Posts Tagged: Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Among Comings and Goings, Pennington Leaving Gates Foundation; New Ed Commish in Conn.

Hilary Pennington, who has led the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s Postsecondary Success efforts for the past five years,  emailed her colleagues that she was leaving the foundation. Before joining Gates, she was a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress and CEO of Jobs for the Future, which she co-founded. Inside Higher Ed reports that Tom Dawson, a senior policy offi...

Nellie Mae Education Foundation Awards Seven Organizations, Schools and Districts Almost $1 Million for “Proficiency-Based Pathways”

The Nellie Mae Education Foundation (NMEF) awarded one-year grants to seven organizations, schools, and districts across New England as part of the foundation's effort to prepare all learners with the skills and knowledge needed for success in postsecondary education, work and life. Proficiency-Based Pathways allow students to progress toward their goals based on mastery rather than a required ...

Doing Good and Doing Well: Performance-Based Funding in Higher Ed

The New England Board of Higher Education released a policy brief that encourages states to tie a portion of higher education appropriations to institutional outcomes. Currently, New England states tend to apportion institutional funding based on enrollment levels—a practice that rewards quantity, but not necessarily student success and degree attainment. From President Obama to private fou...

Complete College America Launches State Grants for Innovative Ways to Boost Degrees

Complete College America launched the Completion Innovation Challenge, a $10 million competitive grant program for states to significantly boost college completion and close attainment gaps for traditionally underrepresented populations.A national organization whose mission is to work with states to increase the number of Americans with college degrees or certificates of workplace value, Complete ...

College Attainment: Throwing a Complete Game

The U.S. once had the world’s highest percentage of adults with a college degree, but has now dropped to 10th, according to the OECD. In an attempt to reverse this slide, a number of policymakers and foundations have sought to make increased degree attainment a national priority. President Obama has articulated the goal that America will regain the world’s highest rate of degree attain...