Other Report

Getting to 2014 (and Beyond): The Choices and Challenges Ahead

This series of essays explores the challenges of implementing so many education reforms—such as new Common Core standards, new assessments, new accountability systems, new teacher evaluations, new data systems, and for some states, Race to the Top—all at once, provides a framework for policymakers to think about the choices ahead, as well as strategies and solutions to unexpected conflicts.

False Fronts? Behind Higher Education’s Voluntary Accountability Systems

This report offers an analysis of current, voluntary accountability systems which exist in higher education, and suggests that in order to improve consumer choice and exert meaningful pressure on schools to improve, new accountability systems need to be more complete, comparison-friendly, and designed to highlight institutional differences.

Diplomas and Dropouts: Which Colleges Actually Graduate Their Students (and Which Don't)

This report examines the graduation rates across the nation's colleges and universities, using data from the U.S. Department of Education. Institutions with highest and lowest graduation rates are included and the differences between these institutions are discussed. The report finds that there is great variability among graduation rates, even among institutions that have similar admission standards and admit students with similar backgrounds. 

Degreeless in Debt: What Happens to Borrowers Who Drop Out

This report looks at data from student loan borrowers who dropped out of college and examines what happened to them six years after they initially enrolled in college. Key results include: more students are borrowing to attend college, borrowers who attended for-profit institutions took on larger amounts of debt, and borrowers who drop out have higher unemployment rates and make less money.

Debt to Degree: A New Way of Measuring College Success

This report describes a measure created by Education Sector, the "borrowing to credential ratio", which calculates the total amount of money borrowed by undergraduates at a college divided by the sum of total number of degrees awarded by that college. The borrowing to credential ratio was calculated using data from 2006-07, 2007-08, and 2008-09. Key results include: the ratio has risen sharply in recent years, ratios at for-profits are higher than elsewhere, and there is a wide variation in ratios among states and elite colleges.

Cracking the Credit Hour

This report describes the history of the credit hour and redefining the credit hour in a way that accounts for measuring student learning. The report also describes emerging efforts to measure student learning, such as the Degree Qualifications Profile, Tuning USA, and competency-based programs. Finally, the report provides federal policy recommendations for awarding credit hours based on student learning through three tools: the credit hour, experimental sites, and direct assessment.

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