Whether they recognize it or not, virtually all colleges and universities face three GrandChallenges:·Improve the learning outcomes of a higher education: A large majority of college graduates are weak in capabilities that faculty and employers both see as crucial.·Extend more equitable access to degrees: Too often, students from underserved groups and poor households either don’t enter college or else drop out without a degree. The latter group may be worse off economically than if they’d never attempted college.·Make academic programs more affordable (in money and time) for students and other important stakeholder groups: Many potential students believe they lack the money or time needed for academic success. Many faculty believe they don’t have time to make their courses and degree programs more effective. Many institutions believe they can’t afford to improve outcomes.These challenges are global. But, in a higher education system such as that in the United States, the primary response must be institutional. This book analyzes how, over the years, six pioneering colleges and universities have begun to make visible, cumulative progress on all three fronts.

A “bracing and well-argued” study of America’s college debt crisis—“necessary reading for anyone concerned about the fate of American higher education” (Kirkus). College is far too expensive for many people today, and the confusing mix of federal, state, institutional, and private financial aid leaves countless students without the resources they need to pay for it. In Paying the Price, education scholar Sara Goldrick-Rab reveals the devastating effect of these shortfalls. Goldrick-Rab examines a study of 3,000 students who used the support of federal aid and Pell Grants to enroll in public colleges and universities in Wisconsin in 2008. Half the students in the study left college without a degree, while less than 20 percent finished within five years. The cause of their problems, time and again, was lack of money. Unable to afford tuition, books, and living expenses, they worked too many hours at outside jobs, dropped classes, took time off to save money, and even went without adequate food or housing. In many heartbreaking cases, they simply left school—not with a degree, but with crippling debt. Goldrick-Rab combines that data with devastating stories of six individual students, whose struggles make clear the human and financial costs of our convoluted financial aid policies. In the final section of the book, Goldrick-Rab offers a range of possible solutions, from technical improvements to the financial aid application process, to a bold, public sector–focused “first degree free” program. "Honestly one of the most exciting books I've read, because [Goldrick-Rab has] solutions. It's a manual that I'd recommend to anyone out there, if you're a parent, if you're a teacher, if you're a student."—Trevor Noah, The Daily Show

Incoming college presidents are entering the job at a time when the role is increasingly challenging as they are asked to do more, decide and act faster, create and maintain more relationships, and demonstrate successes while under an unrelenting microscope. The range of leadership skills and competencies surrounding the current college presidency requires well-prepared and well-informed college presidential aspirants. Research shows there is no formal training framework available in colleges to prepare successful candidates for the presidency. Consequently, most incoming college presidents have lamented being ill-prepared for the role. The Evolving College Presidency: Emerging Trends, Issues, and Challenges provides guidance and career trajectory advice for aspiring college presidents as they prepare to take on this challenging and dynamic role. The text also explores the emerging trends, issues, and challenges of the college presidency including issues such as diversity and inclusion, funding and fundraising, and political issues. Covering a range of critical topics such as student affairs and community relationships, this reference work is vital for higher education professionals, administrators, researchers, practitioners, scholars, academicians, instructors, and students.

"This work provides a detailed look at how teaching and learning in higher education has changed after the pandemic"--

Much as it is with the nation‘s overall healthcare system, the survival of academic medical centers (AMC‘s) is threatened by a combination of economic, cultural, and demographic factors. If AMC‘s are to survive to fill their societal responsibilities, they must adopt a new philosophy. Challenging assumptions and providing the shift in perspective t

This book offers formal and informal leaders at all levels of their institution theory-informed and practical guidance on implementing and sustaining change through collaborative leadership. The framework and concepts presented are applicable at the department, program, campus, or system level to guide minor, incremental, or transformative change.Achieving a shared organizational vision can be a daunting challenge, given the multiple missions of higher education, varied and often conflicting stakeholder viewpoints, siloed organizational structures, traditions of shared governance, and a highly educated workforce bringing together colleagues with diverse disciplinary perspectives. Achieving these aims requires taking into account the organization’s systems and values and the needs and aspirations of corresponding stakeholders across the enterprise. Ruben provides a guide for achieving and sustaining these goals in an engaged and collaborative manner.Employing the author’s widely used Excellence in Higher Education (EHE) framework, this book offers principles and practices relative to change, collaboration, and organizational vision that can greatly enhance the prospects for effective outcomes, highlighting three key themes:·Understanding and leveraging the dynamics of change. ·Leading collaboratively, and meaningfully engaging one’s colleagues. ·Adopting and pursuing a shared vision of organizational purpose and aspirations.The book is intended for faculty and staff who want to advance the effectiveness and impact of their program, department, and institution, and to do so in a way that creates a shared vision to sustain these benefits into the future. It serves as a text for the growing number of leadership development programs, and for courses with a focus on higher education leadership.

