Liberal Education and America's Promise (LEAP)

Liberal Education and America’s Promise (LEAP) is an initiative that champions the value of a liberal education—for individual students and for a nation dependent on economic creativity and democratic vitality. The initiative focuses campus practice on fostering essential learning outcomes for all students, whatever their chosen field of study.

LEAP is AAC&U’s primary vehicle for advancing and communicating about the importance of undergraduate liberal education for all students. LEAP seeks to engage the public with core questions about what really matters in college, to give students a compass to guide their learning, and to make a set of essential learning outcomes the preferred framework for educational excellence, assessment of learning, and new alignments between school and college.

Upcoming LEAP Public Forums

Liberal Education and Effective Practice
March 12-13, 2009
Clark University
Worcester, MA

More LEAP forums

LEAP Public Forums are supported by generous grants from The Charles Engelhard Foundation and the John Templeton Foundation, and by contributions from participating and hosting institutions.

What's New From LEAP

AAC&U President Opens 2009 Annual Meeting with LEAP commitment to "Make Excellence Inclusive"

In her remarks, AAC&U President Carol Schneider outlined the disconnect between the national dialogue on American "capability" and the separate dialogue on "student success" in college. She called on AAC&U members to make the LEAP essential learning outcomes the expected hallmark for underserved students’ success. See her powerpoint slides (pdf) from the presentation or hear an audio podcast of it.

New Liberal Education Features Articles on Enacting the LEAP Vision

Read the Winter issue of Liberal Education on enacting the LEAP Vision and advancing engaged learning and helping students become effective practitioners as both citizens and workers.  Featured is an article by Richard Freeland, former president of Northeastern University and new Massachusetts Commissioner of Higher Education called "Liberal Education and Effective Practice: The Necessary Revolution in Undergraduate Education."  The themes Freeland addresses will be featured as well at a spring LEAP Public Forum at Clark University.  Papers commissioned for the conference will be featured in future issues of Liberal Education.

New LEAP Report by George D. Kuh Presents Latest Research on High-Impact Practices

AAC&U has released a new report for its LEAP initiative. High-Impact Educational Practices: What They Are, Who Has Access to Them, and Why They Matter, by George D. Kuh, with an introduction by AAC&U President Carol Geary Schneider, defines a set of educational practices and describes research on why they have a strong impact on student success. Kuh presents data from the National Survey of Student Engagement about these practices and why they benefit all students, but also seem to benefit underserved students even more than their more-advantaged peers. The publication also presents data that show definitively that underserved students are the least likely students, on average, to have access to many of these practices. High-Impact Educational Practices is required reading for anyone working to advance changes in curricula and teaching practices and increase students’ achievement of key learning outcomes. Purchase a copy or read an excerpt.

New LEAP Student Brochure

The LEAP initiative has developed a brochure for students, which introduces and explains in clear terms why the outcomes of a liberal education are important and can give them an edge in school, life, and in their future careers. It quotes CEOs who believe a liberal education is central to students' professional success, and features ten questions designed to help students construct a purposeful pathway through college. The brochure is ideal for use in freshman and student transfer orientation, first-year seminars, academic advising for students at all levels, and admissions sessions for college-bound students.

Signature LEAP Report—Read the latest version of The Executive Summary

AAC&U has released a new version of the executive summary (pdf) of College Learning for the New Global Century which now includes summaries of findings from our surveys of business leaders released in 2007 and 2008. The findings detail the skills and knowledge areas on which employers want colleges and universities to place more emphasis and how and why they value a liberal education. They also highlight employers’ views on various approaches to outcomes assessment and reveal their clear support for more qualitative forms of assessment and rejection of multiple choice testing at the undergraduate level. It is ideal for initiating discussions with trustees, boards of regents, business advisory councils, and other campus or community groups.

The LEAP campaign includes three primary and concurrent strands of activity:

A Public Advocacy initiative for liberal education, which is being carried out nationally by the LEAP National Leadership Council and regionally through advocacy initiatives in a series of partner states;

A Campus Action Network which works with colleges and universities of every kind from across the country and in selected partner states to articulate high expectations for liberal education and to transparently connect their educational practices and assessments to these expectations;

A research initiative detailing Evidence on Learning Outcomes, designed to provide evidence on selected outcomes of a liberal education and periodic public reports on progress in helping students meet twenty-first century educational standards.

LEAP Staff Contacts at AAC&U

Coordinating Director: Bethany Zecher Sutton
Senior Director for LEAP State Initiatives: Susan Albertine
Advocacy and Public Outreach: Debra Humphreys
Campus Action Network: Alma Clayton-Pedersen
Administrative Assistant: Christina Bell