The demand that colleges raise the bar on graduation continues to grow. The Obama administration is calling on governors to help raise the nation’s middling college completion rate, suggesting several educational strategies and making grant money available in its quest to see the U.S. lead the world in degree attainment.
The administration wants the U.S. to have the highest proportion of college graduates in the world by 2020. Korea is ranked first, with 58 percent of its population ages 25-34 having finished college; the U.S. is in a four-way tie for ninth place at 42 percent, according to a study published last year by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.
Vice President Joe Biden unveiled a 23-page “College Completion Tool Kit” at an education summit in Washington on Tuesday that features seven approaches for governors to consider, including performance-based funding of higher education.
“This is part of our ongoing efforts … to help make every governor an education governor,” Education Secretary Arne Duncan said. “If governors dramatically boost college completion rates in their states to all-time highs, it will be good for them and good for the country.”
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