395. College Access and Success News

For today's top stories on college access and success via @rottenbornj, you can read The Joe Rottenborn Daily ▸http://paper.li/rottenbornj
or

consult the Facebook page of

Mahoning Valley College Access Program (MVCAP) at

http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/pages/Mahoning-Valley-College-Access-Program-MVCAP/284002915922

394. 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. Is it OK for Someone to Proofread Your College Application Essay? - College Admissions Q&As (http://t.co/YL8VAMpm) http://bit.ly/sXOnvK

3. Do colleges with test-optional admissions inflate ratings? http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/class-struggle/post/admissions-101-do-colleges-with-test-optional-admissions-inflate-their-us-news-ratings/2011/12/20/gIQApEvD7O_blog.html?tid=sm_btn_tw - "A growing number of colleges do not require SAT or ACT tests. Does that help, hurt or do nothing for a school’s U.S. News ranking?"

4. The Hazards of Being a Stealth Applicant, by Lynn O'Shaughnessy - http://www.thecollegesolution.com/the-hazards-of-being-a-stealth-applicant#.TvKffx58XNU.twitter via AddThis - "You could reduce your chances of getting accepted into college if you are a stealth applicant, who never contacts the university before you apply."

5. Tweet-like College Admission Essays Spark Debate: http://www.articlesbase.com/college-and-university-articles/tweet-like-college-admission-essays-spark-debate-5487866.html#.TvKf4o5Y2aY.twitter via ArticlesBase - "The new format integrated in the college admission essays that asks students to respond in as brief as a tweet, has triggered debates participated by students, parents and even school administrators."

6. Action teams tackle St. Paul achievement gap, recommend other big changes at SPPS Twin Cities Daily Planet http://bit.ly/swqoDm - "Slide is one of a series of recommendations from nine District Action Teams — see pdf at end of article for full PowerPoint presentation."

7. Will $60 Million For Early Learning Help Close The Achievement Gap? http://shar.es/WHwd2 - "Last week Washington state won a $60 million federal grant for early learning. We take a closer look with leading experts on early childhood education in Washington and other states. How will the state spend the money? Will it help close the achievement gap for low–income kids?"

8. Cost vs. benefit steers debate over future of integration aid http://t.co/wy2UiQMB http://www.startribune.com/politics/statelocal/135974858.html

9. 'Financial Aid Offers in Florida' - http://EzineArticles.com/6762362 - "There are several financial-aid programs given to students. Each of the programs has different requirements and qualifications. Every university and college in the United States of America have scholarship offerings to students . . . ."

10. Autopsy: FAMU band member died within an hour of beatings, by Douglas Stanglin - http://usat.ly/tZJ8Ho via @USATODAY - "CNN reports that some band members have said Champion died after taking part in a rite of passage called "crossing Bus C." One member, who CNN says spoke on condition of anonymity, described the ordeal in which students "walk from the front of the bus to the back of the bus backward while the bus is full of other band members, and you get beaten until you get to the back."

11. Ohio State gets bowl ban, other penalties - Tribune Chronicle - Warren, OH: http://bit.ly/s53koq via AddThis - "The NCAA also issued a public reprimand and censure, put the Buckeyes on probation through Dec. 19, 2014, and reduced football scholarships from 85 to 82 through the 2014-15 academic year."

12. Study Links Winning Football and Declining Grades, by Mary Pilon: http://nyti.ms/tBcKoJ - “Our results support the concern that big-time sports are a threat to American higher education,” the paper’s authors — Jason M. Lindo, Isaac D. Swensen and Glen R. Waddell — wrote. They said their work was among the first to take a look at the “nonmonetary costs” of college sports."

393. 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. Early Line on Early Admissions: http://nyti.ms/swWdAH - "High school seniors who applied to early admission programs can find an early tally providing some context for this year's process."

3. Colleges are watching applicants' online trails - http://kansascity.com/: http://bit.ly/u07ZEq via AddThis - Watch what you post!

4. New Report Analyzes Nation's Progress in Meeting College Graduation Goals: http://bit.ly/vitc5v via AddThis - "To help the nation achieve its educational goals, CollegeBoard.org recently issued a report to assess the current state of the nation's college graduates."

5. Low-income quota eyed for St. Paul schools http://t.co/wy2UiQMB http://www.startribune.com/local/stpaul/135900333.html

6. Malloy unveils education reform ideas for Conn. http://www.boston.com/news/education/k_12/articles/2011/12/20/malloy_unveils_education_reform_ideas_for_conn via @BostonDotCom - "Connecticut lawmakers will be asked next year to allow more state intervention in troubled school districts, more autonomy for high-achieving schools, changes in teacher evaluation methods. . . ."

7. Build School Systems on a Solid Foundation http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2011/12/20/15westervelt.h31.html?cmp=SOC-SHR-TW via @educationweek - "Early-childhood education must promote opportunities for needy children, Gerrit Westervelt and Cassie Schwerner say."

8. Essay: Washington college grant program favors vocational over liberal education Inside Higher Ed: http://bit.ly/sCAoaQ via AddThis - "Last year, as Washington State faced a severe budget crisis, legislators embraced a novel way to fund student financial aid: a public-private partnership between the state and private corporations. Called the Opportunity Scholarship Fund, the fund attracts private donations and matches them. . . ."

9. The Envelope, Please: Eight High School Seniors Blog Their College Searches: http://nyti.ms/vIviRa - "Eight students from four high schools -- one each in Atlanta; New York City; Minnetonka, Minn.; and Long Beach, Calif. -- invite readers of The Choice along on their college searches, via a first-person series called "The Envelope, Please."

10. Some Early Applicants Will Wait a Little Longer: http://nyti.ms/uzzRXu - "For early applicants to the University of Michigan and Lehigh University, there is a bit more waiting for admissions decisions this year."

11. Sniffing Out Financial Aid Awards, by Lynn O'Shaughnessy - http://www.thecollegesolution.com/sniffing-out-financial-aid-awards#.TvFQmxlaRZ0.twitter via AddThis - "Parents and teenagers should not apply to colleges and universities before getting a good idea how much scholarships or grants a school would provide."

12. Measuring the Generosity of Colleges, by Lynn O'Shaughnessy - http://www.thecollegesolution.com/measuring-the-generosity-of-colleges#.TvFQ1pbxwus.twitter via AddThis

13. The Best Way to Study for Final Exams, by Lynn O'Shaughnessy - http://www.thecollegesolution.com/the-best-way-to-study-for-final-exams#.TvFRNc6A2qU.twitter via AddThis - "Research from Purdue and Washington University suggests the best way to study for final exams for high school and college students."

392. 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. Most bizarre essay questions - http://m.golocalprov.com/70548/show/7acfb5cb851c6ca4865138c70d1503a9/ - "According to the National Association for College Admissions Counseling (NACAC), the importance that colleges place on student essays has been steadily increasing. While the Common Application provides standard essay prompts, individual colleges often ask additional essay and short answer questions . . . ."

