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."

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."

288. 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. The Next Gate, by Jacques Steinberg - http://nyti.ms/oyZSoM - "As students contemplate graduate school, their frame of reference is likely the only admissions process most have ever known: the jagged maze they followed to college as high school seniors. There are some fundamental differences between the two processes — the weeding out of grad school applicants is largely the responsibility of faculty, for example, not a centralized admissions office; and there is nothing like the Common Application (except for law school, which has a universal form). But students should take comfort in the many parallels with college admissions."

2. In College, Without a Home, by Libby A. Nelson - Inside Higher Ed: http://bit.ly/oIFMmW - "The population is also growing, she said. The number of homeless youth has increased 69 percent in the past two years, to 1.6 million. Some are runaways; others are from chaotic family situations, maintaining contact with parents and siblings but spending the majority of nights on friends’ couches or in cars or mobile homes."

3. Paths to the Bachelor's Degree, by Doug Lederman - Inside Higher Ed: http://bit.ly/ouCqN3 - "Bachelor's degree recipients in 2007-8 who began their postsecondary educations at a community college took almost 20 percent longer to complete their degrees than did those who started out at a four-year institution, those who began at four-year private colleges finished faster than did those at four-year public and for-profit institutions, and those who delayed entry into college by more than a year out of high school took almost 60 percent longer to complete their degrees than did those who went directly to college."

4. 5 Myths of Remedial Education, by Jane V. Wellman and Bruce Vandal - Inside Higher Ed: http://bit.ly/qtNqzl - "And everyone admits that remedial education is not working, with just 25 percent of community college students who receive it going on to complete a college credential. Recognizing that increasing college attainment is a linchpin in creating more jobs and growing the economy, what to do about remedial education is an issue that would benefit from clear thinking. Here are five powerful myths shared by policy makers and educators alike that clearly hinder our pursuit of college success."

5. What Are Some Mistakes to Avoid in the College Admissions Process? by Unigo - http://www.usnews.com/education/blogs/college-admissions-experts/2011/07/20/what-are-some-mistakes-to-avoid-in-the-college-admissions-process - "For those of you who don't have older siblings, hearing about mistakes other college-bound students have made can be a huge time saver. Take a look at some of these mistakes that are completely avoidable, and if you have some of your own, share them in the comment section below!"

6. Report finds 2 of 4 tests in ACT poor predictors of college success, by Jay Mathews-Class Struggle - http://t.co/gnCRVfY via @washingtonpost - "An independent analysis of results in Ohio has concluded that two of the ACT’s four subject tests — Reading and Science — are lousy predictors of college success and should be ignored by admissions officers . . . . “Our model predicts that a student who gets an ACT composite score of 24 by getting a 26 on the Reading and Science tests and a 22 each on the Mathematics and English tests is 59 percent more likely to be a first-year dropout and 43 percent more likely to drop out by the third year of college, relative to a student who gets the same ACT composite of 24, but with a 26 each on the Mathematics and English tests and a 22 each on the Reading and Science tests,” the report said."

7. Learning to Feel Lucky to be in College, by Julia Bumke - http://t.co/hnc6JcL via @voastudentu - "One of the lessons that has really hit home for me is how many American students dismiss college because they cannot see how to navigate it financially. I came from a high school background where students who did not attend college were exceptions to the rule, but that ratio is entirely inverted with the students at ACCESS. The majority of the students working with nonprofits like ACCESS were on the fence about attending college before they met an advisor at their high school or community group."

274. 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. On Athletes and Aid, by David Moltz - Inside Higher Ed: http://bit.ly/iBPqNc - "The report finds that 10 institutions violated the division’s financial aid regulations in 2010-11. Five of those colleges were found to have considered athletics participation in the awarding of leadership grants. The others were revealed to have had an unjustified difference in how they awarded aid to athletes and non-athletes. This is the highest number of violators since 2007-8, when 12 institutions were found to have committed financial aid violations."

3. States Target Early Years to Reach 3rd Grade Reading Goals, by Catherine Gewertz - http://t.co/FuPlF4O via @educationweek - "In drafting laws and designing initiatives, politicians and educators are relying on a growing mound of research that points to 3rd grade reading proficiency as a crucial milestone. One of the latest studies, released in April, found that children who aren’t reading on grade level by 3rd grade are four times less likely to graduate from high school by age 19 than peers who are. If those struggling readers are poor, they’re 13 times likelier to be high school dropouts than their reading-proficient peers."

