The College Dropout Scandal

Higher education today faces numerous challenges, from quality to cost. But the fact that fewer than sixty percent of college freshmen graduate in six years and fewer than forty percent earn an associate degree in three years turns few heads. The dropout problem is especially acute for black and Latino students, those from poor families, and those who are first in their families to go to college. In short, millions of students are leaving college without a degree, saddled with debt, and little to show for it. In The College Dropout Scandal, David Kirp outlines the scale of the problem and argues that we actually have the tools to boost graduation rates and shrink the achievement gap. It's not elite schools like Harvard or Williams who are leading the way, but places like City University of New York or Long Beach State that have undertaken the hard work to improve student success. Through on-the-ground reporting, conversations with university administrators and presidents, and accessible overviews of the latest research, Kirp illustrates a range of institutional reforms, like using big data to quickly identify at-risk students, and the behavioral strategies, from nudges and mindset changes, that have been proven to boost undergraduate learning and raise graduation rates. Shining a light on an underappreciated yet crucial problem in colleges today, Kirp's engaging and hopeful book will help push more students, especially poor and minority ones, across the finish line and keep their hopes of achieving the American Dream alive.

David Kirp is James D. Marver Professor of Public Policy at the University of California at Berkeley, a contributing writer at The New York Times, and a member of the National Academy of Education. His most recent book is Improbable Scholars: The Rebirth of a Great American School System and a Strategy for America's Schools (Oxford), which was awarded the 2014 Outstanding Book Award, American Educational Research Association.