Last spring, 83% of Maine public high school students who began high school four years earlier received a diploma.

About 65% of those graduates likely enrolled in some form of postsecondary education—at a public university, private institution, community college or elsewhere.

A 2008 ...]]> NEJHE presents exclusive articles by New England's governors on higher education in their states ...

Last spring, 83% of Maine public high school students who began high school four years earlier received a diploma.

About 65% of those graduates likely enrolled in some form of postsecondary education—at a public university, private institution, community college or elsewhere.

A 2008 report from the Joint Standing Committee on Education and Culture Affairs of the Maine Legislature indicates a quarter of those who enrolled at a public university in Maine required a remedial course to catch them up to the level where they should have been when they completed high school.

Of those who began a degree program at Maine’s seven community colleges, 37% needed remedial courses in subjects like math, reading and writing.

Within six years, only 48% of those who started work on a University of Maine System bachelor’s degree in the fall of 2010 will have earned it. Of those who started work on an associate degree at that time, just 26% will have completed it within three years.

What do these numbers tell us?

Regardless of how hard we’ve tried and how much money we’ve spent, our public schools simply haven’t managed to equip many of our students with the skills they need to succeed in college.

The result?

Studies show, by 2018, nearly 60% of jobs in Maine will require at least some amount of college education. If we can’t get more of our students to complete high school and earn degrees, we won’t have the workforce required to meet the needs of a 21^st-century technology- and knowledge-driven economy.

If we don’t have the educated workforce we need, our hopes of creating high-quality jobs in Maine and enticing them to come here will be greatly diminished.

For many of our residents, that means the higher wages and healthier lifestyles that come with higher-skill jobs will be out of reach.

There’s no simple solution to this dilemma, but much of it depends on reforming our public education system so we can be sure the students we’re graduating are ready not only to enter college, but to succeed in college.

Part of the problem is that, as it’s designed, our public education system favors essentially one learning style—one that involves sitting in a classroom and absorbing information from lectures and books. That’s a format that doesn’t work well for the majority of students.

As a result, many of our students—especially boys—start losing interest in school at a young age. If they lose interest, they’re unlikely to engage with course materials, discover knowledge on their own and challenge themselves to go above and beyond the bare minimum requirements.

If we’re not engaging students, but still promoting them from grade level to grade level, they’re graduating from high school unprepared for the rigors of college coursework. If they even enroll in college, it’s those students who are most likely to need remediation, and most likely to drop out before they earn a degree.

What we need in Maine is an education system that holds students to rigorous standards, encourages students to take charge of their own learning and has flexibility and relevance at its core.

In other words, our education system needs to offer all students—especially those at-risk of falling behind—more opportunities to be successful in school.

We in Maine took an early step toward that goal earlier this spring by fully adopting the Common Core state standards. Rigorous standards for all of our students are at the crux of our reform efforts. If we have high expectations for our students, they’ll meet them.

What’s not spelled out by these world-class standards is how our students meet them. That’s the province of our teachers, administrators and school boards. It should also be up to the students themselves.

Our students need more power to decide on the environment in which they’ll learn and attend school. This choice takes a few different forms:

• More of our public schools need to embrace a standards-based environment, in which students advance to the next level only once they’ve mastered what’s expected of them at the previous level. In this environment, students determine how they learn what they need to learn and how they demonstrate proficiency. The teacher becomes a facilitator who helps her students become independent learners and promotes them only once they’ve proven worthy of promotion. A handful of Maine schools have become early adopters of this standards-based format, and are confident it will make the high school diplomas they award more meaningful. Other Maine schools can learn from their experiences. My Commissioner of Education Stephen Bowen is working to share this model with more schools throughout the state.

• High school students need to be able to transfer seamlessly among different learning environments and earn credit from all of them. Depending on their needs and interests, students should be able to earn credit through a mix of online classes, adult education classes, community college and university courses, independent projects and internships.

• More of our students need to be able to enroll in career and technical education courses at our vocational schools. They need to be able to enroll there full-time, and before they reach their junior year in high school. Our vocational schools promote hands-on learning that many students find more relevant than the traditional academic atmosphere. Many of our career and technical education students find the vocational environment brings to life the lessons they learn in math, science and other courses.

• Our students also need another option: the opportunity to enroll at a charter school where a committed operator is innovating—and being held accountable—to find the right way to reach students who aren’t succeeding in the traditional setting. Maine is one of 10 states that don’t allow charter schools, but that’s something we expect to change in the coming weeks.

Our institutions of higher education in Maine would do well to learn some lessons from the innovations we’re planning for our K-12 system.

Just as we expect our public schools and teachers to meet the needs and learning styles of all students, our colleges and universities have the same obligation.

They need to hire professors who care about teaching. They need to be held accountable for their outcomes.