3. College Early Admission Is Tougher Than Ever http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2011/12/19/college-early-admission-is-tougher-than-ever.html via @thedailybeast - "This year’s early admission applicants had it tougher than ever, reports Steve Cohen."

4. Startup raises $2.5M to put college admissions on Apple's iPad http://www.bizjournals.com/boston/news/2011/12/19/college-admissions-ipad-app-raises-25m.html?ana=twt via @BBJNewsroom

5. Your College Advisor - End-of-the-year checklist for high school seniors - http://northjersey.com/ http://shar.es/Wmcjm

6. Teen musician, 17, graduates from UWM - JSOnline http://www.jsonline.com/news/education/teen-musician-17-graduates-from-uwm-ll3g3or-135835833.html - And a guitarist, at that!

7. Sample College Admissions Essays on a Fictional Character http://collegeapps.about.com/b/2011/12/18/new-sample-college-admissions-essay-on-a-fictional-character.htm?r=twitter - "Common Application Sample Essay - An essay for option #4 on a fictional character"

8. Achievement gap among Seattle black students Education News - The News Tribune http://www.thenewstribune.com/2011/12/19/1951412/achievement-gap-among-seattle.html via @thenewstribune - "A new look at test scores by Seattle Public Schools shows American-born black students lag behind black immigrants in academic achievement."

9. The Poverty of School Reform -- In These Times: http://bit.ly/vWbuHR via AddThis

10. The Financial Aid That You Didn't Know Existed http://www.educationfact.com/blog/financial-aid-didnt-existed/ - "A blog post offering information regarding the some of the often-overlooked financial aid options to investigate"

391. 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. 'Good-enough’ university http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/setting-our-sights-on-a-good-enough-college/2011/12/16/gIQAyCK8yO_story.html?tid=sm_btn_tw - "Help high schoolers keep perspective."

3. High seniors receive college scholarships Los Angeles Wave - Community News, Sports & Entertainment Lynwood Press http://www.wavenewspapers.com/news/local/lynwood-press/Three-Firebaugh-High-seniors-receive-colege-scholarships-135757023.html -"LYNWOOD — Three seniors from Firebaugh High School here have been given full four-year scholarships through the QuestBridge National College Match program.QuestBridge is a nonprofit organization dedicated to connecting high-achieving students from low-income backgrounds with scholarship opportunities. . . ."

4. Reducing the black-white achievement gap by reducing black unemployment Economic Policy Institute http://shar.es/WnCTW

5. RT @fremonttribune It's time to starting gathering financial aid information http://bit.ly/tTu13Y - "If you or your child will be heading to college next fall, now is the time to prepare for applying for financial aid."

6. Toys wear out, gift of education lasts a lifetime - Chicago Sun-Times: http://www.suntimes.com/news/mitchell/9482631-452/toys-wear-out-gift-of-education-lasts-a-lifetime.html#.Tu1e9TBpeN8.twitter via AddThis

7. Inconvenient Income Inequality: http://nyti.ms/uLWvcn - "Some recent surveys seem to suggest that many Americans are in denial about the seriousness of the gap between the rich and poor."

8. Florida A&M death puts focus on traditions – http://usatoday.com/ http://usat.ly/tTaX5N via @USATODAY

9. Half of U.S. schools fail federal standards – http://usatoday.com/ http://usat.ly/roQv42 via USATODAY

10. College prep: All I want for Christmas is acceptance http://t.co/2BUIIe1S http://shar.es/W1Yo4

11. Yale early admissions - http://www.yaledailynews.com/news/2011/dec/17/early-admit-rate-increases-slightly/ - "Yale sent acceptance letters to 15.7 percent of its early action applicants for the class of 2016 on Thursday evening."

12. Lori Sturdevant: Achievement gap -- a disaster in slow motion http://t.co/wy2UiQMB http://www.startribune.com/opinion/otherviews/135762243.html

13. UC Berkeley Extends Financial Aid To Middle-Class Students Neon Tommy: http://www.neontommy.com/news/2011/12/uc-berkeley-extends-financial-aid-middle-class-students#.Tu5Vpi1z0Us.twitter via AddThis - "Robert Birgeneau, UC Berkeley chancellor, announced Wednesday that the Berkeley Middle Class Access Plan (Berkeley MCAP) is aimed at families with an annual gross income between $80,000 and $140,000."

14. College savings made simple [The Gazette, Cedar Rapids, Iowa]: http://t.co/uemxeGeW via @AddThis

15. College students face shorter Pell Grants - http://shar.es/W1d7p - "As Congress passes a 2012 budget, student loans will get pinched next fall. Changes to Pell Grant program would hit African-American students hard."

390. 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. Charter schools: Wave of the future? by Steve Kastenbaum – Schools of Thought - http://schoolsofthought.blogs.cnn.com/2011/12/15/charter-schools-wave-of-the-future/ via CNN - "The Center for Research on Education Outcomes at Stanford University studied charter school performance in 16 states. Researchers concluded that 17% of charter schools reported academic gains that were significantly better than traditional public schools. But 37% of charter schools performed at rates below their public school counterparts. The remaining 46% showed no significant difference. The Rand Corp., a nonprofit research foundation, looked at charter schools in eight states and found that, on average, charter schools as a whole aren't producing results that differ substantially from traditional public school systems. However, the study showed that students at charter high schools are between 7% and 15% more likely to graduate than their traditional public school counterparts."

3. eCheating: Students using high-tech tricks, by Greg Toppo – http://usat.ly/urySpd via @USATODAY - "Common Sense Media, a non-profit advocacy group, finds that more than 35% of teens ages 13 to 17 with cellphones have used the devices to cheat. More than half (52%) admit to some form of cheating involving the Internet, and many don't consider it a big deal. For instance, only 41% say storing notes on a cellphone to access during a test is a "serious offense." Nearly one in four (23%) don't think it's cheating at all."

4. You've Got Application Questions? We'll Have Answers, on Facebook, by Jacques Steinberg and Rebecca R. Ruiz: http://nyti.ms/vL2LEv - "We invite applicants who might be finishing their applications — or seeking to make sense of their early application news — to log on and draw on the expertise of these three counselors."

5. Budget compromise would preserve maximum Pell grant, NIH funding, by Libby A. Nelson Inside Higher Ed: http://bit.ly/tsdSWi via AddThis - "The bill, HR 3671, draws from ideas put forward in Republican and Democratic spending plans earlier this year: it would preserve the maximum Pell Grant at $5,550, but change the program’s eligibility criteria, making as many as 100,000 of its 9 million recipients ineligible. The grants could be used for a total of 12 semesters, not 18, as in the past -- a change that would affect an estimated 62,000 beneficiaries and take effect July 1, 2012."

6. 9 States Win Race to Top Early Learning Grants, by Michele McNeil - http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/campaign-k-12/2011/12/states_win_race_to_top_early_l.html via @educationweek - "Nine states will share $500 million in Race to the Top early learning grants, the U.S. Department of Education confirmed this morning. They are: California, Delaware, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, North Carolina, Ohio, Rhode Island, and Washington. They will get grants ranging from $50 million to $100 million, based on the state's student population. "Investing in early learning is one of the smartest things we can do," U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan said during the White House announcement of the winners this morning."

