Efforts to improve student learning and success at community colleges are in the national policy spotlight. Colleges around the country are reviewing their institutional practices and gathering groups of education stakeholders to design and then implement changes in advising, developmental education, programs of study and curricula, student…

As a new decade dawns, teachers stand at the center of a policy vortex. They serve as the primary focus of one of the Obama administration's four pillars of educational reform--effective teachers and leaders. Educational reformers of all stripes have focused tremendous energy on thinking of ways to identify effective teachers and in turn recruit,…

"With Their Whole Lives Ahead of Them" asks young Americans why so many college students drop out. This study is designed to test the assumptions many individuals make about college students today and why so many of them fail to graduate. It also helps to identify solutions that young people themselves say would help most. With underwriting from…

For increasing numbers of Americans, a fundamental element of the American Dream appears to be at risk. A solid majority consider a college degree an indispensable ticket to the middle class, while even more people believe college is financially out-of-reach for many qualified students. The authors of this report advocate that findings have…

In many respects, Hispanic families share the aspirations and anxieties of many other families nationwide: They are keenly focused on the role completing high school and going to college will play in their children's future. Students and young adults see success in school and college as key to interesting work and a prosperous future, and most are…

This "Lessons Learned" report finds two specific areas in which teacher training may be lacking: preparedness for the diversity of the contemporary American classroom and teaching students with special needs. Seventy-six percent of new teachers said teaching an ethnically diverse student body was covered in their training, but only 39 percent said…

This report explores the true position of public libraries today, in the minds not only of library users, but of the people who run libraries and those who provide oversight and funding. This study is the first step in the development of a national agenda for libraries and library funding in the 21st century. Findings from this study indicate…