I urge those in charge of both our K-12 and postsecondary systems of education to get to work on improving. The success of one system depends on the other. And the success of our most important asset—our students—depends on them both.

Paul R. LePage is serving his first term as Maine’s governor.

Students who left postsecondary institutions before earning a degree or certificate—and students who attended two-year and for-profit institutions—faced delinquency on their student loans at much higher rates than their peers, according to a new study released by the Washington, D.C.-based Institute for Higher Education Policy (IHEP).

Delinquency: The Untold Story of Student Loan Borrowing, ...]]>

Students who left postsecondary institutions before earning a degree or certificate—and students who attended two-year and for-profit institutions—faced delinquency on their student loans at much higher rates than their peers, according to a new study released by the Washington, D.C.-based Institute for Higher Education Policy (IHEP).

Delinquency: The Untold Story of Student Loan Borrowing, by Alisa F. Cunningham and Gregory S. Kienzl, examines recent patterns in student borrowing behavior, particularly among students who become delinquent on their loan payments, but who do not go into default. Until now, the study authors suggest, the size and experience of this delinquent group have not figured highly in discussions about aid policy and financial literacy.

The study charts the behavior of more than 8.7 million borrowers and focuses on those that entered repayment in 2005.  While 15% of this cohort defaulted on their loans within five years, a full 26% faced delinquency—and its negative consequences—at some point during the same time frame without defaulting. Borrowers who fail to make a loan payment within 60 days of its due date are considered delinquent and may be reported to credit bureaus. Those who slip into delinquency, even when they become current on repayment again, also face higher interest payments on their loans.

Nearly 60% of postsecondary dropouts and more than half of community college and for-profit borrowers from the 2005 cohort were delinquent or had defaulted on their loans.

By way of comparison, 37% of borrowers in the 2005 cohort made successful progress toward repaying their loans, avoided delinquency and default. Additionally, 23% took advantage of loan-deferment or forbearance policies in the course of their repayments, but likewise avoided delinquency.

The authors of the study stress that, as tuition costs and student borrowing increase each year, policymakers should focus on the causes and consequences of delinquency. Higher education stakeholders, in addition to pushing access and persistence agendas, should stress the importance of debt management and financial literacy for student borrowers, especially among those more likely to face delinquency and default. Such a move, they say, would “improve borrowers’ experiences [and save] taxpayers’ money.”

Over the past decade, policymakers and business leaders across New England have been concerned that the region’s slower population growth and loss of residents to other parts of the country will lead to a shortage of skilled labor—particularly when the baby boom generation retires. Prior to the Great Recession, the concern ...]]>

Over the past decade, policymakers and business leaders across New England have been concerned that the region’s slower population growth and loss of residents to other parts of the country will lead to a shortage of skilled labor—particularly when the baby boom generation retires. Prior to the Great Recession, the concern was that an inadequate supply of skilled workers would hamper future economic growth by creating barriers for companies looking to locate or expand in New England. More recently, the worry is that the lack of skilled workers will make it difficult to fill jobs that are in high demand as the economy recovers—many of which are likely to require postsecondary education and training—thereby slowing the region’s recovery. That means having not only a sufficient number of skilled workers but also a workforce with the right mix of skills to fill the jobs that are likely to be generated by the region’s economy.

Given current labor market conditions, it seems hard to imagine that New England could possibly lack a sufficient number of skilled workers in the not-so-distant future. Census projections for 2020 show that the number of individuals ages 15 to 24 years in New England who are slated to enter the labor force in the coming decade will be 15% smaller than the number of individuals ages 55 to 64 years who are likely to leave the labor force as they retire. Moreover, while it is true that this gap is likely to occur in several other U.S. regions, the U.S. Census Bureau projects that New England will have the largest potential shortfall, while some regions will continue to experience a surplus of workers.

Indeed, a potential mismatch between the level of skill among the population and the demand by employers over the next two decades may already be underway. The structure of the U.S. economy has changed dramatically over the past few decades, leading to an increase in the demand for more highly educated workers. The reduced role of the manufacturing sector, the increased importance of the professional service and knowledge sectors, advancements in technology, and the spread of globalization are evidence that the ways in which we “do work” have fundamentally changed. As a result, employers are demanding that workers obtain more formal education and training—often requiring some type of postsecondary degree or certificate—in addition to greater technical proficiency and interpersonal skills than in the past.

However, it is unclear how large this potential labor mismatch might be and whether this issue is unique to New England or is pervasive across the nation. Our simulations indicate that there is likely to be a potential mismatch between the level of education and skill among the population and that which will be demanded by employers in the coming decades—particularly among middle-skill jobs that require some postsecondary education but less than a bachelor’s degree. And although any potential mismatch is likely to be alleviated to some degree by a variety of market responses, the magnitude and nature of the problem suggests that there is still a role for public policy. In particular, rethinking how best to invest in our education and training programs that serve middle-skill workers—such as those based at our community colleges—seems warranted.