7. Ohio's Race to the Top: Early Learning Challenge Grant Application for Initial Funding - http://www2.ed.gov/programs/racetothetop-earlylearningchallenge/applications/ohio.pdf -"Nearly 75% of high-needs children in Ohio enter school without the skills they need to succeed in kindergarten."

8. Outsourced city school tutoring program deeply flawed, report says, by Fern Shen Baltimore Brew http://bit.ly/oJZNNL - “This is a classic case of outsourcing a vital education program to private contractors without adequate public monitoring and regulation,” Jacobson told The Brew today. “Therefore, no one knows if tutored students are making academic improvement, even though the federal law states improving academic achievement as the program’s purpose.”

9. What research exposed about market-based ed reform in 2011, by Matthew Di Carlo - http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/post/what-research-exposed-about-market-based-ed-reform-in-2011/2011/12/14/gIQAOJ3zwO_blog.html?tid=sm_btn_tw - "There were also several studies taking a look at the effects of the so-called “no excuses” model (most famously used by KIPP), which is generally characterized by an extended day/year, intensive tutoring, stepped-up recruitment and performance pay of teachers and administrators, strict discipline and data-informed instruction via interim assessments. Perhaps most notably, we received the first round of results on a pilot program in Houston, in which 20 regular public schools are being “converted” to the “no excuses” model. The preliminary results for the Houston intervention’s first year were, however, mixed. There were no discernible gains in reading, to go along with strong increases in math achievement, which seemed to be in no small part driven by the schools’ tutoring program (further discussion here)."

10. The 10 lowest college graduation rates in D.C., Md. and Va., by Daniel de Vise - http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/college-inc/post/the-10-lowest-college-graduation-rates-in-dc-md-and-va/2011/12/13/gIQAnfSVsO_blog.html?tid=sm_btn_tw - “Show me a city with a high-school dropout factory and I will show you a college in the same city with an even lower graduation rate,” said Kevin Carey, an Education Sector researcher who has studied graduation rates at length. “Apparently there’s no number so low that it automatically triggers loss of accreditation. There’s no number so low that it causes state leaders to consider shutting an institution down.”

11. College Dropout Factories by Ben Miller and Phuong Ly Washington Monthlyhttp://www.washingtonmonthly.com/college_guide/feature/college_dropout_factories.php?page=all - "But the term “dropout factory” is also applicable to colleges. The Washington Monthly and Education Sector, an independent think tank, looked at the 15 percent of colleges and universities with the worst graduation records—about 200 schools in all—and found that the graduation rate at these schools is 26 percent. (See the table at left for a listing of the fifty colleges and universities with the worst graduation rates.) America’s “college dropout factories,” in other words, are twice as bad at graduating their students as the worst high schools are at graduating theirs."

389. 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. Diploma Rates Far Short of Goal, Report Says, by Rebecca R. Ruiz: http://nyti.ms/tlKr21 - "From 2000 to 2009, the report noted, the percentage of adults with associate degrees or higher increased by just 3 percent. If that pace holds steady, by 2025 the United States will fall nine percentage points below the president’s goal, with 46 percent of adults holding college degrees. . . . The report also highlighted differences in completion rates by race, noting that while around 40 percent of all young Americans hold college degrees, nearly 70 percent of Asian-Americans do, compared with 49 percent of white young adults, 19 percent of Hispanic young adults and 29 percent of African-American young adults."

3. For-profits should get ahead of accountability push, experts say, by Paul Fain Inside Higher Ed: http://bit.ly/rBPRxL via @AddThis - “They’re going to run you out of town anyway,” said Smith, who is senior vice president of academic strategies and development for Kaplan Higher Education. “Get in front and make it look like a parade.”

4. AYP Results for 2010-11 - http://www.cep-dc.org/ - "This report updates previous CEP research with data from the 2010-11 school year on the number of schools not making adequate yearly progress (AYP) under the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB). The estimated percentage of all U.S. schools not making AYP was 48% in 2011, an all-time high and an increase from 39% in 2010."

5. What Is College For? by Gary Gutting: http://nyti.ms/rGzWtl - "Most American college students are wrapping up yet another semester this week. For many of them, and their families, the past months or years in school have likely involved considerable time, commitment, effort and expense. Was it worth it?"

6. Our Universities: Why Are They Failing? by Anthony Grafton - http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2011/nov/24/our-universities-why-are-they-failing/?pagination=false - "Fewer than 70 percent of high school students graduate. Just over 70 percent of those graduates will enter some form of postsecondary education. But barely more than half of those who start BA programs will finish them in six years, and only 30 percent of those who start community college will win an associate degree in three years. After that point, most people don’t manage to graduate."

7. Education Secretary Overstated Failing Schools Under No Child Left Behind, Study Says, by Sam Dillon: http://nyti.ms/ugOmVJ - "Now a new study, scheduled for release on Thursday, says the administration’s numbers were wildly overstated. The study, by the Center on Education Policy, a Washington research group headed by a Democratic lawyer who endorses most of the administration’s education policies, says that 48 percent of the nation’s 100,000 public schools were labeled as failing under the law this year."

8. ‘Moneyball’ Meets Education, Part 2: Colleges Pool Data to Prevent Dropouts, by Marc Parry - http://chronicle.com/blogs/wiredcampus/moneyball-meets-education-part-ii-colleges-pool-data-to-prevent-dropouts/34681 - "But what if you could perform that kind of predictive analysis based on student information and course records from many colleges, not just one? That’s the idea behind an ambitious project that is pooling more than 640,000 student records from six different institutions. Led by WCET, a group that promotes technology in higher education, the project aims to answer three main questions. What factors make some students drop out? What keeps others in college? What demographics make a difference?"

9. Boomers heading back to community colleges, by Matthew Daneman – http://usat.ly/vZMU22 via @USATODAY - "An increasing number of people ages 50 and up are headed to community college — 388,000 were enrolled nationwide in fall 2009, the most recent data available from the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC). That was up 6% from 2007 and more than 12% from 2005. Nationwide, people over the age of 50 typically make up between 5%-6% of community college enrollment, according to AACC figures."

10. George W. Bush Looks Forward After No Child Left Behind, by Andrew J. Rotherham - http://ti.me/sS7ErX via @TIMEIdeas - "The education debate about George W. Bush is loaded with irony. The same President who is attacked by the left for pushing through tax cuts that benefited the wealthy is being assailed by the right for education policies that focus on disadvantaged students allegedly at the expense of high-achieving ones. But Bush remains steadfast. He considers No Child Left Behind a piece of civil rights legislation, and while his party is running from his education record, some education leaders are starting to run toward his institute and its work."

11. Why strong afterschool programs matter to school reform, by Jodi Grant -http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/post/why-strong-afterschool-programs-matter/2011/12/14/gIQAvtUpuO_blog.html?tid=sm_btn_tw - "Afterschool programs have long known that they can embrace the hours between the time school closes and parents return from work to provide children, especially those who don’t have access to other activities, with exciting, engaging experiences that will help them learn academic, social and professional skills. The research is clear: children in quality afterschool programs are more likely to come to school and stay in school, more likely to hand in their work and get better grades."

