Liberal Education and America’s Promise (LEAP) is a national advocacy, campus action, and research initiative that champions the importance of a twenty-first century liberal education—for individuals and for a nation dependent on economic creativity and democratic vitality.
LEAP responds to the changing demands of the twenty-first century—demands for more college-educated workers and more engaged and informed citizens. Today, and in the years to come, college graduates need higher levels of learning and knowledge as well as strong intellectual and practical skills to navigate this more demanding environment successfully and responsibly.
Launched in 2005, LEAP challenges the traditional practice of providing liberal education to some students and narrow training to others. Through LEAP, hundreds of campuses and several state systems are making far-reaching educational changes to help all their students—whatever their chosen major field of study—achieve a set of Essential Learning Outcomes fostered through a liberal education.
Authentic Assessments—probing whether students can apply their learning to complex problems and real-world challenges
Inclusive Excellence—to ensure that every student gets the benefits of an engaged and practical liberal education.
LEAP leaders also work to engage the public with core questions about what really matters in college and to connect employers and educators as they build new partnerships and make the case for the importance of liberal education in a global economy and in our diverse democracy.
For more information about the LEAP initiative, please see our "Introduction to LEAP" brochure.
"Getting Connected to LEAP" - University of Wisconsin-Whitewater Student Video
New Publication on High-Impact Practices and Ensuring Quality
Building on previous AAC&U reports, the publication Ensuring Quality & Taking High-Impact Practices to Scalepresents research on specific educational
practices correlated with higher levels of academic
challenge, student engagement, and achievement.
The publication features the relationship between
these practices and improvements in retention
and graduation rates and advice on how to ensure
that all students experience multiple high-impact
practices. Detailed case studies show how five
campuses are providing high-impact practices
more pervasively and systematically.
AAC&U Releases Findings from New Employer Survey and Launches New Employer-Educator Compact with More Than 260 Signatories
AAC&U launched a new LEAP Employer-Educator Compact and released new data from a 2013 survey of business and nonprofit leaders about employer priorities for college learning and student success.
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 LEAP Presidents' Trust 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.
