283. 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. How the Recession Re-Sorted Freshmen, by Allie Grasgreen - Inside Higher Ed: http://bit.ly/r7dzVj - "A new study largely confirms what anecdotal reports had anticipated about national college enrollment patterns during the economic downturn: that enrollments of high school students swelled, that larger numbers of students chose community colleges, but that private colleges did not suffer the losses that many had predicted."

2. Easy A, by Scott Jaschik - Inside Higher Ed: http://bit.ly/nU5PaK - "Two critics of grade inflation have published a new analysis finding that the most common grade at four-year colleges and universities is the A (43 percent of all grades) -- and that Ds and Fs are few and far between."

3. How Freshman Picked Their Colleges, by Lynn O'Shaughnessy - http://t.co/5rhgwOQ via @cbsmoneywatch - "Nearly one third of freshmen say they aren’t heading to their No. 1 choice of colleges in the fall because they couldn’t afford these schools. More than half of the teenagers (56%) received financial aid, but 82% said they didn’t receive as much as they had hoped.To keep costs down, 22% of teenagers ultimately selected schools nearby so they could commute from home."

4. Recession Reshaped College Enrollment Patterns, but the Sky Didn't Fall, by Eric Hoover - http://chronicle.com/article/Recession-Reshaped-College/128223/ - "A major story line of the past five years has been the increase in traditional-age students who enrolled in community colleges. In 2006, 41.7 percent of traditional-age students enrolled at two-year colleges; in 2009, 44.5 percent did so. Between 2008 and 2009, enrollments of traditional-age, first-time students at two-year colleges increased by 8.3 percent.The report suggests that this trend was driven by two groups of students: those who, in a better economy, might have chosen to attend other (and costlier) types of institutions, and those who otherwise would have joined the work force after graduating from high school."

5. Admission dean pulls back curtain on merit aid, by Daniel de Vise - College, Inc. - http://t.co/ksAzir3 via @washingtonpost - "So, I was surprised to see the admission dean at University of Rochester pen an unusually candid list of 12 “steps that mattered” in merit awards at his school this year, and the approximate dollar value of each factor in shaping the merit award. Jonathan Burdick, dean of admission and financial aid at Rochester, analyzed merit award data at his school to discern “some rules of thumb about how the mythical ‘average’ student succeeded in earning a scholarship this year,” he writes in the June 11 post, titled “What kind of scholarship can I get?”Here are some of the dozen variables:"

6. “What kind of scholarship can I get?” by Jonathan Burdick, U. of Rochester Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid - http://enrollment.rochester.edu/eblog/?p=2356 - "12 steps that mattered for earning merit scholarships in the UR Class of 2015."

282. Summer College News

Here are some links to today's stories

about college access and success.

by

Joe Rottenborn

Executive Director, Mahoning Valley College Access Program (MVCAP)

1. Read The Joe Rottenborn Daily ▸ today's top stories via @rottenbornj ▸ http://t.co/UftEiOc

2. The End of Subsidized Loans? by Libby A. Nelson - Inside Higher Ed: http://bit.ly/onGy8i -"During talks Monday, Rep. Eric Cantor, the Republican majority leader, reportedly proposed making students responsible for paying the interest their loans accrue while they’re enrolled in college, a change that would save the government $40 billion over 10 years.The proposal would end the subsidized Stafford loan program, in which the federal government pays the interest that accrues while students are enrolled in school."

3. 'State Authorization' Struck Down, by Doug Lederman - Inside Higher Ed: http://bit.ly/qmk46W - "Tuesday's ruling by the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia came in a lawsuit that the Association of Private Sector Colleges and Universities filed in January on behalf of the for-profit colleges it represents. The career college group had challenged the state authorization regulation and two of the other "program integrity" rules -- those that effectively bar incentive compensation for recruiters, and that hold colleges accountable if they misrepresent their programs and results."