Supply of middle-skill workers has not kept pace

The reason policymakers and business leaders are so concerned about there being a sufficient number of skilled workers in New England is that the region’s population of working-age adults with postsecondary education and training has been growing more slowly than that in the rest of the United States. Since 1990, the number of individuals ages 25 to 64 years in the region with any postsecondary education has risen by only 29% compared with 43% nationwide, and has been growing more slowly with each passing decade. Moreover, while the rate of growth has slowed across the country, the slowdown has been sharper  for New England than most other regions primarily due to slower population growth and, to a lesser extent, greater net domestic outmigration.

Interestingly, the slowdown in the number of college-educated workers differs by the level of skill. Among “middle-skill” individuals (those with some college or an associate degree), New England’s growth rate has consistently been below that of the nation and since 2000, the region has even experienced a small decrease in this population (see Figure 1). The slowdown has been particularly acute in southern New England, with this population shrinking in both Connecticut and Massachusetts since 2000. In contrast, New England’s population of “high-skill” individuals (those with a bachelor’s degree or higher) grew at a rate that exceeded the nation during the 1980s, slowing only in recent decades.

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Not surprisingly, the distribution of educational attainment in New England—or the region’s mix of skills—has shifted more rapidly toward the upper end while lagging in the middle. Between 1980 and 2006, although the share of “middle-skill” individuals in the region increased from 19% to 26%, it still fell short of the share nationwide. In contrast, the share of “high-skill” individuals in the region—those with a bachelor’s degree or higher—nearly doubled over the same period.

New England has experienced slower growth in the supply of skilled workers compared than the nation has. But is it the case that supply has fallen short of demand? Looking at trends in relative wages over time suggests that the demand for skilled workers has outpaced supply in both the region and the nation. Over the past several decades, the labor market has experienced rising demand for college-educated workers as evidenced by the rapid increase in their earnings relative to those of less-educated workers. As a result, employers are willing to pay a premium for workers with any postsecondary education despite there being more of them. Moreover, this premium has been growing over time, indicating that the demand for such workers has continued to outpace their supply.

While this situation is not unique to the region, New England differs from the nation in one important regard: The imbalance between the supply and demand for labor is greatest among middle-skill workers—those with only some college or an associate degree. While the premium for middle-skill workers with some college or an associate degree has accelerated relative to the nation, the premium for bachelor’s degree recipients in the region has leveled off.  For example, in 1980, men with an associate degree earned 13% more per hour than men with only a high school diploma. By the year 2006, this premium had more than doubled to 30%. For individuals with only some college, the premium has grown even more rapidly, from 6% to 19%. These growing wage premiums suggest that as the share of middle-skill workers has expanded less rapidly in New England compared to elsewhere in the country, the imbalance between supply and demand has become more severe.

Is this mismatch isolated to a few key areas or is spread more broadly throughout the economy? Although industries that employ a greater share of college-educated labor have been growing more rapidly in New England, most of the increased demand for workers with postsecondary education is due to greater use of college-educated workers within all industries. Indeed, since 1990, the share of workers who hold a college degree has increased in nearly all of the major industrial sectors in New England—even those that have not typically employed a high fraction of skilled workers. For those with an associate degree, over 90% of total employment growth comes from greater use of such workers within all industries, indicating that this trend is not just isolated to a few key sectors of the economy but is fairly widespread. At the same time, the wage premium for college-educated workers increased within most industries—despite there being more workers who were college graduates—even within industries with relatively low shares of college-educated workers—indicating rising demand throughout the economy.

Moreover, these demand trends are not likely to reverse themselves. Indeed, a large literature has documented increasing skill-wage premiums at the national level, noting several potential causes that are not easily reversed. These include increasing technological change that favors more educated workers, growth in international trade that has displaced work done by less-educated workers, and declining labor market institutions (e.g., unions and minimum wage laws) that have traditionally protected employment and wages of workers without a college education. In addition, recent job vacancy rates indicate that the region has experienced high vacancy rates relative to the nation that have persisted throughout the recession, particularly in key sectors of the economy such as management, business and financial operations, computer and mathematical sciences, and healthcare.

Supply of middle-skill workers will be constrained

While New England boasts one of the most educated populations in the U.S., significant demographic changes suggest that the supply of skilled workers may not keep pace with demand in the future. The retirement of the baby boomers—a well-educated group—will result in large numbers of college-educated workers leaving the labor force—particularly in New England, which has a relatively high share of workers ages 55 to 64 years. In addition, the population of native recent college graduates who are needed to replace those retiring has been growing more slowly in New England than in other parts of the nation. Finally, although immigrants are an increasing source of population and workforce growth in the region, these individuals often lack the formal education and English language skills that employers require. As a result, there is likely to be a potential mismatch between the level of education and skill among the population and that which will be demanded by employers in the coming decades.

