Nearly 300 leaders from the worlds of business, higher education, and philanthropy convened in Washington last week to discuss how to carry out the recommendations of the U.S. Secretary of Education's Commission on the Future of Higher Education. By the end of the day, they had produced a list of 25 "action items" but no plan for how to put them into practice. Education Department officials said they would work on assigning responsibility for the items in the coming days. The summit, dubbed "A Test of Leadership," was the department's effort to get state and local governments, businesses, and philanthropic groups to take ownership of the commission's recommendations, which were published last fall. From the start of the summit, the department tried to create a sense of urgency among participants, warning of impending disaster if graduation rates did not improve. The summit was also an opportunity for the department to tout some of the steps it has taken to bring about the commission's recommendations. Some of the 25 revised recommendations that participants came up with over the course of the day are presented.