Enrollment Boom

As decimated college-savings accounts force parents to seek less expensive higher education options and rising unemployment sends laid-off workers back to school for retraining, community colleges brace for a jump in enrollment. Administrators at the nation's 1,200 community colleges anticipate tens of thousands of students who expected to attend four-year colleges will take an unplanned detour for one or two years en route to a bachelors degree. In addition, a sharp increase in the number of laid-off workers enrolling in associate-degree and certification programs to train for a new career or enhance existing skills is expected. "Even before the downturn, we've seen more high-school students going to community colleges first because of rapidly increasing costs of four-year schools," says George Boggs, president of the American Association of Community Colleges. “Community college can be an affordable option that will give their child good value for the money," says Jeff Kraus, an assistance vice chancellor for the Virginia Community College System.

Support Community Colleges

As leaders of the nation's most distinguished universities request a chunk of the massive economic stimulus package that Congress is expected to dole out, USA Today argues that the one segment of the higher education world that's most deserving is the nation's 1,195 community colleges. Readers are asked to consider the following facts.

• Community colleges educate roughly half of all students but receive only a fourth of what's handed out in local and state funds to four-year public and private colleges.
• Over the next decade, at least 57% of all job openings will require postsecondary education but not necessarily a four-year degree. Some of the highest-demand workers get their job training at community colleges, including half of new nurses. As many as 40% of teachers get their academic start at community colleges.
• Community colleges reach many students four-year colleges miss, including 35% of undergraduate minority students and 39% of undergrads who are the first generation in their family to attend college.
• While many private, four-year colleges are seeing dips in applications, community college enrollments this fall rose by 8-10%. And yet in most states, the per-student aid is shrinking.

Measuring Up 2008

Measuring Up 2008, released by the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education, reports that states are making little or no progress in providing affordable college opportunities or improving college completion rates for their residents. The report finds that while states have made modest gains in preparing students for college, more students are failing to graduate from high school; while college enrollment rates for young adults are improving, enrollment rates are declining for older adults; the burden of paying for college is now higher for students in every state; and low college completion rates have barely improved. Additionally, disparities persist in college access and success by income, race and ethnicity, and state. The findings come as states face massive budget shortfalls that threaten higher education funding, and the United States continues to lag behind other advanced nations on measures of higher education performance.

Genuine Alternative Certification

According to a new report by the Hoover Institution, forty-seven states have adopted a pathway to teaching, alternative to the standard state certification otherwise required, and the number of alternatively certified teachers has steadily grown. What Happens When States Have Genuine Alternative Certification? analyses whether states that provide a genuine alternative, not simply a symbolic one, recruit more teachers who take the alternative certification route, open the classroom door to more minority teachers, and have an impact on student learning. Results demonstrate that

• twenty-three percent more newly certified teachers utilize the alternative certification option in the 21 states with genuine alternative certification programs than in those with symbolic programs.
• genuine alternative certification programs boost the number of minority teachers in the classroom.
• genuine alternative certification programs resulted in higher gains on the NAEP between 2003 and 2007.

Teaching Quality - Professional Development

While state policymakers have leveraged substantial resources in recent years to draw more and higher-qualified individuals to teaching careers, few systemic efforts have been made to maintain and improve upon the knowledge and skills of teachers once they enter the classroom. This policy brief examines seven components to strengthen high school teacher professional development and provides state policy suggestions for each. The components include deepening conceptual knowledge; integrating college and workforce readiness into teacher expectations and instruction; developing communities of practice and mentorship supports; using data, school- and classroom-level assessment practices and differentiated instruction; keeping a focus on instruction; addressing organizational professional development; and using technology to leverage learning.

Nation's First Tech-Literacy Exam

The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) governing board has announced that American students will be tested on technological literacy for the first time, starting in four years. Beginning in 2012, the test will measure students' proficiency with technology in addition to reading, math, science, history, writing, and other subjects. The new test will mark the first time students' technology literacy has been assessed on a national level. WestEd, a nonprofit educational research, development and service agency based in San Francisco, will develop the 2012 NAEP Technological Literacy Framework. NAEP's Technological Literacy Assessment comes at a time when there are no nationwide requirements or common definitions for technological literacy. The governing board is slated to review and approve the technological literacy framework in late 2009.