273. 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. Read The Joe Rottenborn Daily ▸ today's top stories via @rottenbornj ▸ http://t.co/UftEiOc

2. Column: Why DREAM Act is right for U.S., young people, by Arne Duncan - http://usat.ly/knc93Z via @USATODAY - "Leaders in Congress have introduced the DREAM Act to create opportunities for patriotic young people to attend college even though they don't have documentation. They will have to go through a rigorous process to qualify for the DREAM Act. They must prove that they came to the United States before the age of 16, have lived here for at least five years, do not have a criminal record, are not removable from the country and possess good moral character. They will also need to earn a diploma or a GED certificate, and they must have earned admission to an institution of higher education or serve in the military. Once they're in college or serving in the armed forces, they will have the chance to earn legal status."

3. 'Times' Ticks On, by Steve Kolowich - Inside Higher Ed: http://bit.ly/jRX3Uo - "The Times Company, which has seen its annual revenues fall by about 30 percent in the last five years, has waded into the waters of higher education more deliberately than some of its peers -- most notably the Washington Post Company, which now pays for its journalism operations largely off the back of Kaplan Inc., one of the country’s largest degree-granting enterprises."

4. New Voice for Asian Students, by Allie Grasgreen - Inside Higher Ed: http://bit.ly/kymGhJ "Yet overall rates of growth do not fairly represent the complexity of Asian demography and educational attainment. The U.S. Census Bureau has identified 48 different ethnic groups within the AAPI racial category, and some fare far less well than others. For example, about half of Southeast Asian and Pacific Islander students (such as Vietnamese and Native Hawaiian) will leave college without earning a degree; they are three to five times more likely to drop out than are East Asian (such as Japanese and Chinese) and South Asian (such as Korean and Indian) students."

5. Do We Need 20 Million More College Grads? by Lynn O'Shaughnessy - http://t.co/2bvqanB via @cbsmoneywatch - "The report suggests that the country needs far more college graduates than it is currently producing. In fact, the country will require 20 million more college-educated workers by 2025. That’s 12 million more workers than the country is currently on target to produce."

6. Turnaround Schools, Education Week, June 28, 2011- http://www.edweek.org/ew/collections/turnaround-schools/index.html - "In 2009, the federal government overhauled the Title I School Improvement Grant program, increased its value to $3.5 billion with money from the recovery act, and spelled out four turnaround options from which perennially failing schools would have to choose to get a share of the funding. (Roll over the chart at right for descriptions of each model and the breakdown of SIG money-receiving schools that chose to use it)."

7. Even for Cashiers, College Pays Off, by David Leonhardt - http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/26/sunday-review/26leonhardt.html?_r=1&src=rechp -"The evidence is overwhelming that college is a better investment for most graduates than in the past. A new study even shows that a bachelor’s degree pays off for jobs that don’t require one: secretaries, plumbers and cashiers. And, beyond money, education seems to make people happier and healthier. “Sending more young Americans to college is not a panacea,” says David Autor, an M.I.T. economist who studies the labor market. “Not sending them to college would be a disaster.”

8. Teacher Evaluation System Examines Classroom Performance, by Sam Dillon - http://nyti.ms/l1etaX - "For classroom observations, nine criteria — “explain content clearly,” “maximize instructional time” and “check for student understanding,” for example — are used to rate the lesson as highly effective, effective, minimally effective or ineffective. These five observations combine to form 75 percent of these teachers’ overall ratings; the rest is based on achievement data and the teachers’ commitment to their school communities. Ineffective teachers face dismissal. Minimally effective ones get a year to improve."

9. Asian-American and Pacific Islander Students Are Not Monolithically Successful, Report Says, by Jennifer Gonzalez - http://chronicle.com/article/Asian-AmericanPacific/128061/ - "In fact, nearly half of all Asian-American and Pacific Islander students, known as AAPI students, attend community colleges, and many of their ethnic groups have some of the lowest high-school-graduation and college-degree-attainment rates in the United States."

10. Study: California Community College Completion Rate Low http://www.educationnews.org/?p=153831 - "The report shows that 70% of students who enrolled in a California community College still had not completed a degree or a certificate or transferred to a four-year school after 6 years. When the data was broken down by race, it showed that the number of Latino and black students who failed to achieve any of the above objectives was between 75% and 80%."

11. 8 Strategies for Starting Your College Application Process, by Peter Van Buskirk - http://www.usnews.com/education/blogs/the-college-admissions-insider/2011/06/27/8-strategies-for-starting-your-college-application-process - "Over the course of the summer, I will devote this space to providing guidance regarding application preparations. The following are strategies for starting the process. In the coming weeks, I will focus on tips and strategies for refining your presentation."

12. Ask the Financial Expert: "How Does the Federal Financial Aid Process Work?" by Scott Goodman -http://wp.me/p1q4lk-sh - "For the federal government to determine a student’s financial aid eligibility, the student must first complete its aid application known as the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). The FAFSA requires specific income and asset information from both the parents and student. Independent students do not need to list their parents’ information."