Social Effectiveness of Tertiary Education for Adults in Mid-life

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Graduate employment: issues for debate and enquiry

Recent European studies have shown most graduates to be in quite reasonable employment situations a few years after graduating. While concerns continue to be expressed by some employers that many graduates do not possess the right skills and competencies, there is also considerable industry in many universities to improve the employability of their graduates. Does the evidence justify optimism

“The Past Is Not Prologue”Educational Achievements of Young Adults

As global competition intensifies; college education has become a necessary tool for young adults to succeed. In this study, a mixed method approach was used (the NLSY survey, supplemented with qualitative interviews of seven education professionals) to identify the supportive resources needed by young adults to overcome the risks they faced as they aspired to complete high school and actualized their college aspirations. High school experiences and aspirations did not hinder youth from their later educational achievements. Rather, it was the social and cultural resources available in their post high school lives that mattered in actualizing their college aspirations. That the support available later in their lives as young adults were the most influential in their educational accomplishments supported the predictions of social-capital theories in shaping flexible (Chicago School) academic self-concepts of youth and contributed to the sociology of higher education. While contributing to the scholarship on higher education, the research also underscored the need for the continued support needed by young adults as they pursue their educational goals

Building Student Success From the Ground Up: A Case Study of an Achieving the Dream College

Achieving the Dream teaches community colleges to use student data to improve programming and student success. Since participating, Guilford Technical Community College in North Carolina has become a data-driven, success-oriented institution and has seen promising trends in student achievement. This study offers lessons for other colleges undertaking similar institutional reform

Reinventing Alternative Education: An Assessment of Current State Policy and How to Improve It

This report identifies seven model policy elements that states should incorporate in order to develop and improve alternative pathways for struggling students and former dropouts. Jobs for the Future performed this comprehensive 50-state policy scan to assess the extent to which state policy aligns with these model elements