“Free college” programs should include tuition-free apprenticeships, writes New America’s Iris Palmer. Arkansas, Kentucky, and Indiana try to predict “what kind of employees the labor market is going to need,” she writes. Arkansas’ ArFuture program supports certificate and associate’s degrees that are either related to science, technology, engineering, and math or address identified regional areas of high need. Kentucky’s Work Ready Scholarship program pays for a number of in

Graduation rates have been increasing across the country, but many states will have to report lower graduation rates under the new federal education law, reports Catherine Gewertz in Ed Week. Indiana’s 89 percent graduation rate could fall to 76 percent, because Indiana offers an easier “general” diploma with lower requirements to students who can’t handle college-prep courses. The goal was “to drive states to make sure that diplomas were really preparing students for success