Blogs
Progress and the Path Forward: Lessons from the Boosting College Completion Project
For the last two years, the Boosting College Completion project has visited state legislatures, created online state profiles, and invited legislative education committee chairs to ECS’ biannual meetings. Project staff gathered lessons learned from these interactions, finally narrowing the list to 10. The Must Knows The college completion agenda resonates with legislators, but not as much as related workforce alignment messages. Degrees and certificates matter, but their translation to family-sustaining jobs matters even more. Now more...
read moreSustaining College Completion Efforts: The Role of Implementation and Evaluation
The primary goal of the Boosting College Completion project was to move legislators from awareness to action on completion and workforce alignment issues. The project facilitated the development of effective completion policies by engaging with legislative education and higher education chairs. Our interactions and related policy analysis suggested that effective policies provide: (1) A clear rationale or set of state goals (2) Specific programs and strategies for implementation, and (3) Evaluation structures to measure policy and program...
read moreLeading with Purpose: Committing to a Long-Term Postsecondary Strategy
Building Knowledge and Finding Consensus Key to Reform State legislatures and governors often have the authority to set policies without the consultation of postsecondary institutions. Unilateral approaches, however, can lead to impulsive policymaking and haphazard implementation. Missouri and Virginia have avoided this pitfall by choosing a collaborative and deliberative model, where they consulted the data, research-based evidence, and out-of-state experts to craft a clear and sustainable strategy for advancing state economic development...
read moreIn Search of…Technology Game Changers
For many years policymakers and practitioners have heard of the promise of technology as a means of solving many of our greatest challenges, yet we still do not know the full potential of technology. Josh Jarrett, Deputy Director of Postsecondary Success for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, sees clear opportunities on the horizon for adopting large-scale technological solutions for persistent postsecondary education challenges. In remarks presented at the Boosting College Completion Legislative workshop, Jarrett offered four game...
read moreTen Emerging Trends from the 2012 Legislative Session
What’s Inside? ECS’ Boosting College Completion project produced an Emerging Trends document, which surfaces ten legislative trends from this year. While legislatures covered a wide array of issues, most of the trends include a prominent workforce element. Even issues appearing peripheral to workforce development, such as increased scrutiny of for-profit institutions and expanded use of competitive grants, have a substantial workforce basis. Browsing the document, you will find an explanation of specific trends, the states enacting...
read morePolicy Blog: The Certificate Solution?
Trends in Postsecondary Certificates Certificates result from completion of a compressed program of study, usually in a specific occupational field. They are distinct from certifications, which result from adults demonstrating mastery of career skills through an industry-recognized assessment. A recent report by the Georgetown Center on Education and the Workforce, Certificates: Gateway to Gainful Employment and College Degrees, surfaced several trends related to certificates: On average, certificate holders earn 20% more than workers with...
read moreMaking Financial Aid Work for Students and States
This is the first blog in a three-part series regarding career readiness after college. The combined unemployment and underemployment rate for recent college graduates was more than 28% between April 2011 and March 2012, despite well-established data demonstrating the benefits of completing a college degree. State policymakers can mitigate this structural and economic problem by encouraging stronger alignment between degree production and workforce needs. A three-part blog series will explore policy options that states and institutions could...
read moreAre Community Colleges Giving Taxpayers a Bang for Their Buck?
Guest blogger Clive Belfield with the Community College Research Center examines the efficiency and return on investment of community colleges. Community colleges are under pressure — critics cite low graduation rates as the ultimate evidence that these colleges are failing our students and bilking taxpayers. But this is wrong. Community colleges are efficient in the most important economic sense of the word: they take in inputs (students) and produce an output (educated persons) that is worth more than they spend. In a recent working...
read morePolicy Blog: Veterans’ Education – The Legislative Role
Creating a Course to Completion Many postsecondary institutions have taken steps to make their campuses more ‘veteran-friendly.’ The changes run the gamut, but the three major areas involve college credit for military service, financial assistance for veterans and their families, and tailored student supports and advisement services. State legislatures that have enacted veterans’ education policies have filled two roles. The first role involves refereeing institutions to make sure they adopt effective, evidence-based practices. The...
read moreColorado Moves Ahead in Reforming Remediation to Increase Completion Rates
Colorado thrust itself into the forefront of developmental education reform with the passage of new legislation that embraces current research and practice on how to increase the college attainment rate of students who have traditionally been placed into remediation. House Bill 1155, sponsored by Rep. Tom Massey, the chair of the House Education Committee, includes the following provisions related to remedial education: Multiple measures for remedial placement Differentiated math requirements Supplemental academic instruction. The individual...
read morePolicy Blog: Workforce Alignment
What Is Workforce Alignment? Up until recently, workforce alignment was seen as a local effort to bridge the gap between postsecondary supply and labor market demand. Today, policymakers are adopting this model on a statewide scale, hoping to recapture system efficiencies and sustain long-term economic growth. What Are States Doing? States have set the groundwork for workforce alignment through: Examining workforce trends and measuring system and institutional capacity Exploring ways to tailor state investments to workforce needs Engaging...
read morePolicy Blog: Hedging Bets and Managing Risk
Legislators are Money Managers Each legislative session, policymakers choose from several promising strategies, with the final investment decision having implications for educational and economic growth. While the sure bet does not exist in postsecondary education, state policymakers can insulate their investments from risk by leveraging nonfinancial tools. The foremost levers are legislative authority in three areas: evaluation and oversight; adoption of technical program changes; and, most importantly, power to discontinue ineffective...
read morePolicy Blog Series: Transferring Focus?
When states consider strategies to increase college attainment, do student transfer issues figure prominently? Are legislatures developing and adapting transfer policies to improve student mobility and degree attainment? A recent scan of 2011 policies suggests that legislatures are using student transfer not just as a narrow mechanism, but as a strategy to address broader state education and workforce goals. 2011 Trends in Transfer Sixteen states enacted 23 policies in 2011 related to articulation agreements, career pathways and student...
read moreCalifornia and Texas: Big States, Big Plans
Task forces at the California Community College System and the University of Texas at Austin issued reports that could overhaul their policies, practices and priorities in an effort to increase graduation rates. The recommendations in both reports could have far-reaching implications for campuses across the country. California Community Colleges’ Student Success Task Force grew out of Senate Bill 1143 (2010), which recognized the important role of the state’s two-year institutions but also noted that only 24% of degree-seeking students...
read moreBCC Webinar on Postsecondary Funding — Register Today!
Join Matthew Smith of the Education Commission of the States for a webinar entitled: Legislative Efforts to Increase College Completion Through Finance Reform. The session will explore: Recent policy enactments related to postsecondary finance Funding trends to watch for in 2012 and beyond How funding models can help achieve state strategic goals Potential next steps for legislators and their staff The webinar will be held on Wednesday, January 25 from 1:00 – 2:00 pm EST. Click on this link to...
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