Looking forward, our projections indicate that the working-age population in New England will stagnate and even shrink over the next two decades while that of the nation will grow. Using a cohort component model, the region’s population of individuals ages 25 to 64 years is projected to grow by only 2.2% between 2009 and 2019 and then shrink by 3.1% between 2019 and 2029 (see Table 1). [i] The population decline is particularly evident in northern New England due to slower growth among the foreign-born, according to research by the New England Public Policy Center. In contrast, the nation’s working-age population is projected to grow by nearly 10% in each of the coming decades.

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In addition, the composition of the region’s labor force will shift to include a greater share of minority and immigrant populations, particularly in the southern part of the region. For example, the share of New England’s labor force that is non-Hispanic white falls by more than 8% in each decade (see Table 2). Among the region’s minority populations, the greatest increase is in the share of Hispanic workers, which more than doubles. These shifts are even greater for southern New England where the foreign-born population is projected to grow more rapidly.

The changing composition of the population will put downward pressure on New England’s education distribution since foreign-born and minority groups typically have lower levels of attainment than the native white population. However, recent trends also show that individuals, particularly minorities, often continue to obtain additional education and training over time as they age. These two forces are captured by our "lower- and upper-bound" measures of future labor supply. The lower-bound measure reflects only changes in the composition of the labor force, while the upper-bound measure also allows for increasing educational attainment over the lifecycle.

Our projections indicate that the changing composition of the population will lead to slower skill acquisition in both New England and the nation. Among middle-skill workers, the share of individuals completing an associate degree is projected to fall by roughly a percentage point, even though the share of individuals with some college is projected to increase slightly (see Table 2). That is because completion rates at the associate degree level are extremely low and have shown little improvement over the past decade. So even if more high school graduates choose to attend community college, degree completion rises by much less. The southern part of the region is driving much of this trend; in contrast, northern New England continues to maintain or even slightly increase its share of middle-skill workers.

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Will there be a mismatch?

How will the education/skill levels of future labor force participants stack up against those demanded by firms over the next decade? To examine this, we make employment projections by detailed occupation and “assign” jobs to different levels of education. We then sum employment over all occupations by each education category to get the total number of workers “demanded” by each education level.

Again, we make two sets of projections. The lower-bound projection assigns jobs to different levels of education using the distribution of educational attainment for workers currently in each detailed occupation. This allows us to capture the variation across education categories within occupations rather than assigning all jobs in an occupation to a single education level. This is what we think of as “maintaining the status quo”—the distribution of workers that employers would demand if they were to fill both old vacancies and new job openings with workers who have the same level of education as those who hold those types of jobs now. As such, it reflects only shifts in demand due to job growth across occupations.

However, we have seen that much of the increase in labor demand for college-educated workers stems from an increase in demand within occupations. The upper-bound projection applies the change in the education distribution for each detailed occupation between 2000 and 2006 to the current distribution to project what demand by each education category would look like if the prevailing trends continued. That is what we think of as “upskilling”—the projected distribution of workers that employers would demand if they were to fill both old vacancies and new job openings with workers who have increased their level of education to a similar degree as workers who have held those jobs in the past. As such, it reflects shifts in demand both across and within occupations.

Some researchers have suggested that instead of using the educational distribution of individuals currently employed in a given occupation, one should rely on education and training requirements developed by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) such as O*NET. While O*NET can be used to learn more about the tasks and work activities for a given occupation, it still relies on a survey of respondents to determine the education level required—similar to the methodology we use here. The difference is that the BLS then categorizes the occupation into one of five job zones, thereby eliminating the variation in educational attainment within each occupation. Yet employer needs are likely to differ across specific positions, firms and industries and for entry-level versus more advanced positions. In addition, the training requirements approach does not incorporate the potential need for upgrading of skills in the future.

Our projections show that labor demand in New England over the coming decade will continue to shift toward high-skill workers while remaining relatively constant for workers in the middle of the education distribution. According to our projections, by 2018, the number of workers demanded in New England is likely to exceed supply and this imbalance will not be distributed evenly across skill categories. For example, the number of middle-skill workers is projected to fall short of demand by roughly 15% nationwide versus a 30% shortfall in New England.

How well does the overall mix of skills likely to be demanded by employers match up with the shares of the population by education level? Looking at the relative distribution of jobs versus workers indicates that any potential mismatch is likely to be largest among those in the middle-skill category. In this category, labor supply is likely to fall short of demand by 4 to 6% in New England versus 1% to 2% for the nation (see Figure 2). The mismatch is greatest in southern New England where the supply of middle-skill workers has been shrinking over time.

