Commission’s Report Urges Higher Education Shake-Up

The Commission on the Future of Higher Education approved a final report that calls for public universities to measure learning with standardized tests, federal monitoring of college quality, and sweeping changes in financial aid. The panel also called on policymakers and leaders in higher education to find new ways to control costs, saying college tuition should grow no faster than median family income, although it opposed price controls. A proposal on standardized tests was weakened at the last moment, with the final version stating that universities "should measure student learning" with standardized tests.


Governor Napolitano to Push School Reform

The United States likes to tout itself as the world leader in innovation, but business leaders are warning that America's schools need radical restructuring, especially in math and science, if children expect to thrive in a new high-tech economy. As Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano takes over as the head of the National Governor’s Association, she plans to use the position to persuade her counterparts across the country to focus on revamping and retooling America’s schools to meet the needs of an ultra-competitive 21st-century workforce. American eighth-graders are ranked 27th in the world when it comes to math scores, and that's totally unacceptable, Napolitano says. "That's why we need to create a sense of national urgency about this. The time is now."


Birth to Five and Beyond

Across the United States, interest in early childhood development continues to grow. In creating a more holistic and responsive system of early education, states and communities are recognizing that these efforts must focus on the first five years of life, and continue through the kindergarten and the primary grades. Historically, early childhood education has grown through multiple funding streams which addressed various policy goals and populations. It is only in recent years that there has been an effort to “connect the dots” to develop more unified and comprehensive early education systems. This abridged version of a recent Zero to Three Journal article provides an overview of what a comprehensive early childhood development system can look like.


‘Engagement’ and the Underprepared

By now, it is widely accepted that curricular efforts to "engage" students -- to involve them deeply in the process of learning and in the actual material they study -- pays off. Two new studies, however, suggest that not only does "engagement" work, but that it makes a bigger difference for minority and academically underprepared students than for students in general. The first study examines how the performance of different types of students at 18 four-year institutions is affected by academic engagement through the use of the National Survey of Student Engagement. The second study found that using a set of "principles for good practices in undergraduate education" has "a significant positive impact on the cognitive development, learning orientations, and educational aspirations of students" in their first year in college.


Technology and Professional Development

Although they might roll their eyes at the thought, anyone who observes young adolescents navigate through a day can't miss their need for guidance and encouragement from their teachers. This issue of Educational Leadership explores the kinds of instruction and support most appropriate in the classroom. From differentiated instruction to mastery learning—read about some of the practices ASCD’s experts on middle school education support.


Indian Graduation Rates Better

Native Americans in Arizona are graduating from high school at an increasing rate after generations of low numbers of tribal members earning diplomas. The Native American graduation rate climbed 13 percent statewide from 2000 to 2004, with slightly more than 63 percent of Indians in the class of 2004 graduating in four years. Educators credit a variety of programs, each targeting a specific Indian community, for the improvement. Although Indian graduation rates still trail the overall rate of 77 percent, “we are seeing an improvement," says Debora Norris, Indian Education Specialist for the Arizona Department of Education, for those students who are affected by an array of hurdles unique in each of Arizona’s 22 tribes.

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