Cover -- Contents -- Foreword -- Acknowledgments -- 1 Improving Higher Education Attainment of All Students: A National Imperative -- 2 Understanding the Relationship between Public Policy and Higher Education Performance: Guiding Perspectives -- 3 Examining the Relationship between Public Policy and Performance in Five States: What We Did -- 4 Perpetuating Disparity: The Performance and State Policies of Higher Education in Georgia -- 5 A Story of Decline: The Performance and State Policies of Higher Education in Illinois -- 6 Much Accomplished, Much at Stake: The Performance and State Policies of Higher Education in Maryland -- 7 Hard Choices Ahead: The Performance and State Policies of Higher Education in Texas -- 8 State Policy Leadership Vacuum: The Performance and State Policies of Higher Education in Washington -- 9 Lessons Learned: Conclusions and Implications -- Notes -- References -- Index -- A -- B -- C -- D -- E -- F -- G -- H -- I -- J -- K -- L -- M -- N -- O -- P -- Q -- R -- S -- T -- U -- V -- W.