White House Calls On Governors To Increase College Completion With Tool Kit
Vice President Joe Biden unveiled an administration plan Tuesday to involve governors directly in efforts to boost college graduation rates while providing millions in financial incentives for colleges to do the same.
Speaking at an education summit in Washington, Biden suggested each governor hold a college completion summit, and he proposed a list of ideas to help them. President Barack Obama's goal for the U.S. to have the best college graduation rate in the world by 2020 is "a necessity," Biden said. "This is not an aspiration."
The plan offers seven "low-cost or no-cost" strategies – with specific examples of how each is already being used in some places – to improve college completion:
_Set goals and develop an action plan.
_Embrace performance-based funding.
_Align high school standards with college entrance and placement standards.
_Make it easier for students to transfer.
_Use data to drive decision making.
_Accelerate learning and reduce costs.
_Target adults, especially those with some college but no degree.
Korea has the best college graduation rate, with 58 percent of its population ages 25-34 having finished college; the U.S. is in a four-way tie for ninth place at 42 percent, according to a study published last year by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.
To regain the top spot, the Education Department projects the nation will need to hike its completion rate by 50 percent, which translates into an additional 8 million students earning associate's or bachelor's degrees by the end of the decade.
The department published data Tuesday showing the percentage of college graduates in each state as of 2009, the number of grads needed for each state to have a 60 percent completion rate by 2020, and the number needed for a 50 percent increase in completion in that same period.
Graduation figures range from a low of 28 percent in Arkansas, Nevada and New Mexico to 54 percent in Massachusetts. The District of Columbia topped all states, with 65 percent of its residents holding degrees.
Nineteen states have already set their own goals for increasing college completion.
The Education Department on Tuesday announced $20 million in grants for innovations designed to improve success and productivity at postsecondary schools.
The administration has proposed another $123 million in competitive funds for programs that speed learning, boost completion rates and hold down tuition.
A second proposed program of $50 million would reward states and institutions for producing more college grads. Education Department data shows that about one-third of first-year college students nationwide had taken at least one remedial course in the 2007-08 school year. At two-year colleges, 42 percent had taken at least one remedial course.
Former West Virginia Gov. Bob Wise, president of the Alliance for Excellent Education, said the strategies recommended by Biden have proven effective but are only one part of the solution.
States must also significantly raise high school graduation rates, while increasing the preparation of high school students for college-level classes, said Wise, a Democrat.
"It's about first getting the high school diploma, and the second step is making sure there is preparation behind the diploma," Wise said.
Toward that end, the National Governors Association is already spearheading the effort known as the Common Core standards initiative, which sets uniform academic benchmarks and has been adopted by 41 states.
Though a spokeswoman for the association did not immediately return a request for comment, Wise said he thinks state executives will be receptive.
"Every governor knows this needs to be done," he said. "Every governor would be looking for every partner he or she could find because they're all definitely trying to do this."
But Robert Schwartz, academic dean at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, cautioned that hitting the goal of a 60 percent national graduation rate by 2020 still will not be a panacea.
Schwartz heads the Pathways to Prosperity Project, which released a study in February concluding that the U.S. education system should offer greater emphasis on occupational instruction.
"What's the strategy for the other 40 percent of people?" he said. "We can't keep saying, 'College for all, college for all' and yet set targets that even if you could meet them are going to leave out very large proportions of young people."
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Associated Press writer Stacy Anderson in Washington contributed to this report.
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KATHY MATHESON and CHRISTINE ARMARIO 03/22/11 02:49 PM ET Associated Press