A year ago, the U.S. experienced the first symptoms of economic unrest--a sharp spike in fuel prices, rising costs and rising debt, and a jump in foreclosures. Between May and June 2008, unemployment rose a half-point to 5.5 percent and 49,000 jobs were lost. American higher education has been on a collision course with financial reality for more…

This paper highlights several current collaborative activities of the National Early Childhood Technical Assistance Center (NECTAC). There are many specific examples of TA (Technical Assistance) collaborations that take place on a regular basis; the seven examples presented here were selected to represent different types of collaboration. The…

In 2009, Excelencia in Education launched the Ensuring America's Future initiative to inform, organize, and engage leaders in a tactical plan to increase Latino college completion. This initiative included the release of a benchmarking guide for projections of degree attainment disaggregated by race/ethnicity that offered multiple metrics to track…

This is the second book in a series entitled "P-16: The Last Education Reform." It was the purpose of the authors to chronicle the growth of existing state and local P-16 councils and compacts across the United States and to look at what might constitute successful efforts and an ideal relationship between state and local efforts. The…

This brief explores three examples of state policies designed to help students and families cope with rising tuition costs at four-year institutions: the Wisconsin Covenant, the Georgia HOPE Scholarship Program, and the Indiana Twenty-first Century Scholars Program. Although the authors acknowledge the important role two-year colleges play in…

This issue of "Legislative Review" takes a look at the news in higher education from March 9 to 13, 2009. It reports that this week: (1) HB 1348, a bill that would permit the carrying of concealed weapons at North Dakota University System (NDUS) campus student apartments, was heard in the Senate Government and Veterans Affairs Committee…

As more colleges move to "test optional" admissions policies, the debate over the utility and interpretation of standardized-test scores continues. In this article, the author interviews Daniel Koretz, a professor of education at Harvard University and author of "Measuring Up: What Educational Testing Really Tells Us". Koretz…

Based on a needs assessment of intra-state and inter-state interconnection telecommunication services, the Virginia Public Telecommunications Council (VPTC) envisions a public service satellite system consisting of: (1) primarily broadband transceiver capacities to areas having state supported institutions of higher education, perhaps with common…

In this issue, Dr. Garrison Walters, executive director of the South Carolina Commission on Higher Education, observes that a better job must be done in making others across the country more aware that South Carolina has an outstanding system of higher education. Despite its considerable strengths in higher education, the state has to do…

Prior to 2003, virtual universities were being created at a rate that would question the usual perception that higher education rarely changed, or changed (if at all) at a glacial speed. No comprehensive study of what was actually being created had been done; nor had anyone tapped the experiences of the developers in the states to see what was…

The use of computers in Virginia's institutions of higher education is reviewed and the role played by data communications in the work of the institutions is discussed. In this paper, data communications is defined to mean the movement of information from one place to another without changing the value of the information. State plans for…

In 1990 the Arkansas State Board of Higher Education adopted guidelines for the development of state minimum core curriculum response to state legislation. This legislation provides that courses within the core shall apply to the general education core curriculum requirements for baccalaureate degrees at state-supported institutions and shall be…

Explores three issues to consider regarding statewide standardized tests in higher education: (1) existing statewide testing programs differ markedly from one another in nature and objectives, and it's important to know specifically how and why; (2) a range of substantial implementation issues will be present; and (3) there are promising…

Explores statewide accountability systems in higher education, including what they are; the influences of K-12 reform, scarce resources, and distance learning and competing education providers on the drive toward accountability; different state accountability models; and potential disconnects between things measured and intended purposes of the…

This issue of "Legislative Review" takes a look at the news in higher education from April 27 to May 8, 2009. This Legislative Review reports that: (1) SB 2003, the North Dakota University System (NDUS) budget bill, was approved by Governor Hoeven and the 2009 Legislative Assembly; (2) several major capital projects included in the State…