The lofty college completion goal that has emerged as the closest thing to a national higher education strategy in a half century will not succeed without much more aggressive leadership than national, state and higher education leaders have shown so far. That is the conclusion of a report released today by three education policy centers. The report goes on to say that "it is clear that American colleges and universities must enroll and graduate more students to meet workforce needs and help ensure the country’s economic competitiveness but current funding policies are eroding rather than increasing opportunity and attainment." A new book paints an interesting picture of higher education at this point in history. It contains some rather jarring survey information about a variety of topics in higher education. Administrators are more confident than either students or faculty members about how well their institutions are educating students. Fifty-two percent of university leaders said their universities do an "excellent" job of educating, compared with 34 percent of students and only 26 percent of faculty members who feel that way. Thirty-six percent of administrators and 28 percent of faculty members said the most pressing problem in higher education is the need for more resources, while students said the biggest problem is the cost of tuition. Have you heard about blended learning? There is an interesting article in The Education Digest that illustrates how it can be used in your classroom. Lubbock has become the first test site for a different type of state data system, one that aims to move districts from collecting data solely for accountability to collecting it to improve schools. To enable schools, districts, and state officials to more easily share and use data, the TEA is developing a more flexible information-system platform. The platform will offer smaller districts a shared, state-sponsored student-information system. It will also make it easy for districts with existing systems to connect to a new data platform that will serve as the hub for district-specific data, feeding relevant student, classroom, and campus information directly to educators and enabling seamless reporting of compliance data to the state.