The Higher Education Research Program, 19 educational practitioners invited by The Pew Charitable Trusts to help take stock of higher education's strengths and weaknesses, its challenges and opportunities, is discussed. Three principal issues facing higher education include costs, the quality of teaching and learning, and making higher education…

The Sloan Commission on Government and Higher Education Report, which tries to reconcile the demand for government aid with the maintenance of institutional independence, is discussed. The response to the commission's report is described. The commission's influence is seen to be undercut by its composition--mostly members of private institutions.…

The Reagan revolution is making profound changes in the basic assumptions that have undergirded American educational and social policy. The time has come to form a new national consensus whose unifying idea is educational quality. The declining quality of teachers poses the gravest threat to the quality of education. (MLW)

The national politics of American education have clustered around four major issues: the federal effort on behalf of minorities, the poor, and other disadvantaged groups; the national politics of private and religious schools; the quality of schooling as a concern of the federal government; and educational strategies for the government. (MLW)

Four books are reviewed including: "Fostering Minority Access and Achievement in Higher Education" (a Ford Foundation study by Richard Richardson and Lewis Bender); "In Pursuit of Equality in Higher Education" (Anne Pruitt); "Latino College Students" (Michael Olivas); and "Toward Undergraduate Student Quality in…

The liberal consensus that has shaped national education policy is seen as succumbing to dubious ideas and undesirable practices. Issues discussed include: educational equity, equality and quality; measures of educational achievement; accountability; "need" and ability; statism and monoply, pluralism and diversity; federal role; and…