The National Association of System Heads understands and is acting on what it means to be a state system of higher education. The article excerpted below reveals that California State University, the University System of Maryland, and some other "state systems" are leading the way in measurably improving and accounting for public higher education's performance.
Closing the College Achievement Gap
Doug Lederman, Inside Higher Education, October 31, 2007
The inexorable rush to rankings glory, which tends to reward colleges and universities the more academically selective and wealthy they become, has not been good for low-income and minority students. By now the statistics are pretty well known: About half of Americans from low-income backgrounds go on to attend college, compared to about two-thirds of middle income Americans and 80 percent of those with large incomes. Barely two in five black and Hispanic freshmen earn a bachelor’s degree within six years of entering college, compared to about 60 percent of white freshmen and 64 percent of Asian Americans. And white Americans are twice as likely as black Americans and three times as likely as Hispanic Americans to have earned a bachelor’s degree by the age of 29. Read more ..
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