Education

Now a successful chef and business owner, I would not be where I am today if it wasn’t for my career college education.  I am deeply concerned that Washington policy makers currently attacking career colleges fail to understand that limiting the educational options available to those who oftentimes come from modest backgrounds will only serve to punish those they claim to want to assist.    

Education is the foundation required to achieve success in today’s world.  But no one specific system of post-secondary education will ever have the wherewithal to accommodate everyone’s educational needs, which means there must be a wide choice of systems. Read more...

The United States is increasingly losing its competitive edge when it comes to preparing our K-16 students in critical subjects like science, technology, engineering and math.  In these subject areas, our students consistently rank near the bottom in educational achievement among the world's 30 richest nations.  While we know that teacher quality is the most important factor in improving students' academic performance, many teachers are not adequately schooled in the subjects they are teaching.  In our Santa Clara County, for example, one-third of our high-school math and science teachers are under-prepared, out-of-subject, or novice teachers.  We must turn this tide if we are to keep Silicon Valley as the center of technological advancement and keep America as a leader in science and engineering innovation. Read more...

Low-income students graduate at very low rates, and with few or no viable employment options. The current policy debate over federal regulation of for-profit higher-education institutions has generated a lot of heat, but very little light.

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To meet his ambitious goal of sending five million more Americans to college over the next 10 years, President Obama has perhaps unrealistically pinned his hopes on the nation’s community colleges. That’s why next week you will see community colleges gathering for a first-ever summit at the White House, where they will collect $2 billion in commitments from the administration and Congress.

Fueled by major magazines, filmmakers and network specials, playing the blame game has become the new sport among education reformers. When did teachers become the boogeyman for the myriad challenges facing public schools? Regrettably, this approach falls short of the constructive dialogue we need in public education today. Read more...

We applaud Dr. Jill Biden’s decision to convene the nation’s first Community College Summit last week in Washington, D.C. Her deep commitment to higher education is clear and her leadership gives those of us who work in higher education confidence that our future workforce is in caring hands. 

In light of today’s White House’s Community College Summit, let’s take a closer look at how community colleges are really doing, particularly in comparison to much-maligned career colleges:

This week’s upcoming first-ever White House Summit on Community Colleges is all about the lives and future of America’s students. During my years as a community college president and chancellor, I always asked my professional colleagues the same simple question whenever we faced a difficult challenge or issue: what is the best way to help students succeed?

Just as a  car engine relies on a precise mixture of air and fuel to drive down the  highway, American businesses depend on a free marketplace and a skilled workforce to drive the innovation that can lift wages and grow our economy.   The big financial blow-out in 2008 has left deep scars within our economy, and Americans are still waiting for that precise policy formula to get the economic engines turning again.