Updates from The SOURCE on Community College  
Issues, Trends & Strategies     

 

Published by
The Roueche Graduate Center, National American University   
in partnership with Lorenzo Associates, Inc.
 
"Great artists suffer for the people."  -Marvin Gaye           
VOLUME 5, ISSUE 16 - September 20, 2015 
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Miscellaneous
09/09/2015: Public Good-byes, by Colleen Flaherty, Inside Higher Ed - "It all began to fall apart." First there was the "sniping" from peers and administrators, he says, including critiques that he was too casual and calm for someone on the tenure track. Then there were "official pushback and politics," he says, such as criticism for performing public outreach by publishing in popular magazines such as The Atlantic. Finally, he says, recalling a student who was watching old episodes of Breaking Bad instead of listening to a relatively dynamic lecture, "I realized not even the students were too invested."

09/08/2015: Utah Education Leaders Consider Competency, by Tom Vander Ark, Education Week - Utah legislators, state board members, K-12 and higher education leaders convened for a Joint Education Conference on the beautiful campus of Southern Utah University to discuss competency-based education as well as plan overall next steps for Utah's K-20 education system. The two day meeting covered an interesting combination of proposals for both system improvement and innovation.

09/08/2015: On Non-Traditional College Students, Libraries and "Family Space", by Danielle Cooper, Ithaka S+R - "Adult learners" have particular characteristics including lack of technological skills and heightened anxiety around accessing library services. Services and outreach models can also be re-framed so that non-traditional students feel like the library is also for them, whether it is by extending library orientation beyond freshmen cohorts or choosing more diverse images of students on library promotional materials.

09/08/2015: Vocational Programs Cost More, by Matt Reed, Inside Higher Ed - Expanding vocational programs is a great idea, in many ways, but it's not a way to reduce educational costs.

09/07/2015: College Degree Categories Not in Step With Demand in Certain Industries, Cleveland.com - While the demand for educated labor continues to increase in the United States, new research from CareerBuilder and Economic Modeling Specialists Intl (EMSI) suggests the supply of qualified candidates may not be keeping up with demand for certain professions.

09/05/2015: Why I Don't Really Care Where You Went to School, by Elliot S. Weissbluth, HuffPost, Business - If you went to one, good for you. Good grades don't predict success. Less than a third of the top 100 Fortune 500 CEOs went to an Ivy League school. I would much rather work with a curious, passionate person who went to a second- or third-tier university than someone who lacks those qualities but has a prestigious institution on his or her diploma.

08/27/2015: These 10 Trends are Shaping the Future of Education, by Roger Riddell, EducationDive - From alternative credentialing and changing demographics to testing concerns and the rise of STEM, here are 10 trends currently shaping the future of education.

08/27/2015: Report Identifies Barriers to Adopting Alternative Credentials, by Rhea Kelly, Campus Technology - Despite the growing prominence of alternative credentials such as certificates, digital badges and endorsements, many institutions lack the strategic framework to define their value, according to higher education research and advisory firm Eduventures.

To view our entire Miscellaneous Resources section, click here.
Statistics
09/09/2015: The Online College Revolution, College Choice - This infographic highlights data related to the growth of online learning. Online learning has already disrupted higher education, as more and more colleges react to student demand by offering classes online. And as our technological capacity expands and classes get better and better, there's no reason to see the online college revolution as a temporary one.

To view our entire Statistics-Oriented Resources section, click here.
Online Education
09/08/2015: Will Future Global Development Education Be Short and Online?, by Kelli Rogers, Devex - Startups like TechChange, a social enterprise that provides courses on the use of technology in addressing social and global challenges, along with established institutions like Massachusetts' Clark University or the U.K.'s distance learning focused Open University are beefing up both their short-term and online learning options. Last week's newly launched Philanthropy University, meanwhile, is offering its online classroom for free to students around the world who wish to do social good.