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However, it is crucial to note that the future path of employment will be determined not only by the demands of employers and the skills of existing workers but also by future adaptations that we cannot anticipate. Indeed, there are likely to be some labor market adjustments over the next decade in response to these gaps on the part of both employers and workers. In the past, as the demand for skilled workers outpaced supply, the wages of those with any postsecondary education increased relative to those with less education.  In the future, we can expect to see some of the same adjustments. And as wages rise, both workers and firms are likely to respond. For example, younger workers are likely to respond by migrating into the area from other parts of the country. Alternatively, older workers may choose to stay in the labor force longer, delaying retirement. Finally, in the long run, entering cohorts of workers are likely to obtain more education and training in response to higher wages.

Yet even when we make adjustments to account for market forces, labor supply in New England continually falls short of labor demand.  Extrapolating from recent trends in high school graduation rates, college continuation rates, and college completion rates, our simulations show that additional educational attainment in response to rising wage premiums is not likely to be large enough to fill the projected skills gap over the next two decades—particularly among middle-skill workers. In fact, the size of the market response would have to be unprecedented to fill the gap. For example, net migration of middle-skill workers would have to increase by roughly 70,000 individuals per year over the next decade—yet New England typically experiences net out-migration in most years.

In addition, data limitations will cause our analysis to mask potential shortfalls within certain occupations. This is particularly true of many middle-skill jobs that require specific technical training that cannot be met by more general postsecondary education. For example, having an abundance of individuals with some college or an associate degree will do little to alleviate the persistent shortage in registered nurses unless those individuals obtain a nursing degree.

All in all, the trends described here are not likely to be a temporary phenomenon. The demand projections reflect an ongoing trend that was well underway before the Great Recession where technological change and other forces have been increasing the demand for more educated workers for decades. Similarly, the supply projections stem from demographic trends that have been on the horizon for quite some time and are likely to continue into the next decade and beyond

Will market forces fill the gap?

Although market forces are likely to lessen the severity of any future imbalance between the supply and demand for skilled labor to some extent, market imperfections and other constraints suggest that there is still a role for public policy. Our estimates showed that relying on individuals to obtain additional education and training in response to wage differentials is not likely to meet future demand—a scenario that we have seen over time as wage premiums for those with any postsecondary education and training have been rising for decades. Workers in the middle of the skills distribution are less mobile and have fewer resources than those at the top. Private-sector investments in such training are also limited as firms are often reluctant to invest in workers if it is fairly easy for other firms to hire workers away.

Providing individuals with the education and training they need to qualify for occupations that are likely to be in high demand in the future seems warranted. Indeed, despite greater automation and offshoring, middle-skill jobs still account for roughly one-third of New England’s employment—suggesting there will be a continued need for workers with some postsecondary education and training that is less than a bachelor’s degree. What’s more, at least half of all middle-skill jobs are in occupations such as healthcare (nurses, EMTs, therapists), sales (retail sales and supervisors), protective services (firefighters, police officers, correctional workers), education (teacher assistants), and office and administrative support (executive/medical/legal secretaries and administrative assistants). These are all growing occupations that typically rely on some interpersonal interaction that cannot be outsourced or automated, suggesting that perhaps firms have reached the limits of feasibility in terms of applying such strategies given their production processes.

Our results suggest that, in addition to ongoing efforts to expand more traditional four-year baccalaureate attainment, policymakers should consider specific education and training policies that target growing categories of middle-skill jobs. This is particularly true for southern New England where the mismatch is driven not only by having fewer workers but fewer workers with the right mix of skills. According to our projections, if the college continuation rate of both entering and existing cohorts (up to age 39) were raised by 20%, the gap would be reduced by one-third to one-half over the course of the decade. Such a large and immediate gain may not attainable; this rough calculation is simply meant to demonstrate the magnitude of change that would be required.

Rethinking how best to invest in our education and training programs that serve middle-skill workers, such as those based at community colleges, could benefit both the region and its residents. Yet the higher education system in New England seems skewed toward private institutions that produce bachelor degree holders—particularly in the southern part of the region. Typically the southern New England states have invested less in their public institutions in terms of appropriations per-capita than the national average. In addition, the completion rates of community colleges in southern New England lag behind the nation.

Yet increasing postsecondary education and training for middle-skill workers would require overcoming a number of challenges. We have shown that future gaps stem from changes in the composition of the labor force toward greater shares of immigrant and minority populations. Further gains in educational attainment among these traditionally disadvantaged groups would require significant investments in financial aid. In addition to financial assistance, community college students often face greater challenges to completion than those attending four-year institutions. Finally, postsecondary training at community colleges should be career oriented and focus on preparing students for middle-skill jobs that are expected to be in high demand.

