378. 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. Read The Joe Rottenborn Daily ▸ today's top stories on college access and success via @rottenbornj ▸ http://paper.li/rottenbornj

2. Duncan Calls for Urgency in Lowering College Costs, by Tamar Lewin: http://nyti.ms/thZSu2 - “Three in four Americans now say that college is too expensive for most people to afford,” Mr. Duncan said. “That belief is even stronger among young adults — three-fourths of whom believe that graduates today have more debt than they can manage.” College seniors with loans now graduate with an average debt load of more than $25,000."

3. Committee on Measures of Student Success issues final report, by Libby A. Nelson Inside Higher Ed: http://bit.ly/sOdSKW via AddThis -"One of the recommendations, if endorsed by Education Secretary Arne Duncan, would create a combined “graduation and transfer” rate that includes students who graduate from a two-year college as well as those who do not graduate but do go on to a four-year institution. That move would be a victory for community colleges, who have argued that counting only those students who earn degrees makes community colleges appear less successful than they really are."

4. 10 job market trends college grads need to know, by Lynn O'Shaughnessy - http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-505145_162-57332329/10-job-market-trends-college-grads-need-to-know/?tag=mncol;lst;8 - "Hiring of college graduates is expected to increase 4 percent across all degree levels, according to a survey of more than 3,300 employers. The survey, which is the largest of its kind, has been conducted annually for 41 years by Michigan State University. . . . Hiring will be strong for college majors such as computer science, accounting, agriculture sciences and agriculture business. Other in-demand degrees will include communications, public relations, marketing, finance and economics."

5. Experts Say Social Sciences Are 'Left Behind,' by Sarah D. Sparks - http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2011/11/30/13social.h31.html?cmp=SOC-SHR-TW via @educationweek - "Researchers at an NRC forum on social sciences in Washington this month suggested that the expansion of testing in math and reading under the No Child Left Behind Act has led to a piecemeal approach to social and behavioral science subjects in the states. . . . “No Child Left Behind frankly left us behind, and the common core gave us a footnote,” said S.G. Grant, the education dean at Binghamton University in Binghamton, N.Y. The discussion caps a year of dismal news on the social studies front for U.S. students: National Assessment of Educational Progress reports out this year found mostly mediocre performance for students in geography, civics, and history."

6. Learning the Language: New Study on Hispanic Achievement Paints Stark Picture, by Lesli Maxwell - http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/learning-the-language/2011/11/new_study_on_hispanic_achievem.html via @educationweek - "When it comes to "readiness to learn," Hispanic children face several disadvantages compared with their white peers. Thirty-three percent of Hispanic children in 2008 lived in families where no parent had full-time employment compared with 21 percent of white children. And in 2007, 27 percent of Hispanic children lived in poverty compared with 10 percent of white children. Those factors and others translate to Hispanic children being less likely than their white or black peers to recognize letters of the alphabet, knowing how to write their name, or being able to count to 20 or higher."

7. THE SOCIAL & EDUCATIONAL FACTORS CONTRIBUTING TO THE OUTCOMES OF HISPANICS IN URBAN SCHOOLS- http://www.cgcs.org/cms/lib/DC00001581/Centricity/Domain/4/HispanicStudy2011.pdf -"Data from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) analyzed for this report show that Hispanic fourth graders read and do math at substantially lower levels than students with greater advantages and students who speak English. The situation is compounded by the fact that large numbers of Hispanic students live below the poverty line, do not have health insurance nor access to pre-school services, are unlikely to have a parent who has graduated from high school, are among the working poor, and face constant suspicions about whether they are in the country legally."

8. Surge in Free School Lunches Reflects Economic Crisis, by Sam Dillon: http://nyti.ms/tmx5jh - "The number of students receiving subsidized lunches rose to 21 million last school year from 18 million in 2006-7, a 17 percent increase, according to an analysis by The New York Times of data from the Department of Agriculture, which administers the meals program."

9. ‘Broader, bolder’ strategy to ending poverty’s influence on education, by Pedro Noguera - http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/post/broader-bolder-strategy-to-ending-povertys-influence-on-education/2011/11/29/gIQAtTvaAO_blog.html?tid=sm_btn_twitter via Washingtonpost.com - "Over 50 years, numerous studies have documented how poverty and related social conditions — such as lack of access to health care, early childhood education and stable housing — affect child development and student achievement. The research never suggests that poor children are incapable of learning or that poverty itself should be regarded as a learning disability. Rather, research suggests that poor children encounter obstacles that often adversely affect their development and learning outcomes."

10. Ohio State football coach Urban Meyer’s salary: $4 million, by Jenna Johnson - Campus Overload - http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/campus-overload/post/ohio-state-football-coach-urban-meyers-salary-4-million/2011/11/29/gIQAup9K9N_blog.html?tid=sm_btn_twitter via @washingtonpost.com - "Meyer will earn three times more than Ohio State President E. Gordan Gee, the nation’s highest paid university president. On most campuses, coaches top the payroll. And despite the economy, budget cuts and increasing tuition, coach salaries continue to climb."

11. Kevin Carey: The Dissenter The New Republic: http://bit.ly/tyVhGG via AddThis" -"Improbably, at the end of a four-decade-long career as the nation’s most prominent education historian and a vocal advocate for education reform, Ravitch has emerged as reform’s fiercest critic. Her about-face has made her more famous and influential than she has ever been. Now, pundits, scholars, philanthropists, and education leaders are all asking the same question: What happened to Diane Ravitch?"