90/90 Ambitions for Higher Ed

Posted by Bridget Marquis on April 01, 2010

Lou Glazer, President of Michigan Future, Inc. and presenter at our recent Opportunity Dividend Summit, blogs on the need for higher education and policy makers to focus on increasing completion rates.  As high schools have seen success through 90/90 goals (90% graduate from high school and 90% of those go on to college), he proposes higher education institutions be held to a similar measure with "90% of those entering needing remediation leaving ready for college level courses and of those 90% meeting their goals – whether its skills to obtain a good paying job and/or a degree."

He offers a set of strategies borrowed from successful urban high schools:

- Educators that are committed to student success and change their own practices if students are not performing adequately.

- Create support systems to serve the "whole student" similar to those provided to scholarship athletes.

- Change the method of teaching. "No more teachers standing in front of the class and delivering content. Its not the way most students learn."

If a city and its higher education institutions seriously took on a 90/90 goal they would no doubt realize a sizable Talent Dividend, not to mention a lot of positive press.