4. Are Obama's higher education goals enough? - http://t.co/H9zUC2I - "In 1980 for instance, salary for those with a bachelor’s degree was 40 percent larger than those with a high school degree. By 2010 that it was 74 percent larger and if recent trends continue, by 2025 those with a bachelor’s degree will earn 96 percent more than those with a high school diploma."

5. Universities turn to outsourced instructors, by Didi Tang - http://usat.ly/lbvCA6 via @USATODAY - "But the teachers won't be on the university payroll.They work for St. Petersburg-based Poynter Institute, a non-profit journalism training group, which has agreed to supply the university with instructors for the class via the Internet."

6. The Service of Democratic Education, by Linda Darling-Hammond - http://www.thenation.com/article/160850/service-democratic-education - "And remember, as Robert F. Kennedy observed: It is from numberless diverse acts of courage and belief that human history is shaped. Each time a person stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope."

7. Matthew Lynch: Educating and Nurturing Homeless Students - http://www.educationnews.org/?p=158251 - "Homeless children deserve a quality education just like all students."

8. College Costs You're Not Considering, But Really Should Be - Unigo: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/unigo/extra-costs-college_b_886009.html - "The cost of college is often considered to be some combination of tuition, room & board, textbooks, and a basic food plan. Inevitably though, a coffee here, a new shirt there, a lab fee for some goggles and a tablecloth-white jacket, and students are quickly finding themselves scrounging for some extra cash. Hear some of the under the radar costs that can add up quickly for incoming freshman."

163. MVCAP fyi

See free MVCAP e-books on college admissions and financial aid for sharing, printing, and downloading at our online resource library: http://issuu.com/mvcap

1. Accounting, Computer Science Among Most Desired Majors - http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/01/04/most-desirable-majors_n_804116.html#s218622&title=Accounting%20

"Below, check out which majors are most wanted by employers in 2011, and what percent of respondents said they would be hiring candidates with these qualifications. Are you surprised? Let us know in the comments section."

2. Where CEOs at America's Largest Companies Went to College, by Brian Burnsed - US News and World Report: http://t.co/OM3TzHV

"While usual suspects like Harvard (15 total degrees), Columbia University, and the University of Pennsylvania (seven degrees each) boast the most Fortune 100 CEO graduates, there were a few outliers that yielded multiple CEOs."

3. Homeless College Students On Rise, Advocates Say - http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/01/03/homeless-college-students_1_n_802844.html?ir=College

"Barbara Duffield, policy director of the Washington, DC-based National Association for the Education of Homeless Children and Youth, told the Star Tribune: "In 2009, 47,204 college students applying for financial aid checked a box that identified themselves as homeless."

4. Schools Examine Content, Delivery of Online AP Courses, by Michelle R. Davis - http://t.co/L7SaWKY via @educationweek

‎"The College Board, which audits all AP courses and authorizes them with its stamp of approval, does not track how many students are taking those offerings online. However, nearly 18 percent of the 17,000 high schools that offer AP courses offer at least one of them as an online option."

5. Math That Moves: Schools Embrace the iPad, by Winnie Hu - http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/05/education/05tablets.html?_r=1&hpw

“There is very little evidence that kids learn more, faster or better by using these machines,” said Larry Cuban, a professor emeritus of education at Stanford University, who believes that the money would be better spent to recruit, train and retain teachers."

6. Historians Continue to Face Tough Job Market, by Peter Schmidt - http://chronicle.com/article/Historians-Continue-to-Face/125794/

‎"The report, published in the group's Perspectives on History, a newsletter, in advance of its annual conference this week, said the number of jobs posted with the association fell by more than 29 percent—from 806 to 569—during the 2009-10 academic year. Since two years ago, when the association posted an all-time high of 1,059 job openings, the number of jobs advertised with it has dropped by more than 46 percent, to the lowest level in 25 years."

7. Minorities are now the majority at UT-Austin, by Jon Marcus and Reeve Hamilton - Hechinger Report http://t.co/7JnZQJJ

"Whites are in the minority this year for the first time in the history of the flagship Texas school, which was segregated until the 1950s. Fifty-two percent of the Class of 2014 is nonwhite. Black and Hispanic students represent about 5 percent and 23 percent, respectively. Asians account for 17 percent of freshmen. The demographic shift at U.T. is a bellwether of what is about to happen—and, with little notice, already has, at other universities in Texas, California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois and New York—in a country where new Census figures confirm that nonwhites are by far the fastest-growing proportion of traditional-age university students."

8. Video essays are a hot topic in college admissions as more schools allow them, by Jenna Johnson - http://t.co/ZpYxGip via @washingtonpost

"A few colleges are hoping to harness that love for video and have created channels for students to submit video essays, although most schools do not accept them in place of a written one."

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