The Secretary of Education’s Commission on the Future of Higher Education wrapped up its last public meeting in May and is now working on the final report. The dealing for the report, originally planned for August 1, has been pushed to the end of September for public release.

Throughout their five public meetings and private conversations, commission members have tackled topics ranging from access and accountability to innovation and workforce development. The hard part now for this commission will be putting all of these ideas together into a coherent and effective report. All members agreed, however, they wanted the report to contain a few bold statements instead of offering multiple recommendations.

The  Education Department has already hired Kristin Conklin, a program director in the education division of the National Governors Association’s Center for Best Practices, to help with the reports implementation. She will serve as senior counselor to the under secretary of Education and help to carry out the commission’s recommendations. Ms. Conklin will also work on other special projects for the department, including those related to the reauthorization of the Higher Education Act.

In any case, AFT Higher Education has been following the commission closely and will be ready to address any major issues coming from the report. [Lindsay Albert]

June 14, 2006