Filed under Administrators …

Community Colleges Becoming Prime Destination for Faculty

A­fter spending nearly 20 years working in corporate America for companies like General Electric and Digital Equipment Corporation (Hewlett Packard), Dr. Winston Maddox wanted to make a difference — so he turned his attention to teaching. “I was a late bloomer and many traditional educators thought I was not college worthy,” says Maddox, who is … Continue reading →

The U.S. Congress Passes Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA)

[Last] week’s U.S. House passage of the Every Student Succeeds Act, a reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, makes it clear: If you want to see education policy in the next few years, look to state capitols, not Washington, D.C. The current version of the law, the No Child Left Behind Act, created … Continue reading →

Moody’s Predicts College Closures to Triple by 2017

Closure rates of small colleges and universities will triple in the coming years, and mergers will double. Those are the predictions of a Moody’s Investor Service report released Friday that highlights a persistent inability among small colleges to increase revenue, which could lead as many as 15 institutions a year to shut their doors for … Continue reading →

Want to Change The World? Start With Community Colleges

Community college is often perceived as the underdog in American higher education. Many are plagued by treacherous drop-out rates, poor teaching standards and dismal job prospects. And that’s if you’re lucky enough to graduate. But inside some of these institutions, revolution is stirring. A lack of opportunities for ordinary Americans is driving colleges to rebuild and … Continue reading →

Seven Practices of Enlightened Leadership in Higher Education

This is the story about how truly enlightened leadership combined with authentic faculty engagement has the power to transform college culture and amplify student success. It is the story of Austin Peay State University in Tennessee, where we intended to study the implementation of a new course recommendation system. We quickly realized, however, that Austin … Continue reading →

State Gives Up On Public Schools, Turns To Community Colleges

Apparently teaching kids to read and do math is not being done very well by the North Carolina public schools system. And the state legislature is considering giving up on the public schools to educate children and turning over the responsibility to the community colleges, which, according to statistics, are doing a lot of it … Continue reading →

Older and On The Market

Searching for employment tends to make people anxious about the ways in which they are different from the “typical” candidate. One such factor is age, especially if you are older than average on the market. I heard from two readers who had such concerns: “A growing number of us earn Ph.D.s post-40, post-50. I’m 58. … Continue reading →

Academic Freedom is Under Threat Across The World

Academic freedom needs to be defended from government, commercial and religious pressure. A simple enough statement. Surely stating the bleedin’ obvious? Does it really need to be said, and aren’t those battles already won? Well, it turns out that yes, it does, and no, they aren’t. Those threats appear to be looming large in states … Continue reading →

Atlanta Educators Convicted in School Cheating Scandal

In a dramatic conclusion to what has been described as the largest cheating scandal in the nation’s history, a jury here on Wednesday convicted 11 educators for their roles in a standardized test cheating scandal that tarnished a major school district’s reputation and raised broader questions about the role of high-stakes testing in American schools. On … Continue reading →