299. Summer 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 on college access and success via @rottenbornj ▸ http://t.co/UftEiOc

2. Confessions of an Edu-Traitor, by Cathy Davidson - Inside Higher Ed: http://bit.ly/roDpgt via @AddThis - "Here goes: I do not think going to university should be the be-all and end-all of K-12 education. The importance of going to college should be intrinsically the rationale by which we justify public support of higher education. Higher education is incredibly valuable, even precious, for many. But it is bad for individuals and society to be retrofitting learning all the way back to preschool, as if the only skills valuable, vital, necessary in the world are the ones that earn you a B.S., BA, or a graduate and professional degree."

3. 15 Worst-Paying College Degrees in 2011, by Lynn O'Shaughnessy - http://t.co/KGVN1Sh via @cbsmoneywatch - "When you look at this year’s list of the lowest-paying college degrees, which was provided to me by PayScale, it doesn’t contain a lot of surprises. Three of the worst-paying degrees involve teaching or being involved in some way with children."

4. Rural Education: Rural Struggle: Get Students to Graduate, Go To College, by Diette Courrege - http://t.co/kGoHYF4 via @educationweek - "One of the big problems discussed at the Southeast Regional Rural Education Summit last week was the difficulty rural schools face in getting students to go to college. Speaker after speaker agreed that one of the major hurdles is family support. They said that, in many cases, students aren't encouraged by their families to seek post-secondary education."

5. Rural Education: How Two Rural Schools Prepare Kids for College, Part 1, by Diette Courrege - http://t.co/vP2zmwK via @educationweek - "Superintendent Larry McClenny said the school pushes students to achieve, and one of the ways it does that is through dual-credit courses. Students can graduate from high school with 30 hours of college credit. Both of McClenny's children had that many hours when they finished, and both finished college in three years."It saves parents a lot of money to be able to get in numerous hours in high school," he said."

6. Rural Education: Two Rural Schools Preparing Kids For College, Part 2, by Diette Courrege - http://t.co/FNDs3C3 via @educationweek - "That led to the adoption of a curriculum with programs of study aligned to the National Career Clusters model, which organizes high school classes around job occupations to boost real-world relevance. Loving High has strong dual credit offerings—75 percent of the school's students are enrolled in those classes—and district Superintendent Kristina Baca talked about how the school's programs of study are aligned to post-secondary education."

7. Status of Education in Rural America, 2007 - http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2007/2007040.pdf - "College enrollment rates for both 18- to 24-year-olds and 25- to 29-year-olds were generally lower in rural areas than in all other locales in 2004. In rural areas, as in the nation as a whole, females enrolled in postsecondary education at a higher rate than males." (p. 64.)

8. Arne Duncan to Override ‘No Child Left Behind’ Requirement, by Sam Dillon - http://nyti.ms/rpzlLP - "Secretary of Education Arne Duncan has announced that he will unilaterally override the centerpiece requirement of the No Child Left Behind school accountability law, that 100 percent of students be proficient in math and reading by 2014. Mr. Duncan told reporters that he was acting because Congress had failed to rewrite the Bush-era law, which he called a “slow-motion train wreck.” He is waiving the law’s proficiency requirements for states that have adopted their own testing and accountability programs and are making other strides toward better schools, he said."

9. Education Needs a Digital-Age Upgrade, by Virginia Heffernan - http://nyti.ms/q8ExIU - "According to Cathy N. Davidson, co-director of the annual MacArthur Foundation Digital Media and Learning Competitions, fully 65 percent of today’s grade-school kids may end up doing work that hasn’t been invented yet."

10. Top 10 Schools Where Students Study The Most - http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/08/08/top-10-schools-where-stud_n_920830.html#s324337&title=Harvey_Mudd_College - "Princeton Review recently named the schools where the students study the most. Claremont engineering giant Harvey Mudd College topped the list, followed by the perennially bookish MIT. Check out our slide show of the most studious schools."

11. The Decade of Lost Children, by Charles M. Blow - http://t.co/ktxi4ga - "According to “The State of America’s Children 2011,” a report issued last month by the Children’s Defense Fund, the impact of the recession on children’s well-being has been catastrophic."

12. The State of America's Children 2011, Children's Defense Fund - http://www.childrensdefense.org/child-research-data-publications/data/state-of-americas-2011.pdf - "This may be the first time in our history when our children and grandchildren will be worse off than their parents and grandparents. We must correct course with urgency and do whatever is necessary to get them to safe harbor. We have pushed so many of our children into the tumultuous sea of life in small and leaky boats without survival gear and compass. I hope God will forgive us and help our children to forgive us."