Liberal Education and America's Promise (LEAP)

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.

LEAP embraces a 21st Century Definition of Liberal Education and promotes:

• Essential learning outcomes—as a guiding vision and national benchmarks for college learning and liberal education in the 21st century
• High-Impact educational practices—that help students achieve essential learning outcomes
• 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.

See Slide Presentations on:

• An Introduction to LEAP
• The Economic Case for Liberal Education
• The Civic Case for Liberal Education

The Stakes Are High: What Can Higher Education Learn from Trayvon Martin?
May 16, 2012

This blog post is part of AAC&U’s blog series on Making Excellence Inclusive. The death of Trayvon Martin has sparked a national conversation on racism, the law, media, and ethics, and it is clear that Martin has put a face on the systemic problem of racial profiling. As an African-American man, I cannot help but ... read more >

What's New From LEAP

LEAP Leader Touts ‘Practical Liberal Education’ in Inaugural Address

SUNY New Paltz recently inaugurated Donald Christian as the university’s eighth president. “The chancellor has challenged those of us in SUNY to re-imagine the land-grant ideal for the demands of a global twenty-first century,” said President Christian. “The Land-Grant Act explicitly promoted both liberal and practical education. A view that’s at the heart and soul of New Paltz and our future.” President Christian is known for his leadership in AAC&U’s LEAP initiative and has brought the vision of liberal education to his work at SUNY New Paltz. Prior to coming to New Paltz, Christian was a dean at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, and hosted several of the very first LEAP States events there. In addition, he chaired the LEAP Wisconsin local committee when it was first formed. Read more about President Christian’s inauguration online and continuing work on LEAP in Wisconsin and other LEAP States.

Massachusetts Becomes Eighth LEAP State

The Massachusetts Department of Higher Education recently announced that Massachusetts would become the eighth official state partner in AAC&U’s LEAP initiative. According to Massachusetts Higher Education Commissioner Richard M. Freeland, “The LEAP Vision for Learning and its approach to student learning outcomes assessment is so consistent with Massachusetts’s Vision Project for achieving academic excellence across public higher education.” Freeland added, “LEAP offers an extraordinary model for how our campuses can best prepare students for postgraduate life as engaged citizens and highly skilled contributors to Massachusetts’s knowledge-based economy.” Massachusetts is also one of nine states involved in AAC&U’s Quality Collaboratives initiative, funded with support from Lumina Foundation.

New Issue of Diversity & Democracy Highlights Recommendations from Forthcoming Report on "Civic Learning and Democracy's Promise"

Higher education plays an important role in equipping today's students with the skills, knowledge, and capacities they need to participate in a diverse democracy. Inspired by a forthcoming report supported by the US Department of Education, this issue of Diversity & Democracy explores how various institutions are enacting civic learning initiatives that prepare students for democratic engagement.

New Grant from The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation to Support Expansion of Quality Collaboratives Initiative

AAC&U recently received a $397,000 grant from The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation to support the work of its ongoing initiative, Quality Collaboratives.  The Hewlett Foundation joins the Lumina Foundation and AAC&U in this nationwide effort to clarify what learning undergraduate students should be able to demonstrate as they receive baccalaureate and associate-level degrees. The Quality Collaboratives initiative was launched in October 2011 supported by a generous grant from the Lumina Foundation and is designed to pilot the new Degree Qualifications Profile as a framework for advancing and assessing the essential learning needed by all college graduates.  The new funding from the Hewlett Foundation will provide support for an expanded list of states to be involved in the initiative and also will expand the number of institutions working together in those states to advance student learning outcomes and effective assessment in the context of student transfer from two-year to four-year public institutions. See the Quality Collaboratives Web site for more information and a list of participating schools and states.

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.

LEAP Staff Contacts at AAC&U

Coordinating Director: Bethany Zecher Sutton
LEAP States Initiative: Susan Albertine
Advocacy and Public Outreach: Debra Humphreys