- HBCUs and college success
- Final report from WICHE's Changing Direction project
- Closing the Expectations Gap 2008
- Improving the transition from high school to college
- Policy reform to improve student success
- Lessons from top community colleges
- Learning communities and student progress
- Achieving the Dream persistence patterns
- Academic vs. career-oriented jobs
- Private loans: The risks for college students
- Income gaps and education
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- How to advocate for your community college
Making the Case for Community Colleges is a useful tool for anyone who engages with influential decision-makers.
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- Grantee Communication Toolkit
Lumina Foundation has produced Communication 101, a toolkit to help grantees effectively communicate the goals and mission of their organization.
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- Idealist Web site
Idealist.org is an interactive site where people can exchange resources and ideas. Visit this site to find people, organizations, volunteer opportunities and more.
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- Tell us what you think
We strive to provide useful, timely information about postsecondary student success. Tell us how this newsletter can better serve the mission of improved student access and success.
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Historically Black Colleges
and Universities
Models for college success
Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) represent fewer than 3 percent of the nation's 4,000-plus postsecondary institutions but educate one-fourth of African-American students who earn undergraduate degrees each year. Despite their successes, most HBCUs are stretched financially and face funding inequities at state and federal levels. These inequities threaten to undermine their futures.
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| Lumina Foundation supports state policy organizations, initiatives and research that promote student success in postsecondary education. The following reports can inform policymakers as they create sound policies and practices that will lead to a strong U.S. workforce, a high standard of living and a better quality of life for the nation's citizens.
Lessons learned from WICHE's Changing Direction
When state and federal investments in higher education are aligned and integrated, student success in higher education is maximized. WICHE's Changing Direction
project has compiled 14 state case studies that chronicle lessons learned during the seven-year project. WICHE worked with selected states for two years to develop a more comprehensive state policymaking framework and process so that appropriations, tuition, and financial aid policies were better aligned, occurred in an environment of collaboration, and supported
state goals for higher education. This publication, Integrating Higher Education Financial Aid and Financing Policy: Case Studies from the Changing Direction Technical Assistance States, is the final report from the Changing Direction project.
Closing the Expectations Gap 2008
Many states are working to ensure that students leave high school with the knowledge and skills needed for college and careers. In Closing the Expectations Gap 2008,
Achieve notes that while a majority of states have made closing the expectations gap a priority, some have moved much more aggressively. The report details state progress implementing the
American Diploma Project policy agenda that advocates for the alignment of standards, graduation requirements, assessments, data systems and accountability with the expectations of college faculty and employers.
Lost in transition: How to build a better college path
In 2005 and 2006, the High Schools That Work
program of the Southern Regional Education Board facilitated state-level forums aimed at identifying ways to foster collaboration between secondary and postsecondary education systems and build successful transitions from high school to college and careers. Lost in Transition: Building a Better Path from School to College and Careers presents
the forums' major conclusions about successful transitions and describes action steps that can help all states meet economic and workforce goals for the next generation of adult workers and citizens.
Policy reforms promote student attainment, report says
Policy reforms can help more students attain degrees, but often state policy doesn't support strategies that can increase student success. It Could Happen: Unleashing the Potential of California's Community Colleges
, from the Institute for Higher Education Leadership & Policy, combines research and analysis discussed in earlier
reports, Rules of the Game, Beyond the Open Door and Invest in Success
. The latest report also offers an "achievable agenda" for policy reforms that would help more students succeed. | | | |
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What can we learn from exemplary community colleges?
Calls for accountability in reporting student outcomes are on the rise. While this pressure began two decades ago in K-12 education, community colleges now are paying closer attention to how they can and should use data on student outcomes. Building a Culture of Evidence in Community Colleges: Lessons from Exemplary Institutions
looks at four colleges that are national leaders in using institutional research for improvement. These community colleges are taking a hard look
at how they can create and sustain an internal culture of evidence-based practice.
Learning communities can accelerate student progress
A new MDRC study examines "learning communities," as a success strategy for students who lack basic reading, writing, and math skills. The study,
A Good Start: Two-Year Effects of a Freshmen Learning Community Program at Kingsborough Community College, examines the one-semester learning community for freshmen and offers the first experimental evidence
about an intervention that helps students make a successful transition to college and move more quickly through developmental English requirements.
Persistence patterns of Achieving the Dream students
The diversity among community college students calls for a diverse approach to teaching and supporting students. The latest issue of Data Notes examines data that show older students in
Achieving the Dream colleges tended to achieve higher grades and perform better academically than younger students, yet they did not persist at the same rate. The results indicate that it may be worth
examining options for separate intervention strategies designed specifically for older students, as their needs are often different from those of younger students. | | | |
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Academic vs. career-oriented majors: A look 10 years later
How do employment experiences differ among bachelor degree recipients with academic credentials and those with career-oriented degrees? The National Center for Education Statistics in the Institute of Education Sciences has released
Ten Years After College: Comparing the Employment Experiences of 1992-93 Bachelor's
Degree Recipients With Academic and Career-Oriented Majors. The report examines college graduates' work experiences in 1994, 1997 and 2003, describing their labor force status, employment stability, occupations and industries, salaries and benefits and job perception.
Skyrocketing college costs increase private loan demands
College students, increasingly reliant on high-priced and light-regulated private loans to pay tuition and other expenses, are risking their futures by taking out expensive loans, a new study warns. These private loans now account for nearly one in every four dollars of student borrowing.
Paying the Price: The High Cost of Private Student Loans and the Dangers for Student Borrowers, from the
National Consumer Law Center, reports that private student
loans are almost always more expensive than federal loans, especially for borrowers with lower credit scores or limited credit histories. Private loans also do not have the same range of protections for borrowers that government loans have.
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