The credentials environment grows more complicated by the day, but key questions help us understand why we need this book to help us grapple with those complexities:

* Given the expansion in the variety of higher education credentials and in approaches to earning them, why are so many students disappointed with their post-secondary credentials?

* Despite the proliferation of credentials tailored to specific careers, why do so many employers complain that the preparation of their new hires is inadequate?

* Despite their investment in new programs meant to attract new enrollees, why are so many colleges and universities facing issues with student persistence, timely credential completion, and career success?

The plan of the book reflects the authors' practical aim. In the first of three parts, they offer a broad view of the credentials environment--how credentials work, how a proliferation in credentials has created an unprecedented array of educational choices, and why this abundance is a mixed blessing. In the second part, they focus on categories of credentials, from the associate degree to doctoral degrees to non-degree credentials. The book concludes with two chapters that consider the implications of the information the authors provide for leadership in volatile times: one discusses the importance of maintaining a priority on equity; the other offers 12 propositions for action.

To help make the book useful, each chapter begins with a paragraph that summarizes the emphases to follow, and ends with a list of initiatives, i.e., "takeaways," that leaders (and those attentive to what leaders are doing) should consider.