The Illinois Board of Higher Education approved the creation Tuesday of a commission of presidents of 15 public and private colleges and universities across the state to come up with ways to improve student retention and degree completion.
The state received mediocre marks for degree completion in a recent report card produced by the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education.
The board staff suggested the commission look at 10-year goals, including these improvements: raising baccalaureate degree completion by 11 percent, to 66 percent; increasing retention of first-year students at community colleges by 11 percent, to 64 percent; and raising retention of freshmen at four-year schools to 84 percent.
The board also directed its staff to come up with new tools for assessing student learning by academic field to help institutions find out how much students know about their major subjects.