09/2015: Using Online Learning for Credit Recovery: Getting Back on Track to Graduation, by Allison Powell, Verena Roberts, and Susan Patrick, International Association for K-12 Online Learning (iNACOL) - At the heart of the issue, when students have gaps in learning, competency-based education approaches can let kids focus in more closely on where there are gaps in learning, rather than waiting until students have to catch up by re-enrolling in entire credits.

08/29/2015: The Top 10 TED Talks For eLearning Professionals, by Christopher Pappas, eLearning Industry - Exploring a learning topic from a whole new perspective is a rare opportunity. Each video features stories, tips, and helpful insights that you won't find elsewhere, all packed into an 18 minute time limit. Here are the top 10 TED talks that eLearning professionals won't want to miss!

To view our entire Online Education section, click here.
College Readiness
09/10/2015: College Board Assessment Results Show Greater Participation, Big Gaps, by Dian Schaffhauser, Campus Technology - For the SAT, an indicator of college readiness, 1.7 million students from the class of 2015 took the test, up from 1.67 million students in 2014. Nearly 42 percent of 2015 SAT participants met the SAT College and Career Readiness Benchmark, signifying that they're more likely to enroll in a four-year college and graduate on time than those who don't meet the benchmark.

09/08/2015: Think You Know a Lot About Common Core? A New Poll Finds You're Probably Wrong, by Emmanuel Felton, Hechinger Report - The poll, a survey of 2,411 registered California voters by PACE (a research center that analyzes California education policy) and the Rossier School of Education at the University of Southern California, found that the 10 percent of voters who say they know "a lot" about the Common Core were the most likely to get true or false questions about the standards wrong.


To
view our entire College Readiness section,
click here.
Remedial Education
09/10/2015: Washington Community Colleges Try New Remedial Math Approach, by Tara Garc�a Mathewson, EducationDive - According to The Seattle Times, 19 colleges across the country use Statway to teach developmental math. Other innovations in Washington that aim to address poor outcomes include learn-at-your-own-pace math classes that don't force students to stick to a strict progress schedule and combined courses that give students a chance to take college and remedial math at the same time.
    
06/01/2015: New Study Evaluates Remedial Pathways for Community College Students, ScienceDaily - Drew Allen, a New York University doctoral student and director of the Office of Research, Evaluation, and Program Support at the City University of New York (CUNY), devoted his doctoral research to the evaluation of three current programmatic approaches at CUNY community colleges.

05/26/2015: Community College Placement Tests Unfairly Channel Students Into Remediation, by Michael W. Kirst, Stanford, The College Puzzle - Remedial education is a barrier to earning a degree, particularly in mathematics. In California, 85 percent of community college students must take remedial math courses, many of them recent high school graduates. But recent research described in the report has revealed that the placement exams dictating community college remedial enrollments may be sending too many students to remedial math courses.

To view our entire Remedial Education section, click here.
College Completion
college completion
09/14/2015: A College Dream Deferred, by Kavitha Cardoza, Breaking Ground - As a nation, we've concentrated a lot on getting low-income students like Christopher Feaster into college. What we haven't focused on is whether those students complete college.

09/13/2015: State Puts Emphasis on College Advisers, by Mary Mogan Edwards, The Columbus Dispatch - One group helps new students choose programs and set goals. Once the students are accepted into a degree or certificate program, specialists in one of three areas lay out a plan for completing the program. Advisers in the arts and sciences division, for students planning to transfer to a four-year institution, are experts in guiding students through the transition.

09/08/2015: Colleges Turn to Outsourced Counseling Services for Students Needing Support, by Tara Garcia Mathewson, EducationDive - With increasing attention on student performance in assessments of institutions, by state and federal governments as well as prospective students and their families, mental health support can be seen as a retention strategy.

To view our entire College Completion section, click here.
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Workforce Development
09/08/2015: Rebranding STEM for Millennials, by Rebecca Eidelman, The New England Board of Higher Education (NEBHE) - The interactive multimedia curriculum modules that promote student-centered learning are part of the solution to prepare students for the workforce and garner excitement for the rewards of STEM careers, including those in advanced manufacturing.