4. Price Points, by Kevin Kiley - Inside Higher Ed: http://bit.ly/omVmuz - "These officials prefer to focus on "net tuition revenue" -- the amount of money derived from each student after aid is subtracted from sticker price. They want to shift the conversations away from the discount rate toward a more integrated approach to tuition, literally striking "discount rate" from strategic plans, and make the concepts of net revenue and the actual price of college more apparent to the public, lawmakers, and potential students."

5. Critical Choices: How Colleges Can Help Students and Families Make Better Decisions about Private Loans - http://projectonstudentdebt.org/files/pub/critical_choices.pdf - "There is general consensus that students should exhaust all available federal financial aid, including federal loans, before considering other forms of financing like private student loans. Federal loans are available to students regardless of their or their family’s income. Private student loans are one of the riskiest ways to pay for college, and they are not financial aid any more than a credit card is when used to pay for textbooks or tuition. They typically have uncapped, variable interest rates and cost the most for those who can least afford them, while federal student loans have fixed interest rates that are not affected by the borrower’s income or credit score."

6. 5 Great Ways to Succeed in College, by Lynn O'Shaughnessy - http://t.co/X1T7Ryw via @cbsmoneywatch - "According to the academics who conducted the research, 46% of students don’t improve in their writing skills or critical thinking and reasoning abilities after two years in college. More than a third of students who graduate never improve.How can you avoid that happening to you? Here are five tips to help you succeed in college."

7. Ohio picks interim as state superintendent - The Herald Dispatch: http://bit.ly/re7R4j - "The 15-0 vote to hire interim Superintendent Stan Heffner meant the board passed over Robert Schiller, who became the lone finalist from the board’s top three picks on Sunday after a second contender dropped out. Four board members abstained on the Heffner hiring vote.“A funny thing happened on my way to Texas,” Heffner said after the vote. He had been slated to begin a new job with Educational Testing Service’s office in San Antonio on Aug. 1."

8. A College Education for All, Free and Online, by Kevin Carey - http://chronicle.com/article/A-College-Education-for-All/128162/ - "UoPeople strives to serve the vast numbers of students who have no access to traditional higher education. Some can't afford it, or they live in countries where there are simply no good colleges to attend. Others live in rural areas, or identify with a culture, an ethnicity, or a gender that is excluded from public services.UoPeople students pay an application fee of between $10 and $50 and must have a high-school diploma and be proficient in English. There are also small fees for grading final exams. Otherwise, it's free."

9. Cal State University approves 12% tuition hike - http://usat.ly/ntvN2L via @USATODAY -"With a 13-2 vote, the CSU Board of Trustees passed the annual tuition hike of $588, which comes on top of a previously approved 10 percent increase for 2011-2012."

10. Moving past excuses from the no-excuse reform crowd, by Barnett Berry- The Answer Sheet - http://t.co/iAQRw8V via @washingtonpost - "[Paul] Tough argues that if we are to educate all children to achieve high academic standards, we must tackle the challenges of poverty head-on.He highlights tactics that have repeatedly been proven effective on a small scale: “supplementing classroom strategies with targeted, evidence-based interventions outside the classroom; working intensively with the most disadvantaged families to improve home environments for young children; providing high-quality early-childhood education to children from the neediest families; and, once school begins, providing low-income students with a robust system of emotional and psychological support, as well as academic support.”

11. The FRIENDLIEST Colleges - http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/07/13/the-friendliest-colleges_n_896867.html#s306756&title=Carleton_College - Which college in Ohio made this list?

12. Don't spread these myths about college admissions, by Lee Bierer CharlotteObserver.com: http://bit.ly/niweTO - "Parents who have recently "graduated" from the college admissions process freely dispense advice and sometimes misinformation. To dispel many of these untruths, let's focus on some of the most popular myths about college admissions."

13. ON COLLEGE: The do's and don'ts of helping your high school senior, by Purvi S. Mody - San Jose Mercury News http://t.co/KxyWdL5 - "Don't call colleges on your child's behalf. If you and your child have a question about admissions or anything at all, let your child take the lead. It will develop self-confidence, and colleges like to hear from the students rather than the parents."

