Higher education's presence in school reform is limited because many university people equate reform with lowered standards and instrumental knowledge, view portfolios as complicating the admissions process, and have low expectations for the secondary school system. Oregon's Proficiency-based Admission Standards System (PASS) is a state-mandated…

By adding courses in math, science, English, foreign languages, and geography to their admission standards, colleges and universities in many states are fostering further fragmentation of high school curricula and forcing some schools to add class periods or short-change vocational, music, and art students. Michigan, Oregon, Colorado, and New York…

Describes Oregon's Proficiency-based Admission Standards System (PASS), a transition away from using Carnegie units and grade point averages in college admission decisions and toward use of the certificates of mastery implemented as part of Oregon's K-12 education reform efforts. (EV)

The admissions and selection process of the Washington State College of Veterinary Medicine, which provides cooperative education, services and research to Washington, Idaho, and Oregon. Screening committees are used in each state to evaluate individual applicants. Their procedures and problems are discussed. (LBH)

Although some small liberal arts colleges feature developmentally appropriate programs, most postsecondary institutions are more like factories that process students. This article describes limitations of the current college-admissions model and discusses the need to create common expectations and develop performance-based admission standards…

In answer to sweeping reform of public schools in Oregon, the state's colleges and universities are adopting proficiency-based admissions, designed to measure how much applicants know instead of how many courses they took in high school. Observers praise the higher education community's cooperative response to school reform efforts. (MSE)

THIS PAPER DEVELOPS AN ECONOMIC THEORY OF INSTITUTIONS OF HIGHER EDUCATION (IHE) FROM WHICH IT MIGHT BE POSSIBLE TO EXTRACT A THEORY OF ENROLLMENT SUPPLY. SUCH A THEORY MUST DIFFER RADICALLY FROM THE THEORY OF THE BUSINESS FIRM BECAUSE OF TWO KEY ASSUMPTIONS WHICH CANNOT BE MADE ABOUT THE IHE--PROFIT MAXIMIZATION AND A PRODUCTION FUNCTION WHICH…

The experiences of 10 states described in this paper illustrate how higher education can be a constructive force for change in the schools, and how the changes taking place in school-based curriculum and assessment provide valuable lessons for collegiate reform. The 10 states profiled are California, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Kentucky, New…

This report presents the framework for a legislatively mandated proficiency-based approach to admissions at Oregon's eight public baccalaureate-granting institutions. The goal of the report is to present a systems-level description of why and how a proficiency-based admissions system should operate. Part 1 considers the implications of the…