Researchers Link Policy Shift in Illinois With Decline in Higher-Education Performance

It’s easy to document the slide in higher-education performance in Illinois, which has seen a sharp decline in college enrollments and persistently low graduation rates among black and Hispanic students. But researchers at the University of Pennsylvania’s Graduate School of Education have undertaken a much more difficult and important study of the policy changes and political climate that contributed to the poor performance. The researchers conclude that governance changes in 1995, which localized control of most of the state’s 12 public universities, made it harder for the institutions to work together and spend money strategically to meet shared goals. Political corruption in the state and partisanship also prevented lawmakers from focusing on reforms that would have improved the system, the scholars found. Reports from the Penn researchers on higher education in four other states—Georgia, Maryland, Texas, and Washington—are scheduled to be released in the coming months.