281. Summer College News

Here are some links to today's stories
about college access and success.
by
Joe Rottenborn
Executive Director, Mahoning Valley College Access Program (MVCAP)

1. Read The Joe Rottenborn Daily ▸ today's top stories via @rottenbornj ▸ http://t.co/UftEiOc

2. Why you want to go to college: In 140 characters or less, by Luke Kerr-Dineen and Natalie DiBlasio - http://usat.ly/qOERgx via @USATODAY - "At the University of Iowa, a good tweet is worth $37,000. That's the price of a full scholarship, and that's exactly what a student hopeful can win in a contest the university has dreamed up that takes electronic communication to a new level. The university is asking prospective students to submit a 140-character tweet in place of a second essay."

3. AFT teachers union to defend educators in cheating scandals, by Greg Toppo - http://usat.ly/nyANPN via @USATODAY - "Weingarten noted that local union affiliates in Atlanta and elsewhere have been among the first to ferret out cheating among their ranks.In Atlanta, the union in 2005 "blew the whistle on this, and it was ignored because there was this enormous pressure to meet (testing) targets," she said. "Targets became more important than learning and a climate, as the governor said, that was intimidating and that was fearful and that was retailiating against anyone who came forward."

4. Colleges replacing loans with no-pay grants for their neediest students, by Daniel de Vise - http://t.co/vqM8MXh via @washingtonpost - “They’re essentially chasing after the same group of low-income students who are academically talented,” said Mark Kantrowitz, an industry expert who is tracking 73 colleges that have eliminated or capped student loans. “If you get in, these schools are a great deal.”

5. The 12 best college financial aid policies - College, Inc., by Daniel de Vise - http://t.co/66dHIwK via @washingtonpost - "In today’s paper, I write about the trend toward “no-loan” financial aid pledges at some of the nation’s top universities. More than 70 schools have replaced loans with grants in at least some of their aid awards, focusing on the neediest students.I resisted the temptation, in that story, to rattle off a list of the schools with the best aid policies. So, why not do it here?"

6. Financial Aid Pledges to Reduce Student Debt (2009-10), The Project on Student Debt - http://projectonstudentdebt.org/pc_institution.php - "A number of colleges have developed financial aid policies that limit or eliminate student loans from financial aid packages, reducing costs for students and families. We have analyzed each of these programs and include information here for the programs that meet our guidelines."

7. Preparing for college with a learning disability - Campus Overload, by Meghan Benzel - http://t.co/VUpOrWy via @washingtonpost - "I am a non-visual learner, and I have AD/HD and components of Asperger’s Syndrome. For those of you preparing for college with a learning disability: I understand. I’ve been there."

8. The PREPPIEST Schools Of 2011, by Lindsay Dittman - http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/07/11/the-preppiest-schools-of-_n_894320.html#s305674&title=University_Of_Virginia - Which university in Ohio made this list?

9. Education Needs to Break With Tradition - Room for Debate: How to Improve Summer School - http://nyti.ms/nMFuzw - ". . . Is there a way to make summer school more cost effective or, with tight budgets, does it make sense to cut them? What are the best methods for making sure students are learning what they need to learn in the summer and not losing ground?"

10. How to Save on College Tuition, by Princess Clark-Wendel -http://t.co/dgO4nrq via @foxbusiness - "At a time when many families are strapped for cash, the cost of college tuition is steadily climbing. New research shows that the median income in the United States has held steady around $33,000 since 1998 while college tuition has more than doubled.Here are nine ways to help cover the cost of tuition."

11. Hechinger Report Two years after Obama’s college graduation initiative, major obstacles remain, by Jon Marcus: http://bit.ly/pbgf3C - "Only one in five of those who enroll in community colleges—and, in some states, barely one in 10—graduates in three years, while only about half of students who go to universities get their bachelor’s degrees within six. That has helped to push the United States from first to 10th in the world in the proportion of the population that has graduated from college, threatening to make this generation of college-age Americans the first to be less well-educated than their parents."

