327. College Access and Success News

Here are links to recent news on college access and success.
by
Joe Rottenborn
Executive Director, Mahoning Valley College Access Program (MVCAP)

1. A Manual for 'Helicopter Parents' to Land Their Aircraft, by Lionel Anderson: http://nyti.ms/nEt2dQ - ". . . The coming years, invariably, will require your daughter or son to embrace a level of independence from you unlike any before. While difficult, it’s necessary and promises far more good than harm in the long term. Near or far, afford your child the space to discover when they need you and when they don’t."

2. Calculating Costs and Benefits, by Libby A. Nelson - Inside Higher Ed - http://bit.ly/q0Bbr8 via AddThis - "The net price calculator requirement, which came about as part of the Higher Education Act reauthorization in 2008, is intended to give students and parents a better idea of how much college costs. On average, college tuition was discounted 42 percent in 2010, meaning that most students actually paid well over half of the sticker price. But students often don't learn how much they will pay until they've already applied, been admitted and had an aid application evaluated."

3. The Hazards of Applying To a Reach School, by Lynn O'Shaughnessy - http://moneywatch.bnet.com/spending/blog/college-solution/the-hazards-of-applying-to-a-reach-school/6646/ via @cbsmoneywatch - "If you want to capture the best financial awards from a college, it’s important to apply to schools that represent good academic matches. If you reach for the moon, be prepared to pay a high price."

4. Early Achievers Losing Ground, Study Finds, by Nirvi Shah - http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2011/09/20/05gifted.h31.html via @educationweek - "Tracking the individual scores of nearly 82,000 students on the Measures of Academic Progress, a computerized adaptive test, the study found, for example, that of the students who scored at the 90th percentile or above in math as 3rd graders, only 57.3 percent scored as well by the time they were 8th graders."

5. 2010 Data Show Surge in Poor Young Families, by Sabrina Tavernise - http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/20/us/poor-young-families-soared-in-10-data-show.html?_r=1&src=rechp - “Young families with children are now six times as likely to be poor as elderly families,” Professor Sum said. “This is a major generational change. From a public policy standpoint, we should be very deeply troubled by this.” Economists cited several reasons for the rise. First was the economy. College degrees hold greater value now, while opportunities for low-skilled workers have dwindled, as manufacturing and other industries have declined. That has pushed more young families into poverty."

6. The Unwitting Damage Done by the Spellings Commission, by Robert Zemsky -http://chronicle.com/article/The-Unwitting-Damage-Done-by/129051/ - "And where Miller and Spellings had come up short, Robert Shireman, then-deputy undersecretary of education, and Secretary of Education Arne Duncan succeeded, putting in place a regulatory environment that provides the department with a broad role in determining what kinds of higher education are eligible for the federal government's $100-billion-plus investment in student financial aid."

7. College Bound: Teacher-Turned-Photographer Returns to Document School’s Success, by Kayla Webley - LightBox: http://ti.me/rlclLT via @TIME - "The first step in achieving those big dreams is attending college. This year—and every year—every single student at North Star Academy in Newark, New Jersey has been accepted into at least one four-year college. 95% go on to enroll in one of those four-year institutions. Compare that with the fact that in 2004 only 26% of graduating seniors in the entire Newark school district said they planned to attend college, and it’s clear the school is doing something right.
The school’s mission to “prepare each student to enter, succeed in, and graduate from college,” permeates everything at the school. The classrooms are named after prestigious universities like Princeton and Harvard. For field trips they visit campuses like Stanford, Georgetown and Boston College. The idea behind all of this is to make college an attainable reality, the natural next step upon graduation. That mindset is often the case for middle class students, but not for disadvantaged children for whom college is often a far-off dream."

8. Up-And-Coming Colleges: U.S. News List - http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/09/19/up-and-coming-colleges-us-news_n_969468.html - "College presidents, provosts, and admissions deans were asked to nominate up to 10 colleges in their U.S. News Best Colleges ranking category "that are making improvements in academics, faculty, students, campus life, diversity, and facilities. These schools are worth watching because they are making promising and innovative changes."

9. Read The Joe Rottenborn Daily ▸ today's top stories about college access and success, via @rottenbornj ▸ http://t.co/x7cmxSo