388. 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. NAEP Scores: Achievement Gap in D.C. Still Wide Education News - http://shar.es/oTbKI

3. More on the D.C. Achievement Gap and Michelle Rhee's Legacy - http://bit.ly/u20rqW

4. Chicago Teachers Union Organizes Parents Against CPS ‘School Actions’ -http://www.enewspf.com/latest-news/school-news/29530-chicago-teachers-union-organizes-parents-against-cps-school-actions-.html

5. Maya Cole: Why I will vote against Madison Prep http://bit.ly/uBtOk3

6. Researchers Probe 'Myths' Around Math Gender Gap, by Sarah D. Sparks - http://t.co/cMCj6Ybx via @educationweek

7. Start the scholarship search with fact-finding http://t.co/nxBiwOEU & The Charlotte Observer Newspaper: http://t.co/8g9wlTX2 via @AddThis

8. Vanderbilt, Duke are South's most selective colleges - http://t.co/nq2Xv3VW via @nashvillebiz

9. Rice is most selective college for admissions in Texas - http://t.co/4F4i0JrT via @HOUBizjournal

10. On College: What struggles do you reveal on your college application? - San Jose Mercury News http://t.co/WSInAjqR

387. 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. Child homelessness up 33% in 3 years, by Marisol Bello – http://usat.ly/t6ym1z via @USATODAY - "One in 45 children in the USA — 1.6 million children — were living on the street, in homeless shelters or motels, or doubled up with other families last year, according to the National Center on Family Homelessness."

3. Valencia College wins first Aspen Prize, by Paul Fain Inside Higher Ed: http://bit.ly/s4d4l4 via AddThis - “Valencia reworked many traditional processes that other colleges view as immutable,” according to an Aspen-produced pamphlet describing the 10 finalists for the award. By giving students earlier advising and orientation, as well as offering a “Student Success” course, the college has tried “new things where they’ll matter most, for the neediest students." The three-year, full-time graduation and transfer rate for minority students at Valencia is 43 percent, which outpaces the national average of 33 percent. And the completion rate for Valencia’s career programs has grown 44 percent over four years."

4. Congressman Targets Pay of For-Profit-College Chiefs Inside Higher Ed: http://bit.ly/vPEPcy via AddThis - "Rep. Elijah Cummings of Maryland, of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, said in a speech to a consumer group today (see video below) that he had sent letters to the CEOs of 13 for-profit education companies, asking for the compensation agreements to help "determine whether salaries, bonuses, and other compensation are appropriately tied to the performance of students they educate, the vast majority of whom pay for their education with federal tax dollars."

5. Tackling colleges' Common Application, by Lynn O'Shaughnessy - http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-505145_162-57341025/tackling-colleges-common-application/?tag=mncol;lst;6 - "As the name suggests, the institutions share one application that is intended to make the admission process easier. The name Common Application, however, is somewhat misleading, because schools routinely ask students to answer extra supplemental questions on the document. A typical supplemental question requires applicants to explain why they are interested in their schools."

6. More Students With Disabilities Heading to College, by Nirvi Shah - http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2011/12/14/14disabled_ep.h31.html?cmp=SOC-SHR-TW via @educationweek - "Earlier this year, a national study found that six years after high school, students with disabilities were less likely than peers to have attended any college—55 percent compared with 62 percent, though that includes students with all types of disabilities. Among people with intellectual disabilities, the rate of employment is just 9 percent."

7. Online Schools Score Better on Wall Street Than in Classrooms, by Stephanie Saul: http://nyti.ms/u1uQmd - "A look at the company’s operations, based on interviews and a review of school finances and performance records, raises serious questions about whether K12 schools — and full-time online schools in general — benefit children or taxpayers, particularly as state education budgets are being slashed. Instead, a portrait emerges of a company that tries to squeeze profits from public school dollars by raising enrollment, increasing teacher workload and lowering standards."

8. Military Children Outdo Public School Students on NAEP Tests, by Michael Winerip: http://nyti.ms/vImAF1 - "They would find that the schools on base are not subject to former President George W. Bush’s signature education program, No Child Left Behind, or to President Obama’s Race to the Top. They would find that standardized tests do not dominate and are not used to rate teachers, principals or schools."

9. Colleges Mine Data to Tailor Students' Experience, by Marc Parry -http://chronicle.com/article/A-Moneyball-Approach-to/130062/ - "Today, half of students quit college before earning a credential. Proponents feel that making better use of data to inform decisions, known as "analytics," can help solve that problem while also improving teaching."

10. For Community Colleges, a Time to Shine, by Kevin Carey -http://chronicle.com/article/For-Community-Colleges-a-Time/130064/ - "The best community colleges, they found, were unusually focused and intentional when it came to structuring the learning experience. Large or small, the top two-years didn't just offer courses and wait for students to sign up. Lake Area Technical Institute, in South Dakota, for example, has 27 technical programs, each with a defined curriculum. Sixty-six percent of its students graduate within three years, far above the sector norm."

386. 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. Detailing the For-Profit Lobbying Campaign Inside Higher Ed: http://bit.ly/uXHOV1 via AddThis - "For-profit colleges and associations spent more than $16 million on lobbying, with much of the money going to Democrats with ties to the White House."

3. Cal State campuses overwhelmed by remedial needs, by Matt Krupnick - San Jose Mercury News - http://www.mercurynews.com/news/ci_19526032 - "The remedial numbers are staggering, given that the Cal State system admits only freshmen who graduated in the top one-third of their high-school class. About 27,300 freshmen in the 2010 entering class of about 42,700 needed remedial work in math, English or both. . . . "It's a terrible indictment of the K-through-12 system," Postma said. "If a factory was building cars and the lug nuts kept falling off the tires, you would do something pretty dramatic about it. We keep adding the lug nuts back to the tires rather than trying to figure out what the problem is."The remedial problem is hardly confined to California. Schools across the country have puzzled over how to better prepare students for college and what to do with those who are not ready."

4. Guidance on Race-Based Factors Gets Polarized Response, by Mark Walsh - http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2011/12/09/14race.h31.html?cmp=SOC-SHR-TW via @educationweek - "The federal departments of Education and Justice jointly issued separate documents for K-12 schools and postsecondary institutions that outline both race-neutral and race-conscious practices that officials say may be used to advance racial diversity and avoid racial isolation."

5. The Unaddressed Link Between Poverty and Education, by Helen F. Ladd and Edward B. Fiske: http://nyti.ms/tNZk20 - "But let’s not pretend that family background does not matter and can be overlooked. Let’s agree that we know a lot about how to address the ways in which poverty undermines student learning. Whether we choose to face up to that reality is ultimately a moral question."

6. The Brutal Side of Hazing, by Charles M. Blow: http://nyti.ms/tGexyx - "His death refocuses attention on college hazing and illustrates just how pervasive and intractable the problem can be, how rooted it is into some organizations, how far some will go to belong and feel bonded and how some officials can seem to turn a blind eye — publicly disavowing and condemning while silently condoning."

