基本説明
Explores the reforms that American higher education must pursue to recover a position of international leadership in higher education, as well as the obstacles to those reforms.
Full Description
The United States, long considered to have the best higher education in the world, now ranks eleventh in the proportion of 25- to 34-year-olds with a college degree. As other countries have made dramatic gains in degree attainment, the U.S. has improved more slowly. In response, President Obama recently laid out a national "completion agenda" with the goal of making the U.S. the best-educated nation in the world by the year 2020. "Getting to Graduation" explores the reforms that we must pursue to recover a position of international leadership in higher education as well as the obstacles to those reforms. This new completion agenda puts increased pressure on institutions to promote student success and improve institutional productivity in a time of declining public revenue. In this volume, scholars of higher education and public policymakers describe promising directions for reform. They argue that it is essential to redefine postsecondary education and to consider a broader range of learning opportunities - beyond the research university and traditional bachelor degree programs-to include community colleges, occupational certificate programs, and apprenticeships.
The authors also emphasize the need to rethink policies governing financial aid, remediation, and institutional funding to promote degree completion.
Contents
Preface
Introduction
Part I: The Challenges
Chapter 1. Increasing Higher Education Attainment in the United States: Challenges and Opportunities
Chapter 2. Graduation Rates at America's Universities: What We Know and What We Need to Know
Part II: The Performance and Potential of Sub-Baccalaureate Programs
Chapter 3. Can Community Colleges Achieve Ambitious Graduation Goals?
Chapter 4. Certificate Pathways to Postsecondary Success and Good Jobs
Chapter 5. Apprenticeships as an Alternative Route to Skills and Credentials
Part III: The Relationship between Policy and Completion
Chapter 6. Financial Aid: A Blunt Instrument for Increasing Degree Attainment
Chapter 7. Remediation: The Challenges of Helping Underprepared Students
Chapter 8. Equalizing Credits and Rewarding Skills: Credit Portability and Bachelor's Degree Attainment
Part IV: The Lessons from Three States
Chapter 9. The Challenge of Scaling Successful Policy Innovations: A Case Study of Three Colorado Community College System Grants
Chapter 10. Efforts to Improve Productivity: The Impact of Higher Education Reform in Texas
Chapter 11. The Ohio Experience with Outcomes-Based Funding
Conclusion
List of Contributors
Index
