The Missing Plan for States in the Higher Education Act As calls for a federal-state partnership in higher education increase and discussions around state incentives continue,  federal lawmakers should use this reauthorization opportunity to include a new state plan requirement in the Higher Education Act (HEA).  In most of the major federal statutes governing the […] … learn more→

Academics in the liberal arts face many personal and professional anxieties, but there is one deep concern that underlies them all: the demise of the book. Opening the pages of a library book was for centuries a source of unalloyed intellectual, spiritual and social pleasure for all academics. That experience was a treasure we shared […] … learn more→

Tolerance is one of the most familiar words in the English language. By definition it is neither virtue nor vice and may be either, depending on context. Its subject matter is usually negative; we don’t tolerate things we like — we endorse or affirm them. We tolerate things we do not like but that we […] … learn more→

Each year in the United States, approximately 5 to 7.5 million students in the nation’s K-12 schools miss a month or more of school. That means 150 to 225 million instructional days are lost every school year. The problem is more pronounced in low-income urban communities throughout the country. In elementary school, for example, students who live […] … learn more→

I’ve been thinking a great deal lately about how disruption will play out in American higher education. My hopes – and concerns – reflect a bedrock belief that America’s colleges and universities operate on an unsustainable finance model that must adapt to new realities. It is impossible to predict how many colleges and universities have the capacity […] … learn more→

  When I was at a fake community college, every semester someone with a Ph.D. in Education would come in and lecture us on “how to teach.” It was either basic advice that anyone with 3 months of experience would know (“Make sure more than 1 answer in a multiple choice question is at least […] … learn more→

My daughter turned two years old the month that I commenced my PhD. I was excited to be quitting my nine-to-five job to embark on a new adventure exploring an interdisciplinary project about which I was passionate and enthusiastic. I imagined the flexibility that returning to full-time study would afford me. Three years seemed like a […] … learn more→

Graduates from the medical assistant program at Vatterott College, a large for-profit with campuses across the Midwest, have struggled to gain a foothold in their career a few years after leaving. Those who completed their associate degree in medical assisting between 2010 and 2012 had typical annual earnings of just over $13,000 two years later. […] … learn more→

A friend of mine asked me for some advice about what to do in the lead up to the PhD submission. While I’m sure every experience is different, I think it’s reasonably safe to say that the following points would be useful for a majority of PhD candidates. Know the administrative requirements for submitting I’m […] … learn more→

More and more students are reporting significant mental health issues. This should not come as a surprise; life seems to have become more complex, more information intensive. It’s clear that the young are responding to the society in which they find themselves, having to navigate social media, financial difficulty, increasing expectation and competition – the list can […] … learn more→