Printer-friendly versionThe Jam (an online asynchronous facilitated discussion) on the Obama administration’s new American Graduation Initiative (AGI) was held in mid-September. It was sponsored by Knowledge in the Public Interest, convened by the Brookings Institution, the Education Commission of the States, and Jobs for the Future, with LaGuardia Community College as the lead college.
Gail Mellow, a new Carnegie Board of Trustee member, is president of LaGuardia. Published findings, released this month, were based on 218 pages of online posts, showing the interest in the Initiative. The purpose of the JAM and publishing the findings was two-fold: to help people understand the benefits of the AGI and to let Congress, the U.S. Department of Education, state leaders and national associations know what people were saying about it in order to ensure that the AGI becomes a positive reality.
Not surprisingly, one of the concerns that came up in the conversations was similar to criticisms of legislation like No Child Left Behind, that this federal policy could actually cause harm, “either by leaving behind states or colleges that are not up to a standards suddenly imposed in a ‘one size fits all’ AGI legislative mandate, or by imposing hard and fast rules that ignore on-the-ground realities of where states and colleges are today.”
For the full report and President Mellow’s take on the experience, visit the LaGuardia website here.
