Money for accountability: The Louisiana Community and Technical College System will share in a $1 million grant to help boost accountability among college programs, along with seven other institutions around the country. The program is designed to help community colleges gather and use data to improve their programs and graduation rates. It will include analysis of current college and state data collection and development of a common set of measures so programs can be compared. The project is expected to take two years, with the voluntary accountability system piloted in as many as 20 community colleges by 2011. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Lumina Foundation and the American Association of Community Colleges fund it.
An encouraging sign: The U.S. trade deficit unexpectedly narrowed in August as exports posted a small gain, while imports fell on a big drop in demand for foreign oil. The Commerce Department says the trade deficit declined 3.5% to $30.7 billion, surprising economists who had expected higher oil prices to push the imbalance to $33 billion. Oil prices did shoot up, but the volume of shipments dropped sharply in August. The continued rise in exports may be viewed as an encouraging sign that the global economy is starting to recover from a severe recession that began in the United States and quickly spread to other parts of the world.