These challenges should not stand in the way of progress. Strengthening community colleges can be a win-win-win for students, employers and the region. For students, it can be specialized training for a middle-skill career or an inexpensive steppingstone to a four-year degree. For employers, it can be a local partner to develop job-specific training programs for current employees or a nearby source for future recruiting. For the region, it can be a workforce development tool that is used to strengthen growing sectors of the economy while serving to reduce economic inequality and poverty.

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Alicia Sasser Modestino is a senior economist at the New England Public Policy Center at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston. Email: Alicia.sasser@bos.frb.org. The full report, including more detailed information for the New England states, is available at http://www.bos.frb.org/economic/neppc/.

[i] To project the future population over the next two decades, we begin with a baseline population of individuals ages 25 to 64 years for 2009, broken down by five-year age cohorts, nativity, gender, and race/ethnicity for both New England and the nation. We then calculate a 10-year “survival rate” for each group equal to percentage of that group that appears in both the 1990 and 2000 Census. For example, 95% of white males ages 25–29 in New England in 1990 were still living in New England as of 2000. Note that this “survival rate” represents a combination of mortality and migration rates as individuals may disappear over the decade by either dying or leaving the region. These survival rates are applied to the 2009 baseline population to get the projected population for 2019, and again to get the projected population for 2029. As a final step, we calculate labor force participation rates for each group and apply them to our projected populations to get the projected labor force for 2019 and 2029.

Related Posts: A Labor Market Mismatch in New England, Mismatch in the Marketplace: NEPPC Forum to Address Supply and Demand in Labor Force, Too Many College-Educated Workers or Too Few?, The Future of the Skilled Labor Force

In the U.S., postsecondary education has long driven individual social mobility and collective economic prosperity. Nonetheless, the nation’s labor force includes 54 million adults who lack a college degree; of those, nearly 34 million have no college experience at all. In the 21st century, these numbers cannot sustain us.

Returning to learning: Adults’ success ...]]>

In the U.S., postsecondary education has long driven individual social mobility and collective economic prosperity. Nonetheless, the nation’s labor force includes 54 million adults who lack a college degree; of those, nearly 34 million have no college experience at all. In the 21^st century, these numbers cannot sustain us.

Returning to learning: Adults’ success in college is key to America’s future; Lumina Foundation for Education; 2007

This is a growing problem faces higher education and our nation. Retention and graduation rates are deplorable, particularly for disadvantaged students. Far too many who enter the gates of higher education leave before earning a postsecondary degree. And for those who do earn their credential, there is a growing and fair concern over quality of learning—students’ ability to perform in the workforce, to solve problems, to think critically and to communicate effectively across different media and contexts. The reasons are many: pedagogy focused in learning from textbooks and lectures more than doing and designing, a disconnect between real-world needs and industrial-era academies, financial constraints for students and for institutions, and a market guided by rankings based on prestige and not student performance post-graduation. Students setting their own paths and purposes for learning are not often enough a central part of the higher education equation.

In a society that reaches for silver-bullet solutions, higher education is not immune from widespread attempts to raise graduation rates through scaling one-size-fits-all models at lower and lower costs. Yet we at Big Picture Learning believe any true, long-term solution that will produce more graduates with high-quality degrees must be one-learner-at-a-time and competency-based, and not applied in broad brushstrokes to produce quick results. The same terms we use, such as “student-centered” and “performance-based,” are often employed in circumstances we feel are merely tweaking around the edges one reform at a time. In contrast, we have spent the past two years piloting a model that is drastically different: College Unbound.

College Unbound brings to higher education the Big Picture Learning philosophy, which has grown over 15 years to a network of more than 70 U.S. schools and almost 60 schools internationally. With initial funding from Lumina Foundation for Education, Nellie Mae Education Foundation, Staples Foundation for Learning and individual donors, College Unbound launched its first program, College Unbound @ Roger Williams University, in fall 2009, accepting a cohort of students that will graduate in May 2012. Southern New Hampshire University will welcome its first group of College Unbound @ SNHU students in fall 2011. The word “unbound” in our title does not mean that our students do not attend college—in fact, all are thriving on their path to a degree. Instead, we hope with this name to sum up our work in “unbundling” traditional notions of higher education and creating a new paradigm for 21^st-century college.

College Unbound’s design: student retention with high quality of learning

Traditional curricula are typically text-to-life: students first encounter facts and skills from books, lectures and other academic resources, and are usually only later—if ever—asked to apply this learning in the way that those actually working in the field do on a daily basis. Not only does such a model of learning miss the opportunity to motivate and engage students in real-world work, but it is also no wonder that 63% of employers surveyed by the American Association of Schools and Universities said that too many recent college graduates enter the workforce without the necessary tools for success.