09/2015: How California's Workforce Is Changing and Why State Policy Has to Change With It, by Luke Reidenbach, California Budget & Policy Center - This "chartbook" highlights four key trends in how California's workforce has changed and discusses what they mean for state policy. 
    
To view our entire Workforce Development section, click here.
Technology Adoption
09/07/2015: Not Trending: Inventors and Innovators You've Never Heard Of, by Gwen Ifil, PBS Newshour - When we only pay attention to the things that are trending in our social networks, we may be missing some compelling stories. Carlos Watson, CEO of website Ozy, joins Gwen Ifill to share a few overlooked items, including efforts to create a working electronic model of the human brain, batteries that run on seawater that store clean energy and bending the rules of classical ballet.

08/05/2015: How to Help Faculty Explore Wearable Technology for Learning, by Tanya Roscorla, Center for Digital Education - With mobile and wearable technology increasing in popularity, higher education leaders are working with faculty to figure out which technology helps them improve the teaching and learning experience.

To view our entire Technology Adoption section, click here.
Data Analysis & Assessment
09/08/2015: Beyond Student Progress: How Ivy Tech is Approaching Data Analytics, by Tara Garcia Mathewson, EducationDive - Indiana's community college system, Ivy Tech, is one of the institutions pushing the boundaries of traditional data analytics. And it is finding patterns relating to a lot more than student performance.

09/01/2015: How Data Analytics Can Help Boost Student Performance, by IBM, Center for Digital Education - Waterbury Public Schools realized that by getting a handle on its dynamic and fast-changing student body, and passing these insights on to key decision-makers, it stood a better chance of helping students fulfill their maximum potential.  
 
To view our entire Data Analysis & Assessment section, click here.
Back to 'In This Issue'
Funding & Economics
09/11/2015: Pointing a Finger at For-Profits, by Michael Stratford, Inside Higher Ed - The spike in student loan defaults over the last decade has been fueled by students attending for-profit colleges and, to a lesser degree, community colleges, according to a new analysis of millions of federal student loan records.

09/09/2015: A Path to Financial Aid 'Risk Sharing', by Michael Stratford, Inside Higher Ed - The paper, funded by Lumina Foundation, calls for a system that involves rewards and penalties for colleges based on the academic outcomes of their Pell Grant recipients and, separately, how well their former students are able to repay their loans. On both counts, the government would judge a college's performance compared to that of its peer institutions.

09/08/2015: Support for Free, by Scott Jaschik, Inside Higher Ed - A Gallup/Inside Higher Ed poll of college and university presidents has found that half of college presidents back or partly back an early version of Senator Sanders's plan that would provide $18 billion to states to pay for two free years of public higher education (at both two- and four-year institutions).

09/03/2015: Denver May Be First City to Do Something About Runaway College Debt, by Malcolm Burnley, Next City - A looming ballot initiative in Denver stands to reverse this trend and create a municipal-controlled fund for higher ed scholarships. It would be paid for through a sales tax bump equivalent to adding 8 cents onto every $100 purchase and is expected to raise $10 million per year.

To view our entire Funding & Economics section, click here.
Transfer & Articulation
09/08/2015: Millions of Dollars in Scholarships Can Help Community College Students Transfer to Four-Year Schools, by Amy Weinstein, Money, College Planner - It's time to put a common misconception to rest: that scholarships are only for freshman entering a four-year college. This unfortunate misconception discourages many community college students who want to continue their education at a four-year institution but who don't realize there are scholarships available that could ease the financial burden.

09/2015: Reverse Transfer: What Is The Best Route To Take?,by Lexi Anderson, Education Commission of the States - As states have begun to fully implement reverse transfer policies, their reported student-level outcomes data varies widely. Given the infancy of most reverse transfer policy, it is premature to pinpoint any single state action that has served to accelerate or hinder successful degree conferrals.

To view our entire Transfer & Articulation section, click here.
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