280. Summer College News

Here are some links to today's stories

about college access and success.

by

Joe Rottenborn

Executive Director, Mahoning Valley College Access Program (MVCAP)

1. Read The Joe Rottenborn Daily ▸ today's top stories via @rottenbornj ▸ http://t.co/UftEiOc

2. Mixed News on State Student Aid, by Doug Lederman - Inside Higher Ed: http://bit.ly/opfhDm - "State spending on financial assistance to students increased by 3.8 percent in 2009-10, even as many governments struggled with recession-driven cuts in many programs. But nearly half of all states cut back on their all-important spending on need-based financial aid, even as enrollments boomed and as many students and families struggled to keep pace with tuitions that public colleges (or their legislatures) raised sharply."

3. Despite Fiscal Woes, Spending Rose on Student Aid in Many States in 2010, by Eric Kelderman - http://chronicle.com/article/Despite-Fiscal-Woes-Many/128173/ - "Ohio cut need-based grants the most last year, with a 66-percent decrease, while Alaska and Michigan cut them by more than half. Both Hawaii and Utah slashed need-based grants by nearly a third."

4. Jobless College Graduates Struggle Under Ongoing Recession, by Amanda M. Fairbanks and Andrew Lenoir - http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/07/08/college-graduates-jobs-unemployment_n_893495.html - "Seventy-five job applications. Forty cover letters. Twelve interviews. Zero job offers.Since graduating from Wellesley College four years ago, Kayla Calkin, 25, has yet to get a break.In May, Calkin completed a master's degree in public policy from George Washington University. Like so many her age, she believed a graduate degree might guarantee a more stable future.Calkin now works as a full-time nanny in Washington, D.C., while continuing to scour for an eventual dream job in politics. Her two degrees make her overqualified for even the most basic, entry-level position."

5. Grants and student loans are the trend when paying for college tuitions, by Maegan Clearwood - herald-mail.com http://t.co/bVwt9tS - "According to a College Board report, the average in-state public tuition and fees increase was 7.9 percent in 2010-11. With other expenses, such as room and board, total annual charges average at $16,140."Frankly, students are not prepared at all," said Britney Carter, student financial aid counselor at Hagerstown Community College."

279. 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. A Nudge for the Neediest, by Libby A. Nelson - Inside Higher Ed: http://bit.ly/orO8tv - "Wisconsin Scholars Grant recipients were no more likely to persist in college than were students who received Pell Grants alone, and on average, they did not complete more college credits than did students who did not receive the grant."

2. Courting Valedictorians, by David Moltz - Inside Higher Ed: http://bit.ly/nW45e8 - "Ivy Tech Community College announced last month that it was awarding every high school valedictorian in Indiana a scholarship valued at 15 credit hours, or about $1,500. Officials at the 24-campus community college system know better than to think they'll lure all 373 of these high-performing students away from four-year institutions with such a modest merit award. They merely hope the students will pass through to pick up some spare credits to transfer along their route to a baccalaureate degree, and that their presence will help promote the state’s two-year colleges to more households."

3. Unlocking the Gate: What We Know About Improving Developmental Education, by Elizabeth Zachry Rutschow &Emily Schneider - http://www.mdrc.org/publications/601/execsum.pdf - "Enrolling over one-third of all postsecondary education students, community colleges have become a centerpiece of America’s efforts in recent years to improve the quality of its workforce and maintain its competitiveness in the global market. However, community colleges have often struggled to graduate their students, with just over three in ten community college students earning a degree or credential within six years of first enrolling. Over half of thesestudents are academically underprepared for college-level work, and improving the success of these developmental, or remedial, students is one of the greatest challenges that community colleges face in the efforts to increase overall graduation rates –– very few of these students end up completing their required sequence of developmental coursework needed to enroll in college-level courses, let alone graduating from college with a diploma or certificate."

4. The 25 Cheapest Universities: Are They a Bargain? by Lynn O'Shaughnessy - http://t.co/rS5bCe2 via @cbsmoneywatch - "Are these schools, however, really inexpensive? Before you decide, here are the 25 cheapest schools, based on net prices, among all four-year state universities in the United States."

