Meeting Obams Goals For College Completion Will Be Difficult

Obama wants the USA to be the first in the world in completion of college certificates and degrees by 2020. But there is a steep hill to climb. From 1960 to 1980, the relative supply of college workers rose 3.77 percent per year, but between 1980 and 2005 , it rose just 2 percent a year. This low completion rate has been going on for a long time and is embedded in the way our k-16 institutions operate and are funded. Many things must change at once to make major improvements. However, the new Undersecretary of Education, Martha Kanter has a better grasp of  how to overcome this trend than recent federal officials.