7. At Forum on the Future, Leaders Dissect What Ails Higher Education Today, by Karin Fischerhttp://chronicle.com/article/At-Forum-on-the-Future/130087/ - "Henry S. Bienen, a former president of Northwestern University, concurred that fixing elementary and secondary education is a critical challenge for American colleges. Mr. Bienen, speaking on a panel Friday morning, said just 8 percent of the graduates of the Chicago public schools, on whose board he sits, are college ready. That's 8 percent, he noted, of an already-diminished population—only 57 percent of students who begin high school in the nation's third-largest city finish."

8. A superintendent calls school reformers’ bluff, by John Kuhn - http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/post/a-superintendent-calls-school-reformers-bluff/2011/12/11/gIQABKBXoO_blog.html?tid=sm_btn_tw - "NCLB has done one important thing: By disaggregating data, it has forced teachers and administrators like me to agonize over the outcomes of our neediest students. But after 10 years, it is clear that NCLB’s reforms haven’t spurred miracles, and it is time that the profound problem of inequality is addressed. The deck is stacked against kids who live in poverty not just because their schools are on average worse than others, but also because of the circumstances of their lives when they leave campus. It’s time that we admit that it isn’t just teachers holding back poor and minority students back. The problems are societal."

9. Study: Two-fifths of high school graduates are unprepared, by Daniel de Vise - http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/college-inc/post/study-two-fifths-of-high-school-graduates-are-unprepared/2011/12/12/gIQArZKnpO_blog.html?tid=sm_btn_tw - "One-third of high school students complete the modern college-preparatory track, and another one-quarter graduate from career-preparatory programs. The remaining high school population, an estimated 40 percent, do neither. They are “a virtual underclass of students,” the researchers write, who finish high school with a transcript filled with watered-down general education courses and few prospects for success either in traditional college or in professional training."

10. The Underserved Third: How Our Educational Structures Populate an Educational Underclass, by Regina Deil-Amen and Stefanie DeLuca - http://www.soc.jhu.edu/people/DeLuca/documents/D_%20D_%20JESPAR.pdf - "This leaves over 40% of students falling within the underserved third group—lacking adequate college preparation and occupational training. This third group is disproportionately composed of lower SES, underrepresented minority, immigrantEnglish language learner, and first-generation college students. Among students who earn a high school diploma, less than half are college-ready; more than half take at least one college remedial English or math class (Goldberger, 2007; Parsad & Lewis, 2003). As the underserved third group transitions into college, they populate the bulk of such remedial classes and are among the ‘‘two thirds or more of community college students’’ who ‘‘enter college with academic skills weak enough to threaten their ability to succeed in some of their college-level courses’’(Bailey, 2009, p. 1). These students are structurally positioned to transition out of school destined to fail to access labor market rewards."

385. 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. Shooting at Va. Tech reopens wounds from 2007, by Greg Toppo – http://usat.ly/vPct47 via USATODAY - "Tragedy has again struck Virginia Tech," school President Charles Steger said. "Our hearts are broken again."

3. Field Notes From This Year's Application Season, by Rebecca R. Ruiz: http://nyti.ms/rDfRTX - "While our survey was unscientific, it brought into focus some themes, including increased applicant interest in public colleges – both in and out of state – and an apparent rise in the number of students who have been filing applications early this year, sometimes at the prodding of the colleges themselves."

4. Essay calls for sustained effort by colleges to focus on economic inequality, by Gloria Nemerowicz Inside Higher Ed: http://bit.ly/sCDUIe - "Copious data, like Mortenson’s cited above, indicate that a caste-like education system exists in America. The economic group you are born into is the best predictor of your access to and completion of a college degree. This should be unacceptable to a democracy. It should be unacceptable to higher education. How can we feel good about being part of an enterprise in human development that solidly succeeds only with wealthy people?"

5. Left Behind: Unequal Opportunity in Higher Education, by Richard D. Kahlenberg - http://tcf.org/media-center/pdfs/pr19/leftbehindrc.pdf - "Low-income students are ill served in America’s higher education system in almost every respect: general enrollment rates, general graduation rates, and enrollment and graduation from elite colleges."

6. High School Test Terrain Shifting From Exit Exams to College-Readiness, by Catherine Gewertz - http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/curriculum/2011/12/high_school_testing_increasing.html via @educationweek - "Fewer students are being required to pass exit exams to graduate from high school, but high school testing is increasing because more states are requiring college- and career-readiness tests, according to a study released today."

7. National Student Clearinghouse Persistence Measures Include Transfers, by Beckie Supiano -http://chronicle.com/article/National-Student-Clearinghouse/130046/ - "Persistence varies by sector, the report says. Private, nonprofit four-year colleges had the highest rate, 91.4 percent, while public two-year colleges had the lowest rate, 74.9 percent."

8. Ravitch: ‘Miracle schools’ not so miraculous after all - http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/post/ravitch-miracle-schools-not-so-miraculous-after-all/2011/12/07/gIQAP565fO_blog.html?tid=sm_btn_tw - "I have said it before, and I'll say it again: There are no silver bullets in education. There are no magic feathers that enable elephants like Dumbo to fly. It's hard work to improve schools. It takes dedication, resources, and time. And the work is never done, the magic number of 100 percent is always out of reach."

384. 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 for articles on college access and success ▸ today http://paper.li/rottenbornj

2. State budget cuts make completion goals difficult for community colleges, by Paul Fain Inside Higher Ed: http://bit.ly/vprqvR via AddThis - "Community colleges are the portal of entry into higher education for millions of academically talented minority, low income, first-generation and adult students,” the report said. These student populations are growing relative to those of wealthier, more prepared students, but community colleges lack the money to handle enrollment increases, according to the survey."

3. GAO Finds Lagging Student Outcomes at For-Profits Inside Higher Ed: http://bit.ly/t4DMM5 via AddThis - "The new GAO report, which leaned heavily on a research study examined in an Inside Higher Ed article Wednesday, finds that the colleges lag other institutions in student unemployment, borrowing rates, debt loads, loan default rates and licensing exam pass rates, but performed better on certificate program completion rates and had similar outcomes in associate degree graduation rates and student earnings. The GAO report acknowledged that it is difficult to compare the performance of for-profits with public and private nonprofit institutions, because the industry enrolls a "higher proportion of low-income, minority and nontraditional students who face challenges that can affect their educational outcomes. . . ."

4. Bad Online Behavior Jeopardizes Students, by Robin L. Flanigan - http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2011/12/08/14collegeadmit.h31.html?tkn=UUXFhkEe6N8%2BF%2FMoNjy%2B04aF8rkvzH61wuY%2B&cmp=clp-edweek - "In the company’s 2011 survey of admissions officers from the top 500 colleges and universities, 24 percent said they have viewed publicly available pages to get a clearer picture of an applicant, while 20 percent turned to Google. Twelve percent reported that their discoveries, including photos showing underage drinking, vulgarities in blogs, and plagiarism in essays, negatively affected the chance of admission."