5. Education Week: Advocates See Pre-K-3 as Key Early Education Focus, by Sarah Garland - http://t.co/6ZG61eH via @educationweek - "Among the revelations, the kindergarten teachers told the preschool teachers that their 5-year-olds, many of them immigrants, struggled with stories covered in the kindergarten reading curriculum. They weren’t hearing English-language classics like “Goldilocks and the Three Bears” or “Humpty Dumpty” at home. So the preschools began incorporating those stories into their curricula, to help better prepare their students."

6. Students Least Likely to Persist Benefit Most From Extra Financial Aid, Study Finds, by Beckie Supiano - http://chronicle.com/article/Students-Least-Likely-to/128159/ - "When the researchers considered students' expected persistence, they saw that receiving the additional grant did make a difference. For example, 72 percent of students who were least likely to persist and received the grant were still in college three years into the program, compared with 55 percent of students who were least likely to persist and did not receive the money.The students most likely to persist had a very different experience, however: Seventy-nine percent of grant recipients in this group were still in college three years later, compared with 94 percent of nonrecipients."

7. Shocking details of Atlanta cheating scandal, by Valerie Strauss - The Answer Sheet - http://t.co/Jz4Ixr3 via @washingtonpost - "I found a copy of the report on this Web site of CBS Atlanta affiliate. Here are some of the revelations, taken directly from the report, which give you an idea of how the cheating was done:"

8. The MOST RADICAL Colleges, by Lindsay Dittman - http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/07/07/the-most-radical-colleges_n_892463.html#s304228&title=Occidental_College - "From ultraliberal hippie dippie environmentalists to uber-conservative religious squares, we bring you the students that are canceling school to lead pro-life marches or shutting down a speaker for the Israeli PR campaign. The ones well-acquainted with social and political activism. Whether they live by a strict moral code or no code at all, these students are radical."

9. College grads’ salary offers up 4.8%, by Francine Knowles - Chicago Sun-Times: http://bit.ly/nYmMaL - "The average starting salary offer to the Class of 2011 rose 4.8 percent to $51,018, compared with offers extended to the Class of 2010, according to the latest survey from the National Association of Colleges and Employers released Wednesday.The increases overall are a good indication that the job market for new college graduates is gaining strength, according to Marilyn Mackes, the association’s executive director. Still, salaries lag previous increases. In fall 2008, the average salary offer increase was 7.6 percent higher than in 2007."

10. Ohio to begin ranking all schools from best to worst, by Catherine Candisky - http://t.co/PjJzYn6 via @vindicator - "Starting next year, Ohio’s 3,500 public schools will be ranked best to worst in annual reports issued by the state.The lists will show parents and others how schools — traditional, charter and vocational — stack up based on student performance, per-pupil expenditures, percent of funding spent on classroom expenditures and other measures.The recently passed state budget included a provision requiring the Ohio Department of Education to issue annual school performance and expenditure reports. The first ones should come out in 2012."

278. 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 changing face of America's youth, by John D. Sutter - #cnn http://t.co/fgXh3Qp - "For the first time in national history, the majority of young people in two states -- California and New Mexico -- now identify as Hispanic, according to census data released this year.In eight additional states -- Nevada, Arizona, Texas, Mississippi, Georgia, Florida, Maryland and Hawaii -- white children are in the minority compared with peers from other racial and ethnic groups combined, according to data analyzed by William Frey at the Brookings Institution."

2. When a Part-Time Job Is Your Extracurricular Activity, By Lily Altavena - http://nyti.ms/oKPWW1 - "Similarly, Ann McDermott, the director of admissions for the College of the Holy Cross in Massachusetts, said that she looked favorably on any summer job, especially when there was a financial need.“I applaud any student who is either helping themselves or helping their family,” she said. “You do still need to pay attention to the bottom line, and that is a dollar amount.”

