RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY
Sara Goldrick-Rab, Douglas N. Harris, Christopher Mazzeo and Gregory Kienzl, May 07, 2009, The Brookings Institution
To renew America’s status as the world’s leader in college attainment, the federal government needs to transform America’s community colleges and equip them for the 21st century. This report outlines a structure for this long-overdue investment and proposes to establish national goals and a related performance measurement system; provide resources to drive college performance toward those goals; and stimulate greater innovation to enhance the quality of sub-baccalaureate education. Read More
VIDEO
Alan Berube, May 01, 2009
Alan Berube says community colleges offer educational opportunities to a growing number of students and are a critical part of the national economy and our metropolitan areas.
RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY
Martha Ross and Alice M. Rivlin, November 20, 2009, The Brookings Institution
A report commissioned by Greater Washington Research at Brookings and DC Appleseed underscores the need for a strong community college in the District of Columbia. The report, conducted by JBL Associates, recognizes the steps already taken by the new Community College of the District of Columbia (CCDC) and recommends that the city support CCDC in moving towards independence from the University of the District of Columbia, with its own administration, board of trustees, budget and academic accreditation. Read More
PAST EVENT
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
2:00 PM to 3:30 PM
Washington, DC
On September 16, the Brown Center on Education Policy at Brookings hosted an event to discuss Crossing the Finish Line (Princeton University Press, October 2009), which examines degree attainment at America's public universities. President Obama has committed the nation to the goal of producing the world's highest proportion of college graduates by 2020. Read More
RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY
Ben Wildavsky, August 26, 2009, The Washington Monthly
Higher education is fast becoming a global enterprise as students and professors hopscotch from nation to nation. Yet in this new world of mobility and competition, challenges to America’s educational primacy are inevitable—and international rankings are the means by which those challenges are most likely to arrive, writes Ben Wildavsky. A process is already under way to expand international rankings beyond the metrics of reputation and research to include measures of classroom learning. However, this could be both traumatic and useful for the American higher education system. Read More
PAST EVENT
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
2:00 PM to 3:30 PM
Washington, DC
President Obama has committed to the goal of having the world's highest rate of college graduates by 2020. The funding and delivery of student financial aid will be critical to reaching that goal. To that end, the president has announced plans for an overhaul of the federal college loan system. The Brown Center on Education Policy at Brookings hosted an event to explore ways of improving the effectiveness of student financial aid. Read More
RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY
Alan Berube, May 15, 2009, The Brookings Institution
The detailed FY 2010 federal budget reveals many elements of the administration’s strategy to achieve needed reforms in schooling and worker skills. Alan Berube analyzes the significant steps in the departments of Education and Labor budgets toward a national economic strategy that invests strategically in human capital to improve our collective prosperity. Read More
PAST EVENT
Thursday, May 14, 2009
9:00 AM to 11:00 AM
Washington, DC
On May 14, The Future of Children, a joint project between Princeton University and the Brookings Institution, will release a policy brief discussing the steps high schools should take to help low-income students prepare for postsecondary education. Senator Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), the former superintendent of the Denver schools, will deliver the keynote address. Read More
RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY
Ron Haskins and James Kemple, May 14, 2009, The Future of Children
In this policy brief, a companion to the volume of The Future of Children devoted to high school reforms, Ron Haskins and James Kemple examine the steps high schools should take to help low-income students prepare for and succeed in college. Specifically, they argue, high schools should boost students’ subject matter knowledge and study skills and counsel students on how to select colleges and obtain financial aid. Read More
RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY
Ron Haskins, Harry Holzer and Robert Lerman, May 12, 2009, The Pew Charitable Trusts
Many low-income students miss out on college because they don’t know how much it actually costs or how to get access to billions of dollars in financial aid, says Ron Haskins. That’s why improving the equality of educational opportunity—a traditional American value—is one key to promoting economic mobility for disadvantaged students. Read More
RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY
Alan Berube, February 27, 2009, The Brookings Institution
Alan Berube analyzes how President Obama's first budget places hopeful new emphasis on graduating more students from college. Community colleges enroll increasing numbers of students, but for several reasons fail to graduate most of them—particularly those from lower-income backgrounds—through to a degree or certificate. Read More
RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY
Sara Goldrick-Rab and Alan Berube, February 03, 2009, The Brookings Institution
Enrollment in community colleges is surging, driven by a tough economy and increasing skills requirements for gainful employment. Sarah Goldrick-Rab and Alan Berube explain that this environment, as well as longer-term economic growth imperatives, calls for a focused federal commitment to community colleges in order to boost educational attainment. Read More
RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY
Gary Burtless, January 08, 2009, The Brookings Institution
Although many ideas have been floated for the incoming administration’s stimulus package, Gary Burtless urges that funds to be used for the nation’s worker training system, which can help equip unemployed and underemployed workers find good jobs when the economy begins to recover and can reduce the number of jobless workers who are looking for work. Read More
RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY
Timothy J. Bartik and George Erickcek, December 10, 2008, The Brookings Institution
A Metropolitan Economy Initiative examination of the impact of policies to expand health care and higher finds that such a strategy would raise the earnings of metropolitan residents by roughly the same amount as conventional business tax incentives. Read More
RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY
Lois Dickson Rice and David Mundel, November 24, 2008, The Brookings Institution
David Mundel and Lois Rice discuss the results of a recent experiment about the effect of grant programs on college attendance among lower-income youth. Read More