5. Study: Middle-Class Students Are Better at Asking for Academic Help, by Sarah D. Sparks - http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/inside-school-research/2011/12/study_middle-class_students_ar.html via @educationweek - "In a study released today in the American Sociological Review, University of Pennsylvania sociologist Jessica McCrory Calarco found that while working-class students were more likely to wait for help, middle-class students approached or called for help on their own, and more frequently. "Unlike their working-class counterparts, middle-class parents explicitly encourage children to feel comfortable asking for help from teachers, and also deliberately coach children on the language and strategies to use in making these requests," Calarco said of the study. "What that means is that middle-class kids' help-seeking skills and strategies effectively become a form of 'cultural capital' in the classroom—by activating those resources, middle-class kids can secure their own advantages in the classroom."

6. Some New York City Scores Dip in NAEP Tests, by Winnie Hu: http://nyti.ms/vRRt2p -"But New York City showed significant improvement in narrowing the achievement gap for poor students over a decade. Eighth-grade students eligible for free and reduced lunch scored 14 points lower on reading than those who were not eligible in 2011, compared with 30 points lower in 2003. The achievement gap for blacks also appeared to shrink slightly in the city. In 2011, black students averaged 26 points lower than white students on reading tests in fourth-grade, compared with 29 points lower in 2002. In math, they averaged 22 points lower in fourth-grade and 30 points lower in eighth grade, compared with 25 points and 36 points lower in 2003."

7. Demographics Do Not Explain For-Profit Colleges' Shortcomings on Student-Success Measures, GAO Says, by Kelly Field - http://chronicle.com/article/Demographics-Do-Not-Explain/130040/ - "For-profit institutions perform worse than public and private colleges on most measures of quality, even when student demographics are taken into account, according to a new report by the Government Accountability Office."

8. Was Gingrich Right About Putting Kids to Work? by Andrew J. Rotherham - http://ideas.time.com/2011/12/08/newt-gingrich-education-prophet/ via @TIMEIdeas - "The trend runs from micro (from kids keeping shirts tucked in to properly introducing themselves to adults) to macro: at the Washington-based SEED schools, students live at these public boarding schools five days a week. SEED is pretty extreme, but most of the new-paternalism schools have a school day that is extended beyond what’s typical now. And the most successful ones also promote intense teacher-student relationships and put a lot of thought and effort into creating a college-going culture even even the youngest students."

9. NAEP results suggest long march, not quick turnaround, by Bill Turque - http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/dc-schools-insider/post/naep-results-suggest-long-march-not-turnaround/2011/12/07/gIQAK6BKdO_blog.html?tid=sm_btn_tw - "The results align closely with the latest DC CAS results, which also showed stagnant reading scores, marginal improvements in some math results and vast divides between schools in low and high-income communities. . . . That makes NAEP one more piece of evidence that there will be no quick “turnaround” of DCPS. This will be a slow march, filled with what Chancellor Kaya Henderson has called “hard, non-sexy work” of fixing curricula and coaching up teachers to meet the needs of children who come to school every day with enormous deficits."

10. Guest post: Federal student aid, by Jay Lemons - http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/college-inc/post/guest-post-in-defense-of-federal-student-aid/2011/12/07/gIQA5KVVcO_blog.html?tid=sm_btn_tw - "However, one aspect of the explosion in PELL costs that bears much greater scrutiny is the increase in program dollars going to for-profit schools in our country. Some of these schools do fine work and are introducing change and innovations that are positive for higher education. But some of these schools are of questionable value for students and are, in my opinion, not a good investment of federal tax dollars."

383. 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. Column: Yes, college is worth the costs, by Rodney K. Smith – http://usat.ly/soYrAn via @USATODAY - "Concerns regarding student indebtedness and educational quality are legitimate, but we are losing our appreciation for education as an investment and stewardship."

3. Number of students attending charter schools soars - Tribune Chronicle - Warren, OH: http://bit.ly/vr0mPY via AddThis - "The growth represents the largest increase in enrollment over a single year since charter schools were founded nearly two decades ago. In all, more than 500 new charter schools were opened in the 2011-12 school year. And about 200,000 more students are enrolled now than a year before, an increase of 13 percent nationwide. . . . But their performance so far has been mixed; a 2009 Stanford University study found only 17 percent performed better than regular public schools while more than twice as many - 37 percent - performed worse. Another 46 percent were about the same."

4. For-profits lag behind other colleges in student outcomes, by Paul Fain Inside Higher Ed: http://bit.ly/vNNUb5 via @AddThis - "The research found that for-profits have some competitive strengths, such as in first-year student retention rates compared to community colleges. But the adjusted data showed for-profits lagging behind other types of colleges in areas such as employment outcomes, student satisfaction with academic offerings, debt levels and loan default rates -- gaps that probably cannot be fully explained, the researchers say, by the greater propensity of students at the colleges to have prior risk factors."

5. “The For-Profit Postsecondary School Sector: Nimble Critters or Agile Predators?” by David J. Deming, et al - http://www.frbatlanta.org/documents/news/conferences/11employment_education_demming.pdf

"In this article, we describe the schools, students, and programs in this sector, its phenomenal growth in the past decade, and its relationship to the federal and state governments. The for-profits seem to have forged a highly successful business model. They appear to be nimble critters that train non-traditional learners for jobs in the fast growing areas, such as health care and information technology. But there is a potential dark side. Default rates on the loans taken out by their students vastly exceed those of other institutions of higher education and audit studies have shown that some for-profits have highly aggressive and even fraudulent recruiting techniques. Are the for-profits “nimble critters” or “agile predators”?"

6. What's the matter with high school counselors? by Lynn O'Shaughnessy - http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-505145_162-57332594/whats-the-matter-with-high-school-counselors/?tag=mncol;lst;7 - "The new national survey, which was released by the College Board, detected a huge divide between educational goals and what is actually occurring in the schools. For instance, 85 percent of surveyed counselors agreed that schools should work to ensure that all students complete high school and are ready to succeed in college and careers, but only 30 percent said that this was the mission of their own schools. Among those surveyed, 55 percent believe schools require either a complete overhaul or major changes to improve student success."

7. Dual Enrollment Improves College Going, Under the Right Circumstances, Studies Find - http://chronicle.com/blogs/ticker/dual-enrollment-improves-college-going-under-the-right-circumstances-studies-find/38887 - "Dual enrollment, in which students take college courses while they’re still in high school, can increase college enrollment and completion, but its effectiveness depends on which classes students take and where they take them, according to two new studies from the National Center for Postsecondary Research. The research, which echoes previous studies, found strong positive effects for students who took the classes on college campuses, but not those who took them at their high schools. It also found similar completion rates between students who took dual-enrollment classes and those who took Advanced Placement ones."

8. Penn State analyzes football program, by Kevin Johnson and Kelly Whiteside – http://usat.ly/rPeYMb via USATODAY - "In his first extensive interview since taking office last month, Penn State President Rodney Erickson said Tuesday that he seeks to transform the university's public face from a football factory to a "world class research institution."