3. E-phemeral E-Books, by Steve Kolowich - Inside Higher Ed: http://bit.ly/q4Q7bw - "At a time when many customers are making decisions with one hand on their wallets, academic presses are looking to stoke interest in their electronic versions by offering digital rentals for a reduced price. For example, instead of buying a paperback or e-book for $20 at the Stanford University Press website, students and scholars can pay $5 to access an e-book for 14 days, or $10 for 60 days."

4. 25 Colleges With the Highest Hidden Price Tags, by Lynn O'Shaughnessy -http://t.co/9DYYdTg via @cbsmoneywatch - "When my friend Betsy asked me for advice a few months ago, I told her that Alex should stay away from art schools and apply to regular colleges and universities that offer art degrees instead.Why? Many art schools, as well as schools of music, are extremely expensive, but their financial aid packages are often laughable."

5. District Dossier: Investigators Offer a Look Inside Atlanta's Cheating Scandal, by Christina Samuels - http://t.co/zAKt2z3 - "The conclusion in the report is scathing and unequivocal: "Without question, cheating occurred in [Atlanta Public Schools] on the CRCT in 2009 and previous years. The erasure analysis is no longer a mere red flag, but is supported by confessions and other evidence of cheating in 78.6 percent of the elementary and middle schools we investigated."

6. The 10 Most Expensive Public Business Schools For In-State Students, by Lindsay Dittman - http://huff.to/mS3Gdg - "Though all ten business schools are good (all ten made it into the top 40 best business schools rankings and seven made it into the top 25), the prices are still astronomically high (and figures don’t even include room and board, books, and other miscellaneous costs). The survey noted that four of the ten schools charged state resident more than $40,000 for the school year."

7. The NERDIEST Colleges, by Lindsay Dittman - http://huff.to/rjkYOL - "Modern nerds fit into a more important category: people that pursue what they want with all their heart. They confidently participate in what they love, even if what they love is totally bizarre. They're the future Nobel Laureates, astronauts and engineers, but also the champions of bygone eras, the lovers of mustaches, bike-jousting and campus-wide Rube Goldberg machines."

8. How Can I Find the Right Extracurricular Activities for Me? - College Admissions Q&As (usnews.com) - http://t.co/TbkooLK - "It's no secret that colleges are seeking students who involve themselves with activities outside the classroom. Sports, community service, and student organizations are all great ways to supplement a strong GPA. However, some students often find it challenging to identify an activity they're passionate about. Tami G. from Pine Bluff, Ark., wants to know how that specific scenario could impact her college application and if there are other ways to find groups she might find exciting."

9. Is the White House Committed to Addressing the Role Poverty Plays in the Achievement Gap? by Liz Dwyer - http://su.pr/2GPNL2 (@GOOD stuff) - "More money is coming to the U.S. Department of Education's year-old Promise Neighborhoods program. Modeled after Geoffrey Canada's successful Harlem Children's Zone (HCZ) initiative, the Promise Neighborhoods program awarded $10 million in 2010 to 21 mostly nonprofit and higher education-based applicants . . . . In comparison, over the past year and a half, the Obama Administration has put more than $4 billion toward its Race to the Top (RTTT) competition, making it the single-largest discretionary program in the history of the USDOE."

277. Summer College News

Here are some links to today's stories
about college access and success.
by
Joe Rottenborn
Executive Director, Mahoning Valley College Access Program (MVCAP)

1. Read The Joe Rottenborn Daily on http://t.co/UftEiOc

2. Dozens of Atlanta educators falsified tests, state report confirms #cnn - http://t.co/En0SGWx - "I think the overall conclusion was that testing and results and targets being reached became more important than actual learning for children," Deal said. "And when reaching targets became the goal, it was a goal that was pursued with no excuses."

3. NCAA could see 'fundamental changes' in way it operates, by Steve Wieberg - http://usat.ly/q0MqFN via @USATODAY - "The system is bent. If not broken."There's a lot of motive to make some fundamental changes . . . more sweeping changes than we've probably seen in the past," Big 12 Conference commissioner Dan Beebe says."

