The US Education Deficit

On Saturday, the New York Times published an article on the growing gap between the United States and other countries in the percentage of adults who earned college degrees.

Graduation rates for American college students are depressing, with only 57 percent of students who enroll in a bachelor’s degree program earning a degree within six years, and fewer than 25 percent of students who begin at a community college graduating with an associate’s degree within three years.

The College Board issued a report last Thursday showing that although the United States used to lead the world in the number of 25- to 34-year-olds with college degrees, it now ranks 12th among 36 developed nations.

The College Completion Agenda 2010 Progress Report recommends the following 10 ways to improve the state of higher education in the US:

• Provide a program of voluntary preschool education, universally available to children from low-income families
• Improve middle and high school college counseling
• Implement the best research-based dropout prevention programs
• Align the K–12 education system with international standards and college admission expectations
• Improve teacher quality and focus on recruitment and retention
• Clarify and simplify the admission process
• Provide more need-based grant aid while simplifying and making financial aid processes more transparent
• Keep college affordable
• Dramatically increase college completion rates
• Provide postsecondary opportunities as an essential element of adult education programs

I am impressed by the focus on early education as a major contributor to college completion rates. The first five recommendations directly address PreK-12 education. Without a strong foundation, students flail when they reach the college classroom.

President Obama’s American Graduation Initiative, calls for five million more college graduates by 2020. What changes in our educational system do you think need to be made in order to reach this lofty goal?

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