Report from Commission on Access, Admissions and Success in Higher Education Out Dec. 10
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Commission member Joyce V. Brown, manager of secondary school counselors for Chicago Public Schools |
An anticipated report from the College Board’s Commission on Access, Admissions and Success in Higher Education is set to
be released at a national press event Dec. 10 on Washington’s Capitol Hill. The report will offer a thorough assessment of issues affecting U.S. students’ access to and success in higher education — including factors of retention, school counseling and the development of strong academic standards to prepare students —
then will present concrete and action-oriented recommendations for improving the system’s ability to adequately provide college-bound students with the skills necessary to succeed with a demanding college curriculum.
Coming at a time of great transition in the nation’s capital, the release of this report — bolstered by the presence of top education experts — is intended to provide useful information to the president-elect’s transition team, university administrators, state and federal policymakers and the media and alert them to the national educational crisis that is affecting our country’s ability to compete in the world economy. The report will include a data book, which will provide quantifiable indicators to support the commission’s findings. The commission will provide a national update each year moving forward, and these indicators will be used to measure progress.
The commission was created in March 2007 in response to discussions among College Board members at national and regional forums about the changing face of college admissions. Led by Brit Kirwan, chancellor of the University System of Maryland, the commission has performed a broad examination of the demographic, socioeconomic, public policy and education trends that positively or negatively influence the pipeline from middle school through college — even pre-K through college — and has launched a national dialogue about effective ways to increase the number of U.S. college graduates.
Members of the commission include presidents and administrators of colleges (public, private, land-grant and tribal), university chancellors, admissions and enrollment deans, financial aid officers, high school counselors and administrators, school district superintendents, policymakers and other education experts who share a concern that U.S. students aren’t adequately prepared to be successful in college, while U.S. college graduation rates are falling behind those most other industrialized nations.
The commission has expanded the work of the Task Force on Admissions in the 21st Century, which examines admissions practices at postsecondary institutions and existing barriers to the successful transition of students from secondary schools to these institutions, particularly for first-generation, underrepresented and low-income students. Both the commission and task force draw from the work of other College Board Advocacy initiatives, such as the CollegeKeys Compact™, the National Commission on Community Colleges and Rethinking Student Aid.
