Stay Connected
Subscribe to our Biweekly Digest, event invitations, and more.
Sector Spotlight
Report Release: Reforming Teacher Pensions for a Changing Work Force
New Education Sector report examines teacher pensions and details the problems facing current state pension programs.
Sport or Not? A Question for the Courts
Senior Policy Analyst Elena Silva interviewed by the New York Times on Title IX.
Teachers Unions as Agents of Reform
Brad Jupp, an architect of Denver's landmark performance-based teacher pay system, ProComp, is an outspoken advocate of both labor organizing and quality education for disadvantaged kids. In this interview, Jupp talks about ProComp, his views on teacher unionism, and the future of the teaching profession.
Education Sector Welcomes Three New Board Members
Education Sector's board of directors names three prominent leaders in the fields of education and journalism to the board: David W. Breneman, Richard Lee Colvin, and Peter McWalters.
For-profit colleges: Do they shortchange students?
Policy Director Kevin Carey comments on a recent Senate HELP Committee hearing on for-profit colleges.
Related Materials
Alaska Score Card
A small state in terms of population, Alaska is projected to experience an 11 percent decline in high school graduates over the next 10 years. The state has eight higher education institutions and leads all states in the proportion of undergraduates who attend public institutions, 95 percent. The state's six-year graduation rate for all four-year institutions is only 20.3 percent, well behind the second-worst state Nevada, at 37.4 percent. Alaska has traditionally had difficulty retaining high school graduates, but the state has improved in this area. Sixty-three percent of Alaskan natives who began college in 2007 were attending an institution in their home state, up from 45 percent in 1996.
Alaska's higher education accountability system's strengths are:
- Collecting and reporting data in a timely fashion.
- Separating data by important socioeconomic factors (race/ethnicity, gender, income, first-generation status, transfer students, etc.).
- Aligning state priorities with concrete goals for achievement.
Alaska's higher education accountability system needs work in:
- Comparing data across time and/or against peers.
- Proactively informing prospective students, parents, and the general public about the performance of state colleges and universities.
