Commission Report Suggests Remedy to Declining Graduation Rates
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| Joyce Brown, manager of secondary school counselors for the Chicago Public Schools and a member of the commission |
A report from the College Board's Commission on Access, Admissions and Success in Higher Education, "Coming to Our Senses: Education and the American Future," cites a distressing and continual decline in graduation rates among young people in the U.S. It offers a list of 10 recommendations, which can be measured for accountability, to help us correct course and restore our global competitive edge for the 21st century.
In a Dec. 10 press conference at the U.S. Capitol, members
of the commission unveiled their plan for healing an
ailing U.S. education system — which, in less than two decades, has dropped the country's international standing from first to 21st out of 27 advanced nations in high school completion — to an audience of reporters, education experts and members of then-President-elect Barack Obama's transition team. Their message was urgent: "The United States must take immediate action to reverse its fall from the top ranks of countries with a college-educated workforce."
The commission found that a "torrent of American talent and human potential entering the educational pipeline is reduced to a trickle 16 years later as it moves through the K-16 system" and set an ambitious goal of increasing the percentage of 25- to 34-year-olds in the U.S. who earn a two-or four-year degree from 40 percent now to 55 percent by 2025, or about 1 percent a year for the next 15 years. The 28-member commission — which is made up of college presidents, university chancellors, admissions and enrollment deans, school counselors, administrators and other education experts — considered every level of education before establishing 10 interdependent recommendations, even identifying quantifiable indicators that will track the annual progress made on each of them.
Reestablishing this country as the global leader in education will require a commitment from every level of government. "These are demanding recommendations that will require the commitment of everyone — schools, colleges and universities, parents and students, and state and national leaders — but the dividend will be historic," said the commission's chair, Brit Kirwan, chancellor of the University System of Maryland. "We must create a system that works — a system that propels all students toward success and rejects anything less."
At least one of the recommendations is expected to have early support from President Obama, who has indicated his plans to spend $10 billion on preschool education, which helps children from low-income families get a strong start and, thus, increase their chances of completing college. "Out of all of these recommendations, providing preschool education may be the most important of all to make this thing successful," said College Board President Gaston Caperton. And indications are that any economic stimulus plan will include financial incentives to states that keep college costs down.
Other recommendations include establishing quality preschool programs, improving middle and high school counseling, creating stronger dropout-prevention programs, introducing progressive teacher recruitment and retention programs, and streamlining the college admissions process. The agenda also emphasizes the importance of aligning the K-12 system with international standards and college admissions expectations. Finally, it addresses the college and postsecondary climate with items that specifically tackle college affordability, matriculation and postsecondary opportunities.
The College Board plans to evaluate progress annually and issue a report that assesses progress on the commission's recommendations through indicators tied to the 10 benchmarks from the report:
- Provide a program of voluntary preschool education, universally available to children from low-income families — so that all children at or below 200 percent of the official poverty line have a chance to enter school ready to learn.
- Improve middle and high school college counseling — by meeting professional staffing standards for counselors and involving colleges and universities in college planning.
- Implement the best research-based dropout prevention programs — to identify early those students at risk of dropping out and then provide them with a safety net.
- Align the K-12 education system with international standards and college admissions expectations — so that all students are prepared for future opportunities in education, work and life.
- Improve teacher quality and focus on recruitment and retention — because an educational system can only be as good as its teachers.
- Clarify and simplify the admissions process — to encourage more first-generation students to apply.
- Provide more need-based grant aid while simplifying and making financial aid processes more transparent — to minimize student debt, and at least keep pace with inflation, make financial aid processes more transparent and predictable, and provide institutions with incentives to enroll and graduate more low-income and first-generation students.
- Keep college affordable — by controlling college costs, using available aid and resources wisely, and insisting that state governments meet their obligations for funding higher education.
- Dramatically increase college completion rates — by reducing dropouts, easing transfer processes and using "data-based" approaches to improve completion rates at both two- and four-year institutions.
- Provide postsecondary opportunities as an essential element of adult education programs — by supplementing existing basic skills training with a new "honors GED" and through better coordination of existing adult education, veterans benefits, outreach programs and student aid.
