The Lumina Foundation’s Quality Credentials Task Force recently released a new report entitled Unlocking the Nation’s Potential: A Model to Advance Quality and Equity in Education Beyond High School. The report calls for a coordinated national response to defining and assuring the quality of postsecondary programs while eliminating inequities in access to programs that lead to earning quality credentials.

Comprised of 22 education, policy, and workforce leaders, including WSCUC President Jamienne S. Studley, the Task Force was established in 2018 to explore new ways to assure the quality of a college education and other forms of learning beyond high school. 

“Linking quality and equity inextricably with ‘and’ rather than ‘but’ is one of the central contributions of this project,” Studley said.

According to the Lumina Foundation’s press release on the report: 

In Unlocking the Nation’s Potential, the task force states that for decades inequities have persisted among certain groups of students. Students from black, Latino, and American Indian communities, in particular, earn credentials at far lower rates than more privileged students. These students also too often miss opportunities to benefit from the highest-quality educational programs and practices.

The task force emphasizes that reform is needed at all levels to ensure every student has access to equitable programs. The panel offered three recommendations for actors in the space, such as college and university leaders, state and federal policymakers, accreditors, and faculty members:

• Commit to pursuing quality and equity, not as discrete goals, but as a dual, linked objective.
• Coordinate the pursuit of curricular reform led by faculty and academic leaders along with regulatory reforms developed by federal and state policymakers, accreditors, and associations.
• Enlist and support the active cooperation of leaders from all these relevant sectors.

To read the report, click here.