific, synchronized steps.

Quality Assurance slides

A Convening to Explore Quality and Equity in the New Credentialing Landscape

September 9, 2019

September 11-12, 2019 Fairmont Hotel, Dallas, Texas

Federal Policies Should Emphasize Quality and Equitable Outcomes for Incarcerated Learners

Federal policy 1-pager

August 27, 2019

Lumina Foundation believes high-quality education and training after high school should be available, affordable, and accessible to all — and that it should lead to further education and to good-paying jobs. Our commitment is motivated by a desire to use education to empower people who face longstanding, structural barriers, and we emphasize that commitment for people who have been affected by the nation’s justice system.

Community College Career Education

Scaling a New Approach

July 10, 2019

A new landscape is emerging at community colleges across the country – a new approach that puts preparing students for the workforce at the center of the college’s mission and culture.

Learning Frameworks

Tools for Building a Better Educational Experience

June 19, 2019

Learning frameworks define what an individual learner can do by detailing the application of knowledge in various contexts—education, military, and employment. This paper outlines the roles that learning frameworks play in the emerging ecosystem of connected learning—why they matter and how they can bring disparate pieces of the learning ecosystem together for greater portability and documentation of learning in all the places it unfolds. The paper concludes with a focus on technological innovations as a source of future directions for learning frameworks connectivity.

Moving From the Legacy Student Hour Toward a Comprehensive Measure of Student Learning

Examining Benefits of a Competency-Based Taxonomy of Learning

May 30, 2019

This publication examines current challenges with the articulation of learning and argues that a new means of articulating learning is necessary. Specifically, drawbacks and inefficiencies developed to accommodate the credit hour measure of student learning are examined. As an alternative, a new competency-based measure of learning is proposed.

Quality Assurance and Improvement in Higher Education

The Role of the States

May 21, 2019

States play a fundamental role in higher education, protecting both the investment of state dollars and their citizens as their consumers. Despite this central responsibility, many states struggle with how they might help ensure students are receiving a quality educational experience.

Talent, Innovation, and Equity (TIE) States

One pager on being a Lumina TIE state

April 23, 2019

Strategy Labs, Lumina Foundation’s platform for supporting state policy and leadership to increase postsecondary attainment, has expanded its suite of services to recognize and facilitate progress in committed states—referred to as the Talent, Innovation and Equity (TIE) States—that have demonstrated a commitment to improve higher education attainment for students of color. As its Strategic Plan for 2017- 2020 states, Lumina Foundation “recognizes that the 2025 goal will remain out of reach unless postsecondary attainment among African-Americans, Hispanics, and American Indians increases significantly.”

Focus Magazine, Summer 2019: Cutting-edge-ucators

Dedicated disrupters find innovative ways to offer college-level learning

March 29, 2019

America’s most agile, innovative, and entrepreneurial minds are working to redefine “college” and create new ways to deliver vital learning to millions more Americans. This issue of Focus magazine will introduce you to just a few of these educational innovators.

The Learner Revolution: How Colleges Can Thrive in a New Skills and Competencies Marketplace

Reflections from five years of applied human-centered design at 100+ institutions

March 14, 2019

Higher education is in the throes of a learner revolution that will fundamentally change the way students and institutions interact. Work-relevant skills and competencies should be at the center of institutional leaders’ plans as they strive to meet students’ expectations, says this report. The report includes five models that traditional institutions can use to meet the changing demands of today’s learners.

Older Resources