How Colleges and Schools Can Work Better

From the Marshall Memo #432

In this Chronicle of Higher Education article, Gates Foundation researcher Hilary Pennington bemoans the achievement gap in colleges and universities and how it contributes to the intergenerational cycle of poverty. “Only 9 percent of students from low-income households have earned any postsecondary credentials by the time they are 26, compared with more than 50 percent of students from higher-income households,” she says. “We must do far more, and with far more speed, than we are doing now to close this gap.” Here are Pennington’s three recommendations, which apply equally to K-12 schools:

• Focus on internal practices instead of blaming external factors. “Research has shown that institutional practices make a big difference in student success,” says Pennington. Similar schools with similar student populations produce very different outcomes. Schools need to recognize how mobile students are nowadays, customize learning and support, redesign placement tests and developmental education, collaborate with other schools, and reduce excess credits and the time it takes to get a degree. 

• Give students more structure. “We are learning that structured (and often limited) choice works best for most students,” says Pennington. “Honors programs in elite colleges and professional education in business, law, and medicine embody structured choice. If this works for the best-prepared students, we should provide it to those who need it most.” She believes students have too much choice in many schools, and this hurts those with the least preparation. 

• Embrace the fact that preparing for work and getting a liberal-arts education are not mutually exclusive. “This is a pernicious debate,” says Pennington, “because it stereotypes institutions (liberal-arts colleges versus community colleges) and by extension, their students… Work is a path to dignity and self-esteem for most people. Most college students and their families seek preparation for gainful employment. Many need paths that start with modest steps that allow them to work and then advance. They have long lives over which to continue formal and informal learning… Finally, it is not the case that students pursing vocational training don’t think about the big questions of justice, democracy, and citizenship.” 

“For Student Success, Stop Debating and Start Improving” by Hilary Pennington in The Chronicle of Higher Education, Apr. 13, 2012 (Vol. LVIII, #32, p. A33, 34), 

http://chronicle.com/article/For-Student-Success-Stop/131451/