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Advocacy

Task Force on Admissions Releases Report,
Launches Microsite

Bruce Walker, vice provost and director of admissions at the University of Texas at Austin, is a member of the task force.

A new report out from the Task Force on Admissions in the 21st Century was released at Forum 2008 in Houston in November. “Preserving the Dream of America” is a letter to admissions and financial
aid professionals,
school counselors and administrators from their colleagues that was designed to inspire, dedicate, inform and call them to action to meet the challenges of higher education in this rapidly changing new century. The report was accompanied by a newly launched microsite offering supportive information, such as the companion “Selected Data on P-20 Education in America,” which is a rich source of national and international data on educational attainment, demographics and assessment that relate to the issues associated with the task force’s work.

The task force began two years ago with 43 school counselors, administrators, and admissions and student aid professionals who convened to talk about how to better transition students from the secondary level to the postsecondary system. Participants expressed a general sense of unease and dissatisfaction with the existing climate in the transition process and the profession’s response to those challenges. With rapidly changing demographics, the high commercialization of all processes and a tremendous push toward rankings and measuring inputs, it has become more difficult to make good decisions for the long-term success of students. They didn’t feel they were preparing the next generation of leaders in their profession to be grounded in educational values that keep students moving forward or to be knowledgeable and thoughtful practitioners who really understand how to respond to the challenges in the environment when acting as a profession “at its best.”
                                     
“We wanted to declare and rededicate ourselves to the foundational values that give purpose to our work,” said Jerry Lucido, chair of the task force. “So we reviewed the practices in our professions when we were at our best.” Task force members produced “A Declaration of Values to Guide a Profession,” which established 10 principles for the profession that draw on the best from their past, look forward to challenges and opportunities, and provide a clear agenda for the profession in the century ahead. These principles were followed by seven action commitments that the task force hopes will be implemented by thousands of leaders in secondary and higher education.

One of the key components of this vision is training. Several topics for future training activities have been proposed to help prepare a new generation of professionals: advocacy, communications, complexity, demographics, educating institutional leaders, prices and aid policy, professional standards, rankings and assessments, and system alignment. Presentations on the work of the task force and its report are planned for each of the 2009 regional forums.

For more information, please visit the task force's Web site.

» Task Force on Admissions Releases Report, Launches Microsite » Report Shows Best Counseling Practices in Challenging Environments » CollegeKeys Compact™ Hosts Saturday Institute at Forum » Access & Diversity Collaborative, Other Leaders Meet as`Brain Trust’ in DC » Facts for Education Advocates: Financial Aid

AP® Professional Development Opportunities from the College Board Register Now for the Future of Diversity and Opportunity in Higher Education: A National Forum on Innovation and Collaboration. Toward Higher Ground: New Visions, New Voices for the 21st Century — Register by Dec. 1 Registration Is Open for the National Office of School Counselor Advocacy National Conference. CALL FOR PROPOSALS for Prepárate™: Educating Latinos for the Future of America CALL FOR PROPOSALS for the Native American Student Advocacy Institute: Building Nations Through Education CALL FOR PROPOSALS for A Dream Deferred™: The Future of African American Education SAVE THE DATE for AP Annual Conference 2009.

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