My hope with this paper is to generate discussion at the conference of how “broad access higher education” fits within the context of the dramatically altered landscape of early adult life. It’s the “bigger box” for mapping broad-access higher education because many of the challenges and opportunities we face in higher education today are tied to this changing landscape.
What happens when a norm of behavior becomes the exception numerically, yet the social construction of that norm remains prominent? When such a situation occurs, those who do not conform to that norm tend to be marginalized despite their existence as the collective majority. Conceptually, they become, in essence, a marginalized majority. This is exactly what has occurred for the majority of postsecondary students in the United States.
Broad-access higher education institutions play a large and growing role in American human capital development, yet research describing how these institutions function and identifying the key elements of institutional effectiveness is sparse. Research focused on elementary and secondary education consistently demonstrates the significance of human resources – particularly teachers and school leaders - in educational production.