4. Roundup: Michigan Admissions, Student Loans and Prospects for Film Graduates, by Jacques Steinberg - http://nyti.ms/qREYEI - "Summer is typically a slow season on the admissions news (and news-you-can-use) front. But several articles over the holiday weekend caught our eye, and we wanted to bring them to the attention of those readers — especially future applicants and their families — who may have missed them."

5. Teacher Beat: UPDATED: NEA Delegates Take Swipe at Teach For America, by Stephen Sawchuk - http://t.co/kavQ4kb via @educationweek - "In the union's strongest stance yet against the popular Teach For America alternative-certification program, National Education Association delegates approved an item that accuses TFA of taking jobs from other teachers in locales with job shortages."

6. District Dossier: State Investigation Reveals Widespread Cheating in Atlanta Schools, by Christina Samuels - http://t.co/SmaUtWO - "Beverly L. Hall, the former superintendent of Atlanta schools, knew about cheating allegations on state standardized tests and either ignored or tried to hide them, the Associated Press reported after obtaining a copy of an 800-page state investigation report.
Earlier today, Gov. Nathan Deal's office released a synopsis of the report's findings, which noted that investigators found evidence of cheating at close to 80 percent of the Atlanta schools where they examined the 2009 administration of the Criterion-Referenced Competency Tests, or CRCT. Teachers and principals at more than four dozen schools are accused of helping students, or changing the answers once students handed in their test sheet."

7. Running a Race Against Ourselves, by Jonathan Plucker & David Rutkowski - http://t.co/qXtKqhE via @educationweek - "As would be expected, many of these reforms have been touted as the silver bullets that will result in major improvements in American education. However, the dirty little secret among researchers is that these reforms will almost certainly have little to no effect on the performance of most students.Volumes of nonpartisan research over the past 20 years suggest that most reforms (e.g., vouchers, charters, merit pay) have marginal effects on student achievement."

8. Tight Budgets Whittle Away School Days, by Sam Dillon - http://nyti.ms/jChMUm - "For two decades, advocates have been working to modernize the nation’s traditional 180-day school calendar, saying that the languid summers evoked in “To Kill a Mockingbird” have a pernicious underside: each fall, many students — especially those who are poor — return to school having forgotten much of what they learned the previous year. The Obama administration picked up the mantra: at his 2009 confirmation hearing, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan declared, “Our school day is too short, our school week is too short, our school year is too short,” but its efforts in this realm have not been as successful as other initiatives."

9. Top 10 YouTube Videos Posted by Colleges, and What They Mean, by Rachel Wiseman - http://chronicle.com/blogs/wiredcampus/top-10-youtube-videos-posted-by-colleges-and-what-they-mean/32070 - "More than 400 colleges and universities have set up channels on YouTube as part of the YouTube EDU section of the popular video site, but university officials admit they are still experimenting with the service and learning what types of videos resonate with off-campus audiences.With data provided by YouTube, The Chronicle has determined the 10 most popular videos on YouTube EDU of the 2010-11 academic year (from June 2010 to June 2011)."

10. The 24 Most and Least Affordable Public Colleges, by Kayla Webley - http://moneyland.time.com/2011/07/06/the-24-most-and-least-affordable-public-colleges/ - "Last week, the U.S. Department of Education released a new web tool that lets users calculate the costs of getting a college degree. While much has been made of the highest and lowest tuition rates, you can also use the tool to calculate the “real” cost for an academic year, often called the net price. That includes the cost of attendance (tuition, required fees, books, supplies, average room and board and other expenses) minus grant and scholarship aid. Using the data, TIME Moneyland assembled a list of 24 of the most and least affordable U.S. public colleges."

11. As would-be students ‘melt,’ colleges try to keep cool, by Wayne Washington - TheState.com: http://bit.ly/pecBEU - "Based on her 32 years in higher education, Perry Wilson, director of admissions at Florence’s Francis Marion University, said schools face a melt percentage of about 10 percent — that is, one in 10 students tell a college or university they plan [to enter] in the fall but end up not enrolling."