264. Review of College News

Here are some links to today's stories

about college access and success.

by

Joe Rottenborn

Executive Director, Mahoning Valley College Access Program (MVCAP)

1. Terrelle Pryor apologizes for actions that led him to leave Ohio State, by Erick Smith: http://usat.ly/jCJ5c2 - "Pryor did not take questions after his statement. He did confirm he would enter the NFL's supplemental draft and said he was nine credits short of graduating from Ohio State and hoped to receive his degree from the school."

2. College Bound: Low-Income Students More Likely to Attend For-Profits, by Caralee Adams - http://t.co/xo8pH7s - "Students between ages 18 and 26 whose total household income is near or below the federal poverty level are likely to be overrepresented at for-profit institutions and underrepresented at public and private nonprofit four-year institutions, according to Portraits: Initial College Attendance of Low-Income Young Adults by IHEP, an independent, nonprofit public-policy research organization in Washington."

3. U.S. Students Remain Poor at History, Tests Show, by Sam Dillon - http://nyti.ms/iMj1G1 - "American students are less proficient in their nation’s history than in any other subject, according to results of a nationwide test released on Tuesday, with most fourth graders unable to say why Abraham Lincoln was an important figure and few high school seniors able to identify China as the North Korean ally that fought American troops during the Korean War."

4. With Perkins Loan Program Set to Expire in 3 Years, College Presidents Work to Preserve It, by Beckie Supiano - http://chronicle.com/article/College-Presidents-Pull/127918/ - "For many low-income students, several panelists noted, a Perkins Loan is all that stands between a student and needing to take out a higher-interest private loan. "In a real sense, the Perkins Loan is the last chance not to say 'no' to a student who wants to go to school," said the Rev. Charles L. Currie, president of the Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities."

5. University of the People: Tuition-free higher education, by Daniel de Vise - http://wapo.st/j3yc9P - "The biggest drawback to Reshef’s school is that it lacks accreditation. There’s little hope for his students to transfer their credits to any other university until it gains accreditation. Reshef says he’s working with an as-yet-unnamed accreditor."

6. Reviewing education reform in the 2010-11 school year, by Valerie Strauss - http://t.co/Ce7fjg1 via @washingtonpost - "That contest, plus a controversial film about charter schools called “Waiting for ‘Superman,’ ” propelled a reform movement that stresses choice and incentives rather than equity and funding."

7. The MOST Expensive Private Colleges - http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/06/13/the-most-expensive-privat_n_876440.html#s291540&title=Connecticut_College_43990 - "Although it overall nabbed 41st place in a ranking of liberal arts schools, Connecticut College tops the list of the most expensive colleges in the nation, according to a new study by US News and World Report. 7 of the colleges listed are liberal arts colleges, and two are national universities. One is a regional college."

8. Slowing the summer slide to lower academic achievement: Making summer school cool, by Maureen Downey - http://bit.ly/leRksA - “While all students lose some ground in mathematics over the summer, low-income students lose more ground in reading, while their higher-income peers may even gain,” states the RAND study.“Most disturbing is that summer learning loss is cumulative; over time, the difference between the summer learning rates of low-income and higher-income students contributes substantially to the achievement gap,” the study warns."

9. Symposium Focuses on Positioning Young Black Boys for Educational Success - http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/symposium-focuses-on-positioning-young-black-boys-for-educational-success-123831924.html - "The toxic cocktail of poverty, illiteracy, racial disparities, violence, massive incarceration and family breakdown is sentencing millions of children to dead end and hopeless lives and threatens to undermine the past half century of racial and social progress," says Marian Wright Edelman, President of the Children's Defense Fund. "These ingredients ultimately combine to produce striking gaps in educational success, life expectancy and other important outcomes. We believe there are ways to avoid these outcomes."

10. Separate and unequal, by Karen Finney - TheHill.com: http://bit.ly/k5pWjp - "McKinsey analyzed data that suggest America’s academic achievement gap “imposes on the United States the economic equivalent of a permanent national recession.” The study suggests that closing the gap between black and Latino students and white students between 1983 and 1998 would have raised the GDP between $310 billion and $525 billion by 2008."

11. We Must Help Students Reach College, by Yash Gupta - http://t.co/5vUumzq via @educationweek"We should all be terrified. The young people moving through our education system, particularly at public schools in low-income areas, are lamentably unprepared for the challenges that await them in their post-academic lives."