First and foremost, I hope you like the new Updates from The SOURCE. In addition to making this eNewsletter more graphically pleasing, I closely vetted all the links in order to provide a much tighter list of valid, timely, informative and free resources available online. Links to articles or reports that are not available for free are not listed here. I also added abstracts to every posting, making it easier for readers to choose which links they may want to click on.

This is the new format that you will continue to see every two weeks. Next issue is Dec. 11, followed by the start of Volume 2 on Jan. 1, 2012. 

As in the past, all the resources linked to here have also been added to The SOURCE website, where everything related to The SOURCE [as noted in the left column] resides online.

Finally, please feel free to contact me anytime.

Sincerely,

George Lorenzo, Editor
The SOURCE on Community College Issues, Trends & Strategies
10859 Main St.
Clarence, NY 14031
716.759.1140
[email protected]   

News:

11/23/2011: GAO Takes Another Crack, by Paul Fain, Inside Higher Ed - The findings were mixed [see For Profit Schools link below], but investigators uncovered problems with how seven of the colleges handled online course grading, academic dishonesty, or students' exit counseling. 

 

11/22/2011: Undercover Probe Finds Lax Academic Standards at Some For-Profit Colleges, by Kelly Field, The Chronicle of Higher Education - The probe, which is described in a report [see For Profit Schools link below] made public Tuesday, found that staff at six of the 12 colleges that enrolled the investigators tolerated plagiarism or awarded credit for incomplete or shoddy work.

     

11/22/2011: Commercial Colleges Broker Rules in U.S. Inquiry,  by Tamar Lewin, The New York Times - Most of the commercial colleges tested by undercover investigators posing as students allowed them to enroll with fake high school graduation credentials, according to a report [see For Profit Schools link below] released Tuesday by the Government Accountability Office.

11/18/2011: Stanford Opens Ten New Online Courses for Enrollment (Free), by Dan Colman, Open Culture - This fall, Stanford launched three of its most popular computer science courses and made them freely available to the world. Starting in January and February 2012, Stanford will offer seven new courses.  

 

Reports & Articles:

 
11/17/2011: Fostering Student Engagement Campuswide-Annual Results 2011, National Survey of Student Engagement - Details results from a 2011 survey of 416,000 first-year students and seniors attending 673 U.S. colleges and universities. The report's theme illustrates the value of connecting student engagement results to specific campus programs and units to encourage greater collaboration to improve the quality of the undergraduate experience.

11/16/2011: Second Annual Pearson Foundation Community College Survey - Identifies factors that contribute to success, and explores how technology is being used by this group of students.

11/2001: SREB Fact Book on Higher Education, 2011, by SREB - Includes data on the population and economy, enrollment, degrees, student tuition and financial aid, faculty and administrators, revenue and expenditures.

11/2011: Benchmarks: WICHE Region 2011, by WICHE - Presents information on the West's progress in improving access to, success in, and financing of higher education.


11/23/2011: The Dwindling Power of a College Degree, by Adam Davidson, New York Times - These days, many workers have lost a near guarantee on a decent wage and benefits - and their careers are likely to have much more volatility (great years; bad years; confusing, mediocre years) than their parents' ever did. So when did the rules change?

11/21/2011: Most Two-Year Students Quit, by Joseph De Avila, The Wall Street Journal - Too many City University of New York community college students drop out before graduating, squandering the system's resources as enrollment soars.

11/20/2011: Task Force Targets Low Community College Grad Rates, by Susan Voyles, RGJ.com - Graduation rates in Nevada show that less than 25 percent among first-time, full-time degree-seeking students earn an associate degree in three years.

11/19/2011: Survey Finds Ethnic Divide Among Voters on Dream Act, by Larry Gordon, Los Angeles Times - Fifty-five percent of the voters questioned said they oppose the California DREAM Act.

11/18/2011: Older, Suburban and Struggling, 'Near Poor' Startle the Census, by Jason DeParle, Robert Gebeloff, and Sabrina Tavernise, New York Times - Down but not quite out, these Americans form a diverse group sometimes called "near poor" and sometimes simply overlooked - and a new count suggests they are far more numerous than previously understood.

11/18/2011: Raising the Bar on Quality Assurance, by Doug Lederman, Inside Higher Ed - The idea that regional accrediting agencies would appear to be competing over which can more aggressively prove that the colleges they oversee give students a quality education would have seemed farfetched a few years ago.

11/17/2011: Occupation Fatigue, by Paul Fain, Inside Higher Ed - Move over Berkeley and Harvard; Seattle Central Community College has become an increasingly high-profile and tense campus home for the Occupy movement.
 
11/07/2011: Latino Student Success: A Key Driver on the Road to Goal 2025, Lumina Foundation - Lumina Foundation launches a collaborative partnership designed to strengthen ventures in key metropolitan areas that show promise in improving the postsecondary attainment of Latino students.

News:

11/22/2011: An Entrepreneur's Take on Job Skills, by Madeline Patton, Community College Times - Mary Pay Moyer outlined the skills that she would like community colleges to teach, ranging from good laboratory and manufacturing practices, to honesty and timeliness.

Reports & Articles:

11/2011: The Case for Community Colleges: Aligning Higher Education and Workforce Needs in Massachusetts, by Julian L. Alssid, Melissa Goldberg and John Schneider, The Boston Foundation - In response to a continuing and growing concern about the mismatch between the middle-skilled jobs that are going unfilled in the Massachusetts economy and the opportunities offered by higher education to prepare workers.

Learn & Earn Section

Reports & Articles:

11/22/2011: Put Poor Students to Work, by Laurie Fendrich, The Chronicle of Higher Education, Brainstorm -  Mr. Gingrich's plan, although morally and economically sound, unfortunately doesn't go far enough.