In "The Convergence of K-12 and Higher Education," two leading scholars of education policy bring together a distinguished and varied array of contributors to systematically examine the growing convergence between the K-12 and higher education sectors in the United States. Though the two sectors have traditionally been treated as distinct and separate, the editors show that the past decade has seen an increasing emphasis on the alignment between the two. At the same time, the national focus on outcomes and accountability, originating in the K-12 sector, is exerting growing pressure on higher education, while trends toward privatization and diversification--long characteristic of the postsecondary sector--are influencing public schools. This volume makes the powerful case that it is no longer possible to think of one sector in the absence of the other, given the economic, demographic, and technological forces that are pushing the educational system toward convergence. Taken together, the chapters in this book provide a promising new line of inquiry for examining contemporary questions in education policy. Contents include: (1) Framing Convergence (Christopher P. Loss and Patrick J. McGuinn); (2) Governance as a Source of Sector Convergence in a Changing Sociopolitical Landscape (Kevin J. Dougherty and Jeffrey R. Henig); (3) From Helping the Poor to Helping the Middle Class: The Convergence of Federal K-12 and Higher Education Funding Policy Since 1965 (Adam R. Nelson and Nicholas M. Strohl); (4) Individuality or Community?: Bringing Assessment and Accountability to K-16 Education (Arnold F. Shober); (5) Teacher Policy Under the ESEA and the HEA: A Convergent Trajectory with an Unclear Future (Dan Goldhaber and Nate Brown); (6) Institutional Assessment and Accountability (Luciana Dar); (7) College for All and the Convergence of High School and Community College (James Rosenbaum, Caitlin Ahearn, Chenny Ng, and Jiffy Lansing); (8) College Access and Opportunity (Donnell Butler); (9) Preparing Students for College: Common Core and the Promises and Challenges of Convergence (Josipa Roksa); (10) Technology and Education in the United States: Policy, Infrastructure, and Sociomaterial Practice (June Ahn and Bradley Quarles); (11) Going Global: How US K-16 Education Is Shaped by "the Rest of the World" (Cynthia Miller-Idriss); and (12) The Future of Convergence (Patrick J. McGuinn and Christopher P. Loss). An index is also included.