Here are some new resources and news for the field of higher education.

2016 Focus on Illinois Education Research Symposium: Information and the registration form for the 2016 Focus on Illinois Education Research Symposium scheduled for September 29-30, 2016, has been announced. The Illinois Education Research Council website has symposium information. Please register by Wednesday, September 7.

Next Generation CBE: Designing Competency-Based Education for Underprepared College Learners. (Jobs for the Future). This brief focuses on the practical, but complex, question: What specific design elements and policy changes are needed to realize the potential of competency-based education for the nation’s underprepared students?

Free Tuition Isn’t the Answer. (U.S. News & World Report, August 11). Making college free won’t solve the underlying problems in higher education, argue policy analysts. In fact, they found that net price has “no relationship whatsoever” to graduation rate at public colleges and universities. 

Illinois Making Strides Toward Reforming Remedial Education. In Illinois, the community college system is making progress toward reducing the number of students going into remedial education, officials from the Illinois Community College (ICCB) said. Between 2011 and 2015, the state has seen a 24 percent reduction in the number of community college students enrolling in developmental education.

Bringing Adjuncts to the Table.
 Achieving the Dream, the nonprofit organization that advocates for institutional improvement at community colleges, is unveiling a new initiative that will help part-time faculty members become more active in their colleges’ reform efforts, with the help of full-time faculty. (Inside Higher Ed, August 5).

Using Data to Connect Degrees to Dollars. 
Today more than half of states have matched higher education and employment information, according to the Workforce Data Quality Campaign at the nonprofit National Skills Coalition. Arkansas, Kentucky, Minnesota and Maine are among the states that legally require the publication of post-college employment and earnings data. (eCampus News, August 10).

Meta-Majors: An Essential First Step on the Path to College Completion. (Jobs for the Future). This report advocates for the use of meta-majors, also called “career clusters” or “communities of interest.” Meta-majors refer to a programmatic approach to college course selection, designed to provide students with structure and limited choices when choosing classes from the first semester they enroll through completion. The authors cite recent research that argues that the current “cafeteria” style approach to college, with too many choices and too little guidance, inhibits student progress and completion. Included in the report are two case studies and a set of key questions to consider when deciding how to develop and implement meta-majors.

Postsecondary and Workforce Readiness Act (HB5729) Signed by Governor Bruce Rauner. Advance Illinois celebrates the signing of HB5729, the Postsecondary and Workforce Readiness Act (PWR), by Rauner on July 29. PWR establishes four new initiatives to smooth the transition for students from high school to college or career.

Student Debt Correlates With ‘Negative Wealth’. High levels of student debt are contributing to negative wealth—when a household’s debt is greater than its total assets—and inequality, according to an analysis of household finance data by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. (Inside Higher Ed, August 3).