Posts published on September 28, 2010

National Polls Show Public More Concerned About Higher Education Performance And Decsions

  Here are 2 prior polls from the National Center For Public PolicyAnd higher Education in San Jose, Ca. that demonstrate the public is less pleased with the decision making and perfromance of higher education officials and colleges. The polls  indicate the public thinks colleges operate more like businesses that focus more on their bottom line than on the educational experience of students. The public is skeptical that colleges are doing all they can to control costs. Note the responses between the  polls in  2009 and 2010.

http://www.highereducation.org/reports/squeeze_play_10/squeeze_play_10.pdf

http://www.highereducation.org/reports/squeeze_play_09/squeeze_play_09.pdf

Texas Moving On Many Policies To Improve College Completion

Just more than half of Texas’ college students will graduate in six years, according to Commissioner of Higher Education Raymund Paredes. Despite his concerns, Paredes said he believes progress has been made under the “Closing the Gap Initiative” begun 10 years ago. Since then: the legislature created “college and career readiness standards” for high school students; the state is creating “end-of-course” exams based on those new standards; the number of Hispanic students going to college has risen 75%; and the number of high school graduates who are “college-ready” has risen from 18% to 22%.