Student coaching appears to pay off by boosting retention and graduation rates. Does outsourcing coaching make sense if a private company does it best?
Paul Fain
Paul Fain, senior reporter, came to Inside Higher Ed in September 2011, after a six-year stint covering leadership and finance for The Chronicle of Higher Education. Paul has also worked in higher-ed P.R., with Widmeyer Communications, but couldn't stay away from reporting. A former staff writer for C-VILLE Weekly, a newspaper in Charlottesville, Va., Paul has written for The New York Times, Washington City Paper and Mother Jones. He's won a few journalism awards, including one for beat reporting from the Education Writers Association and the Dick Schaap Excellence in Sports Journalism Award. Paul got hooked on journalism while working too many hours at The Review, the student newspaper at the University of Delaware, where he earned a degree in political science in 1996. A native of Dayton, Ohio, and a long-suffering fan of the Cincinnati Bengals, Fain plays guitar in a band with more possible names than polished songs.
To reach this person, click here.
Most Recent Articles
May 23, 2013
Capella University has received approval from its regional accreditor to proceed with a pilot program in competency-based education that does not rely on the credit hour standard, an approach called "direct assessment." The Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools approved the for-profit institution's "FlexPath" bac
May 23, 2013
Community colleges struggle to serve a growing share of disadvantaged students, report finds, while public funding skews toward four-year institutions.
May 22, 2013
As budget crunch eases at California's community colleges, a lawmaker pushes two-tiered tuition, a solution both faculty groups and system leaders oppose.
May 20, 2013
ETS releases a new test to measure students' non-academic skills. Colleges want to use test for advising and finding remedial students with "grit."
May 16, 2013
LaGuardia Community College's enhanced GED preparation program substantially boosts GED pass rates and the likelihood of college enrollment, according to a newly released study by MDRC, a nonprofit social research firm. Students in the program, which is designed to serve as a pathway to college and careers, were more than twice as likely to pass the high school equivalency exam as were students in traditional GED prep courses. They were also three times as likely to enroll in college.
May 16, 2013
The GED Testing Service is set to launch revised version that adds college readiness. But backlash over cost and access has led to competition from two serious new entrants.
May 14, 2013
A committee of a regional accreditor last week recommended that the University of Phoenix be placed "on notice," which is a lesser sanction than the probation a peer review team suggested earlier this year, the university said in a
May 14, 2013
Community colleges are using $1.5 billion from Labor Department to shift gears, by sharpening career focus and creating stackable credentials built on industry competencies.
May 9, 2013
A low level of educational attainment is the one common characteristic of California's working poor, according to a new report from the Campaign for College Opportunity, a California-based advocacy group. About one in five adult Californians have not earned a high school degree or its equivalent, the report said, and the state is facing a workforce shortage of 2.3 million college graduates by 2025.
Pages
Co-Authored Articles
March 13, 2013
California lawmaker wants MOOCs and other online providers to help meet student demand, and will encourage -- and some fear force -- public colleges to accept those credits.
November 8, 2012
California higher education leaders see Tuesday’s election results as a potential boon for the state’s colleges and universities, but major financial problems could still complicate the systems’ recoveries.
May 15, 2012
California's governor lays out deep "trigger cuts" to higher education if a tax hike fails in November. But business leaders and one faculty union appear unlikely to back the tax plan.
April 17, 2012
The Bidens' tax return had non-tenure track instructors wondering how one of their own could be earning $82,000 a year, but it turns out Jill Biden has become an associate professor.
April 5, 2012
City Colleges of Chicago and union representing adult education instructors agree to bonus pay based on student performance.