Data Analytics and Adaptive Learning offers new insights into the use of emerging data analysis and adaptive techniques in multiple learning settings. In recent years, both analytics and adaptive learning have helped educators become more responsive to learners in virtual, blended, and personalized environments. This set of rich, illuminating, international studies spans quantitative, qualitative, and mixed-methods research in higher education, K–12, and adult/continuing education contexts. By exploring the issues of definition and pedagogical practice that permeate teaching and learning and concluding with recommendations for the future research and practice necessary to support educators at all levels, this book will prepare researchers, developers, and graduate students of instructional technology to produce evidence for the benefits and challenges of data-driven learning.

Thanks to remarkable advances in modern health care attributable to science, engineering, and medicine, it is now possible to cure or manage illnesses that were long deemed untreatable. At the same time, however, the United States is facing the vexing challenge of a seemingly uncontrolled rise in the cost of health care. Total medical expenditures are rapidly approaching 20 percent of the gross domestic product and are crowding out other priorities of national importance. The use of increasingly expensive prescription drugs is a significant part of this problem, making the cost of biopharmaceuticals a serious national concern with broad political implications. Especially with the highly visible and very large price increases for prescription drugs that have occurred in recent years, finding a way to make prescription medicinesâ€"and health care at largeâ€"more affordable for everyone has become a socioeconomic imperative. Affordability is a complex function of factors, including not just the prices of the drugs themselves, but also the details of an individual's insurance coverage and the number of medical conditions that an individual or family confronts. Therefore, any solution to the affordability issue will require considering all of these factors together. The current high and increasing costs of prescription drugsâ€"coupled with the broader trends in overall health care costsâ€"is unsustainable to society as a whole. Making Medicines Affordable examines patient access to affordable and effective therapies, with emphasis on drug pricing, inflation in the cost of drugs, and insurance design. This report explores structural and policy factors influencing drug pricing, drug access programs, the emerging role of comparative effectiveness assessments in payment policies, changing finances of medical practice with regard to drug costs and reimbursement, and measures to prevent drug shortages and foster continued innovation in drug development. It makes recommendations for policy actions that could address drug price trends, improve patient access to affordable and effective treatments, and encourage innovations that address significant needs in health care.

Few issues have aroused more heated public debate than that of day care for children of working parents. Who should be responsible for providing child careâ€"government, employers, schools, communities? What types of care are best? This volume explores the critical need for a more coherent policy on child care and offers recommendations for the actions needed to develop such a policy. Who Cares for America's Children? looks at the barriers to developing a national child care policy, evaluates the factors in child care that are most important to children's development, and examines ways of protecting children's physical well-being and fostering their development in child care settings. It also describes the "patchwork quilt" of child care services currently in use in America and the diversity of support programs available, such as referral services. Child care providers (whether government, employers, commercial for-profit, or not-for-profit), child care specialists, policymakers, researchers, and concerned parents will find this comprehensive volume an invaluable resource on child care in America.

Written by the President and CEO of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) and a leading health care journalist, this groundbreaking book examines how leading organizations in the United States are pursuing the Triple Aim—improving the individual experience of care, improving the health of populations, and reducing the per capita cost of care. Even with major steps forward – including the Affordable Care Act and the creation of the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation -- the national health care debate is too often poisoned by negativity. A quieter, more thoughtful, and vastly more constructive conversation continues among health care leaders and professionals throughout the country. Innovative solutions are being designed and implemented at the local level, and countless health care organizations are demonstrating breakthrough remedies to some of the toughest and most expensive challenges in health care. Pursuing the Triple Aim shares compelling stories that are emerging in locations ranging from Pittsburgh to Seattle, from Boston to Oakland, focused on topics including improving quality and lowering costs in primary care; setting challenging goals to control chronic disease with notable outcomes; leveraging employer buying power to improve quality, reduce waste, and drive down cost; paying for care under an innovative contract that compensates for quality rather than quantity; and much more. The authors describe these innovations in detail, and show the way toward a health care system for the nation that improves the experience and quality of care while at the same time controlling costs. As the Triple Aim moves from being largely an aspirational framework to something that communities all across the US can implement and learn from, its potential to become a touchstone for the work ahead has never been greater. Pursuing the Triple Aim lays out the vision, the interventions, and promising examples of success.