As a key both to student retention and quality of learning, we see College Unbound as a “life-to-text” model, a design that puts students in the driver’s seat of their educational journey. Students begin their studies focused not on which course they need to take, but instead on questions and ideas that are important to them. They then ground these purposes for learning within the actual problems and questions facing their community and career or interest. The internship projects that our College Unbound students spend two days building and executing with a professional advisor are just as, if not more, important than the learning students do off-site. The other three days a week are spent broadening and deepening their theoretical knowledge to support of their projects and their individualized plans for developing all required competencies for graduation.

Our communities of College Unbound learners excel because this program offers:

• real-world skill and knowledge acquisition as students tackle workplace and community problems with professional advisors;

• integrated seminars where students engage in interdisciplinary studies to gain the required broad as well as field-based skills and knowledge;

• individual learning plans that start with each student’s needs, interests, and modes of inquiry; and

• all remedial and enrichment education embedded into students’ learning planning and interest-based projects.

Throughout these program features, students’ work is highly collaborative as a means of building a professional and academic network and providing the necessary support they need. They meet on a weekly basis with faculty, professional advisors, mentors, writing coaches, tutors and their peers. The experience of working carefully and closely with faculty mentors on significant projects is profound and deeply rewarding, increasing student engagement and motivation and ensuring that their degrees will be grounded in real-world practice.

College Unbound’s student-centered evaluation and assessment designs

Evaluation and assessment are critical components of ensuring College Unbound’s effectiveness and student growth. All assessments are used to offer real-time feedback and lead to any necessary programmatic and student-level adjustments. To that end, students have an active voice in their own—and the program’s—growth and progress. For example, students participate in board meetings, funding meetings and evaluations of program components. In addition to program evaluation done by an outside program documenter, students are a central part of assessing College Unbound’s success through surveys, student interviews, student evaluations and documentation of student work.

Central to our program’s effectiveness are clear measures of student learning. Therefore, we also use a variety of formative and summative assessments to gauge student thinking and application of the skills demarcated in our detailed learning goals. Students are assessed in four categories of learning:

• Broad Knowledge—Making Interdisciplinary Connections;
• Critical Methods of Inquiry, Personal Growth and Development;
• Demonstrated Valued Added; and
• Applied Knowledge and Skills/Civic Engagement.

The outcomes we have adopted take into account all of the Essential Learning Outcomes published by the National Leadership Council for Liberal Education and America’s Promise, as well as additional outcomes based on our own research and experience. Our learning goals are in alignment with students’ ability to show competency in these rigorous goals and is a prerequisite to what we believe is a truly performance-based degree.

To monitor students’ competency development, they are evaluated using learning goal rubrics by their faculty and professional advisors through weekly meetings and varied assignments and projects. Student internship project work, seminar assignments, journals, reflective and critical writing, surveys and interviews all provide formative opportunities for those working closely with the students to provide feedback and assist students in documenting their growth.

In addition, students do weekly self-reflections and engage in self-evaluation to help them track their own progress. We seek to use portfolios and public exhibitions in innovative ways to do accurate summative assessments of what students have learned at each mid-semester and final point. Instead of exams, our students speak about, demonstrate, and are challenged on their work during public exhibitions in front of faculty, professional advisors, field experts, community members and peers. Portfolios and exhibitions allow students to document, share, and self-evaluate their work, creating a perfect opportunity for faculty and students to collaboratively assess their learning plan progress to revise them before the next semester’s work.

The College Unbound student experience

For example, Michael Reaves, a student at College Unbound @ Roger Williams University is interested in history, specifically the Civil Rights Movement, community and education. Through his internship at the Institute for the Study and Practice of Nonviolence, Michael explores his questions and purpose to gain the knowledge and skills required to be a community organizer, leader and educator. In his freshman year, Reaves underwent 30 hours of professional training to become a certified trainer of nonviolence. He led a high school partnership program where he and a team of trainers taught an eight-week non-violence workshop to more than 90 high school students. Each group of students was responsible for a community event and a culminating final day of celebration and sharing of project work.

Reaves also participated in the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee’s 50^th-anniversary conference, traveled to China and attends seminars, lectures, and salons offered throughout Providence and Rhode Island. He has listened to and spoken with leaders from the Civil Rights moment and experts in the field. This, year he is spearheading the development of a new community response team for the Institute. His seminars on leadership, grant writing and the social sciences support his project and intellectual growth. Along with a College Unbound student colleagues, Reaves is planning to create a summer community leadership program that brings at-risk students from Providence to Israel to work with and learn with their Israeli counterparts.

Alex Villagomez began his freshman year exploring his broad questions on sustainability through an internship at StackDesignBuild (Stack). Stack is a unique contractor focused on affordable green building, sustainable design, and innovative technologies. In his first year, Villagomez learned how to use RevIt and Sketch Up, how to hand draw sketches, and how to create 3D models. His  main project was to design six options for the interior of Stack's new office space. He met with Stack owners, ran project meetings, and gave a formal presentation of his drawings and models. Villagomez also assisted on three of Stack's other projects: the Box Office, Containers to Clinics, and Barmonde Residence. He spent the summer in Soweto, South Africa, where he learned about leadership/entrepreneurship, urban agriculture and green energy.

