Given what seems a constant barrage of criticism aimed at the academy from politicians and the public--and the great concern for buzz words like accountability and transparency--it has become fairly routine to see a defense of the humanities in opinion pieces in "Inside Higher Education," "The Chronicle of Higher Education,"…

Potential students hoping to gauge the quality of courses at Portland State University might be forgiven for feeling confused. On the one hand, the University Studies program, which uses interdisciplinary seminars during the first two years to develop students' core skills, has been widely praised and emulated. The Council for Higher Education…

As educators, government officials, and foundations leaders have embraced the agenda of dramatically increasing college success and credential completion, they have come to understand the need for better data on student outcomes to guide the improvement efforts of institutions, systems, and states. The data on degree completion and other final…

Learning communities are a popular strategy that community colleges nationwide have embraced in support of developmental students. In a learning community, a cohort of students takes two or more courses linked by integrated themes and assignments that are developed through ongoing faculty collaboration. While the number of learning community…

This document, the last volume of a four-part publication, describes the programs in basic skills in mathematics at the nine senior colleges and eight community colleges of the City University of New York (CUNY), updating surveys made in 1976. These programs are for students who do not meet CUNY's standard for minimum competency in mathematics, or…