Institute for Higher Education Policy

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Topic: Institute for Higher Education Policy

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October 30, 2013 at 3:47 PM

Project Win-Win helps students gain college degrees retroactively

Posted by Katherine Long

Marty Brown, executive director, State Board for Community and Technical Colleges (photo by Greg Gilbert / The Seattle Times)

Using data-mining techniques and a close read of college transcripts, a national research organization has helped more than 4,500 students receive associate’s degrees retroactively — students who had enough credits to earn an associate’s degree, but never got one.

Washington did not participate in the project, which started in 2009. But state education leaders “are aware of the project and think it has some lessons for us,” said Marty Brown, the executive director of the State Board for Community and Technical Colleges, by email.

The study highlights red tape and institutional policies that often stand in the way of a student earning a diploma, said Clifford Adelman, a senior researcher for the Institute for Higher Education Policy.

(more…)

Comments | More in News | Topics: Community colleges, higher ed, Institute for Higher Education Policy

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About the authors

Linda Shaw is a reporter who has covered public education at The Seattle Times for more than two decades. Her coverage has won numerous national and local awards and honors.

Katherine Long has been a reporter for The Seattle Times since 1990, focusing for the past three years on higher ed, with stories that have ranged from the complexities of prepaid tuition programs to nontraditional ways to earn a degree.

Claudia Rowe joined The Seattle Times’ reporting staff in 2013. She has written about education for The New York Times and the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, among other publications.

Mike Siegel has been a news photographer at the Seattle Times since 1987. His photography was used in a series titled "Methadone and the Politics of Pain," which won a Pulitzer Prize in 2012 for investigative reporting.

Janet Horne Henderson is The Times’ education editor. She has directed award-winning stories and projects examining race, immigration, religion and health, in addition to education

Caitlin Moran is community engagement editor for Education Lab. Her role is to help foster constructive dialogue online and in person

Read extended bios.

About Solutions Journalism Network

The Education Lab project is being done with the support of the Solutions Journalism Network. SJN is a non-profit organization created to legitimize and spread the practice of solutions journalism: rigorous and compelling reporting about responses to social problems.

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