9. Paterno’s Payback? Penn State Football is No. 1 in Academic Bowlsays @kaylawebley - http://ideas.time.com/2011/12/07/paternos-revenge-penn-state-football-is-no-1-in-academic-bowl/ via @TIMEIdeas - "But the more ironic news is that the team that topped the list is Penn State, whose football program coached by the legendary Joe Paterno was recently rocked by a sex-abuse scandal. According to the analysis, Penn State graduates 80% of its football players in six years or less and also shows no achievement gap between its black and white players, which NAF says is extremely rare for Division I football teams. (At LSU, by comparison, the team’s black players are 32% less likely to graduate than their white counterparts.) Winning the top honors in the academic bowl further proves the success of Paterno’s “grand experiment,” which was his idea that major-college athletes could contend for national championships while excelling in the classroom."

10. D.C. schools have largest black-white achievement gap in federal study - by Lyndsey Layton - http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/dc-schools-have-largest-black-white-achievement-gap-in-federal-study/2011/12/06/gIQArNnMcO_story.html?tid=sm_btn_twitter via @washingtonpost - "D.C. public schools have the largest achievement gap between black and white students among the nation’s major urban school systems, a distinction laid bare in a federal study released Wednesday. The District also has the widest achievement gap between white and Hispanic students, the study found, compared with results from other large systems and the national average."

11. Keeping Score When It Counts: Assessing the 2011-12 Bowl-bound College Football Teams - http://tidesport.org/RGRC/2011/2011_FBS_Bowl_Study[FINAL].pdf - "Lapchick said, “Notre Dame and Northwestern would have played for the National Championship if there was a national championship game for Graduation Success Rates among bowl teams. Both teams graduated at least 94 percent of all football student-athletes and at least 92 percent of African-American football student-athletes. Notre Dame graduated 100 percent of their African-American footballstudent-athletes."

382. 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. At White House Meeting on Affordability, a Call for Urgency, Innovation, and Leadership, by Collin Eatonhttp://chronicle.com/article/At-White-House-Meeting-on/130012/ -"Improving completion with the existing enrollment is not going to close the gap, we're going to have to get more students and get more students to complete—a good portion of them are going to have to be nontraditional students, those already in the work force."

3. Questions for the SAT's Top Cop, by Jacques Steinberg: http://nyti.ms/s4deNW - "During the 2010-11 academic year, the office conducted about 9,600 investigations of SAT testing irregularities, including fire alarms going off during testing and reports of test taker impersonation. On test day, test takers must present their admission ticket as well as an acceptable form of photo ID. The name on the admission ticket must match exactly the name on the ID, and the ID must include a recent, recognizable photo. Test center staff members are authorized to refuse admission to any test taker with invalid or questionable ID. A list of acceptable forms of ID is available on the SAT Web site."

4. The 'Boy Problem' Examined, by Elizabeth Murphy Inside Higher Ed: http://bit.ly/tE7mzE via AddThis - "The female advantage is present across racial groups, as well, according to the data. In 1981, the most recent birth year calculated, white women have an 11 percent point advantage over white men, black women are at 9 percentage points and Hispanic women at 6 percentage points, according to the paper."

5. GAINS AND GAPS: CHANGING INEQUALITY IN U.S. COLLEGE ENTRY AND COMPLETION, by Martha J. Bailey and Susan M. Dynarski - http://www.nber.org/tmp/1823-w17633.pdf - "We find growing gaps between children from high- and low-income families in college entry, persistence, and graduation. . . . Sex differences in educational attainment, which were small or nonexistent thirty years ago,are now substantial, with women outpacing men in every demographic group. The female advantage in educational attainment is largest in the top quartile of the income distribution."

6. Districts see rise in homeless students, by Charlie Boss The Columbus Dispatch - http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2011/12/05/when-shelter-is-home.html - "It seems like in December and January, everything falls apart for a family,” said Pam Reveal, who oversees enrollment for Groveport Madison schools. “They lose their homes and jobs. A lot of them won’t go to a shelter unless they absolutely have to. Some have been sleeping in parking lots." The 5,822-student school district just southeast of Columbus has the highest rate of homeless students in Franklin County. About 8percent of the district’s students did not have a permanent address at one point last school year. That’s about 450 students, more than triple the number from the 2006-07 school year."

7. How to Rescue Education Reform, by FREDERICK M. HESS and LINDA DARLING-HAMMOND: http://nyti.ms/tntDvY - "Perhaps No Child Left Behind’s most enduring lesson is the value of humility — a virtue that must be taken to heart in crafting a smarter, more coherent federal role in schooling."

8. Employers Say College Graduates Lack Job Skills, by Lacey Johnson -http://chronicle.com/article/Employers-Say-College/130013/ - "The group surveyed more than 1,000 employers in various industries last month about whether job applicants possess the skills to thrive in the workplace. More than half of employers said finding qualified applicants is difficult, and just under half thought students should receive specific workplace training rather than a more broad-based education."

9. Guest post: A more relaxed approach to Early Decision, by Jeff Rickey - College, Inc. - http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/college-inc/post/guest-post-a-more-relaxed-approach-to-early-decision/2011/12/06/gIQAo1JXZO_blog.html?tid=sm_btn_twitter via Washingtonpost.Newsweek Interactive - "Instead of making them wait to hear from us until the middle of March, we developed a plan that allows students to apply Early Decision at any time up until our Regular Decision deadline of February 1. Students declare their Early Decision intentions by completing and submitting the Early Decision contract, and, once that is received and the admissions application is complete, the application is evaluated and the student is notified, usually within a couple of weeks of completion."

10. Still Waiting: Black Male Achievement in America, by LaVar Young - http://www.huffingtonpost.com/lavar-young/black-male-achievement_b_1121379.html?ref=education&ir=Education - "But, the statistics are tangible and certainly disturbing, and they start immediately at birth. For one, black infant mortality rates are more than twice that of whites, in a country that already has one of the highest infant mortality rates in the developed world. As they grow into toddlerhood and childhood, the evidence mounts. Two-thirds of black children live in single parent households, which is three times that of white children. And one-third live in poverty, compared with one tenth of their white counterparts. In school, black males score lower on standardized tests, are nearly twice as likely to drop out of high school, three times as likely to be suspended from school and less likely to go on to a two-year or four-year college."

381. 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. Private Colleges That Keep the Average Student Debt Low, by Rebecca R. Ruiz: http://nyti.ms/uXMfI9 - "While the average college student graduates with about $28,000 in personal debt and two out of every three students borrow money for school, according to the College Board, the extent to which a student is in the red at graduation can vary dramatically by institution."

3. Protecting Friendships During the College Admissions Process, by Susannah L. Griffee: http://nyti.ms/vvNeMx - "Looking back, I wish I had kept my college list completely private. It may have made me feel proud to publicly post my acceptances, but I know it made the people who didn’t get into those colleges upset and resentful. The trade-off wasn’t worth it."

4. Obama administration issues affirmative action guidance for colleges, by Scott Jaschik Inside Higher Ed: http://bit.ly/vdliEY via AddThis - "Guidance issued jointly Friday afternoon by the Departments of Education and Justice states that diversity is an important educational goal, and that colleges should be able to use a variety of methods (including the consideration of race and ethnicity in admissions) to achieve diversity."

