
	Dr. Michael W. Kirst Michael W. Kirst is Professor Emeritus of Education and Business Administration at Stanford University since 1969. Dr. Kirst received his Ph.D. in political economy and government from Harvard. Before joining the Stanford University faculty, Dr. Kirst held several positions with the federal government, including Staff Director of the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Manpower, Employment and Poverty. He was a former president of the California State Board of Education. His book From High School to College with Andrea Venezia was published by Jossey Bass in 2004.



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My blog discusses the important and complex subjects of college completion, college success, student risk factors (for failing), college readiness, and academic preparation. I will explore the pieces of the college puzzle that heavily influence, if not determine, college success rates.

New Report Is Guide To Better College Student Outcomes and Accountability

Education Sector is an independent DC think tank with an outside the box approach. Their new report on higher education accountability is well worth reading for those interested in improving college completion and better student outcomes. Below is the Education Sector press release.

Today's colleges and universities are plagued by
>a host of problems: low graduation rates, high
>tuition rates, and poor student performance. But
>higher education has surprisingly few incentives
>to address these problems and to provide an
>affordable, high-quality education to all
>students. Funding is based on how many students
>enroll, not how many graduate. Prestige is tied
>to how smart students are when they begin as
>freshmen, not how much they learn before they
>leave. As a result, policymakers who want to fix
>the problems of American higher education need
>to create stronger accountability systems.
>
>Aldeman and Carey describe the current state of the art in
>state higher education accountability and
>provide a set of guidelines for designing a
>model system. The authors examined thousands of
>documents and analyzed Web sites, laws, and
>policies in all 50 states, Puerto Rico, and the
>District of Columbia to make their recommendations.
>
>States are accumulating more information about
>more things in higher education than ever
>before, say Carey and Aldeman, but no state is
>gathering all the information that is
>potentially available. Yet if each state simply
>used the best metrics available elsewhere, the
>authors argue, it would be able to paint a
>comprehensive, multidimensional picture of how
>well its colleges and universities are succeeding.
>
>Read:
>Ready
>to Assemble: A Model State Higher Education
>Accountability
>System.
>
>
>
>
>Stacey E. Jordan
>
>EDUCATIONSECTOR
>Independent Analysis, Innovative Ideas
>www.educationsector.org
>
>1201 Connecticut Ave., NW, Ste. 850, Washington, DC 20036
>[t] 202.552.2849 . [f] 202.775.5877 . [e]

Labels: College Completion, data systems