After his first year of work at Stack, his seminars, and his summer travel, Villagomez honed his questions around sustainability to focus on passive solar design. This year, he is serving as the project manager and designer for a sustainable tree house classroom project to be built at Driftwood Stables, a leadership camp in New Hampshire. His tree house will use passive solar design and may draw on small-scale green energy technologies including a solar panel system and rainwater catchment system. His work is undergirded by seminar learning, workshops and conferences focused on passive solar design, leadership, project management and grant writing. To maximize learning and application of the theories involved in this project, Villagomez is also taking a class on passive solar design at the Apeiron Institute for Sustainable Living in Providence.

Finally, Ariel Wilburn began her journey at College Unbound with a focus on psychology and the stated purpose of working with children of domestic violence. Wilburn spent her first year interning at a shelter for women and children of domestic violence. Under the guidance of her professional advisor and the theories learned through her seminar work, she created a curriculum focused on social development of children ages three to six. Wilburn supported her work at the shelter by studying theories of child development—from Jean Piaget’s to Barbara Rogoff’s—by auditing a course at Brown University on social and culture context of learning and development, and by attending state-level child advocacy meetings with her mentor.

Over the summer, Wilburn brought her skills, knowledge, and interests to Salvador Brazil, where she continued working with underserved children. In her sophomore year, she has merged her passion of spoken-word poetry with her purpose of helping children and transitioned to the Institute for the Study and Practice of Nonviolence. In this internship, she is creating and then leading a group of spoken-word poets—VENT, Voices Encouraging Nonviolent Thinking. This corps of poets will teach nonviolent principles to local school students. Like Reaves and Villagomez, Wilburn completed 30 hours of professional training. She has become a certified trainer of nonviolence.

Lessons learned

As these experiences show, our two years of experience with the College Unbound pilot are successfully developing learners who are consistently curious, wondering, pondering, uncertain, speculating, questioning, stuck and caught up. We believe such students are clearly more likely to stay in school through their graduation day and, because they are learning for their own purposes and interests, much more likely to develop the rigorous set of competencies required for a high-level college degree.

Although the current trajectory of higher education is toward scaling one-size-fits-all models at a lower cost, our 15 years of raising graduation rates in the Big Picture Learning network argues for sticking with the tried and true about how people learn. No matter our age, no matter our background, we all learn best when allowed to do so in a way we find meaningful and when supported toward high-level goals. College Unbound is a high-touch model without a doubt; as our program continues, we believe adding a greater high-tech component will allow for the efficiencies of scale a higher education does require—without losing the innovations we believe are making a significant difference for our students.

The accompanying videos were filmed and edited by students to demonstrate their work and the College Unbound Program. The videos include footage of second-year student Ariel Wilburn and Alex Villagomez’s work and the College Unbound learning community, and first-year student Mike McCarthy’s work on digital learning and educational design. Click the links below to view the videos ...

• About Big Picture Learning
• College Unbound's Learning Community
• Internship: Voices Encouraging Nonviolent Thinking
• Components of College Unbound

________________________________________________________________________

Jamie E. Scurry is co-director of College Unbound. Ariel Wilburn and Alex Villagomez are sophomores in College Unbound. Mike McCarthy is a freshman.

Related Posts: The Big Picture College: A Model High School Program Graduates (pdf); Interview with Nick Donohue of the Nellie Mae Education Foundation

The Florida Department of Education announced the nation's first state assessment to incorporate common core standards.

Working with the test developer McCann Associates, Florida will launch the test at 28 colleges in an effort to both place students and assess readiness for college-level work. Florida's Postsecondary Education Readiness Test (PERT) will be given to high school ...]]>

The Florida Department of Education announced the nation's first state assessment to incorporate common core standards.

Working with the test developer McCann Associates, Florida will launch the test at 28 colleges in an effort to both place students and assess readiness for college-level work. Florida's Postsecondary Education Readiness Test (PERT) will be given to high school and entering postsecondary students.

PERT uses branching algorithms to assess students, along with a second phase that includes diagnostic tests in math, reading and writing. The Florida initiative also aims to provide higher graduation rates by allowing administrators to identify students' strengths.

Common core standards may be the hottest issue in education today. Proponents claim the standards will ensure that all schools have an intellectually rigorous curriculum. Opponents says a shared curriculum imposed on schools would ignore the diversity of experiences, skills and goals students bring to their classrooms. As Dennis Littky, a Providence, R.I. school reformer who has won a 2011 NEBHE Excellence Award, quips: "Who wants a standardized kid, anyway?"