5. Employers' 11 favorite recruiting strategies for hiring new college grads, by Lynn O'Shaughnessy - http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-505145_162-57332235/employers-11-favorite-recruiting-strategies-for-hiring-new-college-grads/?tag=mncol;lst;10 - "While most employers use eight to 10 recruiting methods when searching for new talent, internship programs were favored by 66% of workplaces, while career fairs came in second among job recruiters looking for new hires."

6. What employers are paying new college grads, by Lynn O'Shaughnessy - http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-505125_162-57332487/what-employers-are-paying-new-college-grads/?tag=mncol;lst;9 - "The survey included salaries for selected bachelor's degrees and the results clearly show that graduates with advanced math skills are at the top of the salary heap."

7. Hechinger Report For millions of college dropouts, second chances prove difficult, by Emily Hanford: http://hechingerreport.org/content/for-millions-of-college-dropouts-second-chances-prove-difficult_7065/#.TtzZdMlu4i4.twitter via AddThis - "Capece finally gave up and dropped out, becoming one of 37 million Americans who have some college credits but no degree. That’s more than 20 percent of the working-age population. At a time when there’s more of a push than ever to increase the number of Americans with college degrees, close to half of the people who start college, like Capece, end up walking away, many of them saddled with debt. College dropouts who took out loans leave with a median debt of $7,000. Some give up only a few credits away from graduation."

8. Why Does the SAT Endure? - http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2011/12/04/why-should-sats-matter via @roomfordebate - "If, as critics claim, the test can be gamed, why are the scores still so meaningful to college admissions officials, and does the SAT put students who can’t afford to take prep classes at a disadvantage?"

9. A Good Intelligence Test, by David Z. Hambrick - http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2011/12/04/why-should-sats-matter/the-sat-is-a-good-intelligence-test via @roomfordebate - "Large-scale meta-analyses by researchers at the University of Minnesota have found that SAT performance is as good of a predictor of overall college grade point average as it is of freshman grade point average, and Vanderbilt researchers David Lubinski and Camilla Benbow have documented that the SAT predicts life outcomes well beyond the college years, including income and occupational achievements."

10. Khan Academy Blends Its YouTube Approach With Classrooms, by SOMINI SENGUPTA: http://nyti.ms/s840SN - "Mr. Khan, 35, has become something of an online sensation with his Khan Academy math and science lessons on YouTube, which has attracted up to 3.5 million viewers a month. Now he wants to weave those digital lessons into the fabric of the school curriculum — a more ambitious and as yet untested proposition. This semester, at least 36 schools nationwide are trying out Mr. Khan’s experiment: splitting up the work of teaching between man and machine, and combining teacher-led lessons with computer-based lectures and exercises."

11. Why School Choice Fails, by NATALIE HOPKINSON: http://nyti.ms/vO0FWI - "Such inequities are the perverse result of a “reform” process intended to bring choice and accountability to the school system. Instead, it has destroyed community-based education for working-class families, even as it has funneled resources toward a few better-off, exclusive, institutions."

12. White House Invites College Leaders to Closed-Door Meeting on Affordability, by Collin Eaton - http://chronicle.com/article/White-House-Invites-College/130007/ - "The discussion will be a candid conversation about how higher education can remove barriers "to college access, affordability, and success for students," according to a letter of invitation, from the White House to the higher-education leaders, that was obtained by The Chronicle."

13. Some Asians' college strategy: Don't check box – http://usat.ly/sKy4Dq via @USATODAY - "For years, many Asian-Americans have been convinced that it's harder for them to gain admission to the nation's top colleges. Studies show that Asian-Americans meet these colleges' admissions standards far out of proportion to their 6 percent representation in the U.S. population, and that they often need test scores hundreds of points higher than applicants from other ethnic groups to have an equal chance of admission."

380. 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. New book says elite black students don't try for high-paying jobs, by Allie Grasgreen Inside Higher Ed: http://bit.ly/saSoWE via AddThis - "Yet, many of the students she interviewed socialized primarily with other black peers. “While black students may derive substantial value from these networks, there is also a considerable downside to their separation from the wider campus community. Racially integrated networks provide access to information otherwise unavailable to these students, including the existence of occupations they had never considered, the awareness of how to obtain training for them, and connections to professionals (white and nonwhite) who possess them.”

3. Poverty Matters, by Peter DeWitt - http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/finding_common_ground/2011/11/poverty_matters.html via @educationweek - "On average, professional parents spoke over 2,000 words per hour to their children, working class parents spoke about 1,300, and welfare mothers spoke about 600. So by age 3, children of professionals had vocabularies that were nearly 50% greater than those of working-class children and twice as large as those of welfare children" (Rothstein, 2004, p. 28)."

4. On Long Island, SAT Cheating Was Hardly a Secret, by JENNY ANDERSON and PETER APPLEBOME: http://nyti.ms/vPRg6d - "In Great Neck, a place where the high-achieving schools are the center of public life, and where high-priced tutors and admissions consultants are routine advantages for the wealthy, educators and parents are mortified that the community’s reputation could be muddied by the SAT scandal. But while it is clear that only a tiny proportion of students at the schools cheated, the scheme came to light only because it was widespread and well known enough that officials at North got wind of it."

5. Consumer Advocate Says States Fall Short in Oversight of For-Profit Colleges, by Goldie Blumenstyk - http://chronicle.com/article/Consumer-Advocate-Says-States/129978/ - "While the federal government and some states have recently increased their regulation of the sector, "only a few states have devoted sufficient resources in recent years to challenge for-profit school abuses and provide relief for students," says the report from the National Consumer Law Center. "Regardless of their views on how best to deliver higher education, all regulators and policy makers should be against ripping off students."

6. What matters most in college admissions — money or merit? by Esther Quintero - The Answer Sheet - http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/post/what-matters-most-in-college-admissions--money-or-merit/2011/11/30/gIQALNKEJO_blog.html?tid=sm_btn_twitter via @washingtonpost - "Money, not only merit, matters in college admissions. According to the survey of 462 directors and managers, in the face of generalized budget cuts, universities are favoring applicants who don’t need financial assistance to pay their tuition.About 22 percent agreed that “the financial downturn [had] forced them to pay more attention to an applicants’ ability to pay when [making] admissions decisions.” Directors acknowledged seeking more candidates who would not need financial aid, including out-of-state and international students. Furthermore, 10 percent of four-year colleges reported that the admitted students who could pay in full had lower grades than their peers who couldn’t."

7. Guest post: In defense of a liberal education, by Christopher Nelson - College, Inc. -http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/college-inc/post/guest-post-in-defense-of-a-liberal-education/2011/12/02/gIQAj8plKO_blog.html?tid=sm_btn_twitter via @washingtonpost -"The best educated person today, just as yesterday, is one fully capable of adapting to or taking advantage of changing conditions, precisely because the well-educated adult has integrity of character, a rootedness in essentials, and a self-understanding that makes it possible to live well and consistently in an unpredictable world."