College graduation rates in the United States are low in both real and relative terms. This has left policymakers and leaders of these institutions looking for novel solutions, while perhaps ignoring extant but underused programs. This paper, published here in the November issue of the American Journal of Education, examines the effect on degree
With the Abigail Fisher case recently decided by the Supreme Court, Affirmative Action in higher education has entered the public realm once again. The University of Texas, whose argument is supported by the AERA and other social science groups, argues that the use of holistic admissions process benefits students by increasing diversity and positively
My student Kristan sends me an email. She is studying theater in Europe. Her first research paper is due in a couple weeks and she wants to know if I will look it over. Although she graduated last May, she is still my student. I am glad to help her. I am also uniquely suited
Massive open online courses, or MOOCs, created a buzz in the world of higher education in 2012. MOOCs are web-based courses that allow professors to instruct students over the Internet for free. The online courses have provided global audiences an opportunity to engage in formal education once only available to traditional students, thus attempting to
In higher education, calls for more engaging and socially impactful curriculum have steadily intensified over the decades. In response, a complement of curricular innovations has developed around social entrepreneurship, undergraduate research, and service learning—to name just a few. A fair amount of scholarly work and informal commentary have circulated about the definitions and features of
Most of us have been there: it’s your freshman year and you’re in a crowded lecture hall, a completely anonymous face in a sea of 300 students. At about three minutes past class time, a professor enters the room with a notebook full of faded pages and begins to talk. He’s talking about science; it’s
“No talking. Put all of your books away. Elevate a closed binder on your desk to block the view of your neighbor’s paper. Place your cell phone in my line of sight so I know you are not texting. No leaving the room until you hand me your test.” When I taught high school, this
This is the second part of a three-part series that reflects and projects on the state of educational policy within the Obama Administration. Part one of the series, a breakdown of the Obama Administrations K-12 policy and emphasis areas, can be found here[1]. The conclusion, which makes predictions for K-12 and higher education in the
In February 1989, the American Journal of Education (AJE) published Howard London’s “Breaking Away: A Study of First-Generation College Students and Their Families.” According to AJE’s homepage on JSTOR, London’s piece has gone on to be the most frequently cited AJE article focused on higher education with almost 1100 unique users accessing the piece over