The National Center for Higher Education Management Systems (NCHEMS) and MHEC were awarded a competitive grant from the American Institutes for Research in 2019 as part of its National Research Collaborative on Postsecondary Competency-based Education and Learning (cberesearch.org). The grant objective was to specifically identify state policies…

The Latino population in the United States is large and growing. As a whole, however, it has been challenged with inequitable educational attainment rates compared to other groups, meriting the attention of public agencies, postsecondary institutions, and advocates. Latino economic and career success -- and the success of our overall economy --…

College graduation rates have been on the academic and political agenda. The United States graduation rate is 59%, however, 68% of nontraditional students do not graduate with baccalaureate degrees within the time frame of six years. Scholars are attributing the decreasing graduation rates to barriers encountered by nontraditional undergraduate…

The demographic profile of the United States has been rapidly changing; by 2020, minority students will constitute the majority of the public school student population nationwide. This makes cultural competence a necessity for today's school leaders. Educational leadership preparation programs are responsible for preparing culturally competent…

In the United States, approximately 65 percent of all jobs in 2020 will require some level of postsecondary education, and the demand will reach 68 percent in Iowa. This report seeks to inform public discourse on higher education by providing key performance indicators relevant to the goal of improving educational attainment for a healthy economy…

Using critical policy analysis, this study considers state policies that impede technical credit transfer from public 2-year colleges to 4-year institutions of higher education. The states of Ohio, Texas, Washington, and Wisconsin are considered, and seven policy benchmarks for facilitating the transfer of technical credits are proposed. (Contains…

The national goal of increasing postsecondary credentials, to improve both equity and economic competitiveness, requires a fresh look at how to recognize learning in noncredit workforce education and training. The credit hour has long been the standard academic currency in postsecondary education. Despite its weakness as a measure of learning, in…