321. College Access and Success News

Here are links to recent news about college access and success.

by

Joe Rottenborn

Executive Director, Mahoning Valley College Access Program (MVCAP)

1. Adapting to the iPad, called education's 'equalizer' by Alesha Williams Boyd: http://usat.ly/nipmmy via @USATODAY - "I think the key word for this is engagement," Barry says. "The engagement was just a lot higher. I think it's adaptive to meet the needs of individual students. I think it's an equalizer. I do think it's a game changer."

2. Part 1: Answers to Your Back-to-School Admissions Questions, By Robin Mamlet and Christine Vandevelde: http://nyti.ms/oPWt1d - "The best approach for students is to take an appropriately challenging academic course load and do the very best they can. And does it matter how students spend their time outside of class? It does."

3. More Baltimore graduates attend two-year colleges, where they are less likely to earn degree, by Erica L. Green - http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/education/bs-md-ci-college-completion-report-20110907,0,7483796.story - "The consortium also found that only 5.8 percent of those who started at a two-year college earned a degree in six years compared with 34 percent of those at four-year-colleges."

4. Diversity and the Rankings, by Catharine Hill - Inside Higher Ed: http://bit.ly/ovwow5 via @AddThis - "It is an unfortunate characteristic of our society that achievement in high school correlates with family income. The possible explanations range from prenatal care to quality of high schools to SAT prep. Whatever the causes, the data are clear. . . . For example, our data indicate that for students with SATs (and ACT equivalents) of 1420 or above, 12.8 percent come from the bottom 40 percent of the income distribution."

5. 5 Things High School Juniors Should Be Doing Now, by Lynn O'Shaughnessy - http://moneywatch.bnet.com/spending/blog/college-solution/5-things-high-school-juniors-should-be-doing-now/6562/ via @cbsmoneywatch - "Today, however, I want to share some advice with high school juniors, who also need to be preparing for college:"

6. Census: Education Has Greater Effect on Earnings than Race, Gender, by Sarah D. Sparks - http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/inside-school-research/2011/09/census_education_has_greater_e.html via @educationweek - "A worker's level of education has a greater effect on his or her earnings over the course of a 40-year career than any other demographic factor, including gender or race, according to a new study released this week by the U.S. Census Bureau."

7. On Campus, It’s One Big Commercial, by Natasha Singer - http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/11/business/at-colleges-the-marketers-are-everywhere.html?_r=1&hpw - "This fall, an estimated 10,000 American college students will be working on hundreds of campuses — for cash, swag, job experience or all three — marketing everything from Red Bull to Hewlett-Packard PCs."

8. Smartphone Game Turns College Tours, Orientations Into Scavenger Hunts, by Josh Keller - http://chronicle.com/blogs/wiredcampus/mobile-game-turns-college-tours-and-orientations-into-scavenger-hunts/33114 - “People might think that they’re doing it to play this game, but in reality they’re getting better information, they’re participating in the process,” he says."

9. Civil rights icon Robert Moses promotes middle school algebra, by Bill Turque - http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/dc-schools-insider/post/civil-rights-icon-robert-moses-promotes-middle-school-algebra/2011/09/08/gIQAxbndFK_blog.html via Washingtonpost.com - "Moses is founder of The Algebra Project, a non-profit that works with schools to make algebra more available to middle schoolers as a way of fostering careers in math, science and engineering."

10. The ups and downs of U.S. News rankings, by Daniel de Vise - College, Inc. - http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/college-inc/post/the-ups-and-downs-of-us-news-rankings/2011/09/09/gIQAUN0nFK_blog.html via Washingtonpost.com - "But track the rankings over five or 10 or 20 years, and a pattern emerges of distinct winners and losers."

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144. 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. Grief Interrupts an Idyllic Freshman Year, by Ann Derry - http://nyti.ms/hEfnhZ

"You can spend four years preparing for college, get into the college of your choice, set off on your big adventure, and yet your life can change permanently along the way."

2. Information Unstacks the Deck, by Dan Berrett - Inside Higher Ed: http://bit.ly/gbv053

‎"Bridget Terry Long, professor of education and economics at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Education, says that, while the economic benefits of a postsecondary degree have been well documented, the escalating price tag and rates of default on student loans make the prospect of attending college an increasingly risky proposition. “Giving students and their families better information would enable them to avoid unworthy college investments that would leave them with substantial debt and little in the form of skills,” Long writes in her paper, "Grading Higher Education: Giving Consumers the Information They Need."

3. New Data, No Better Results, by Doug Lederman - Inside Higher Ed: http://bit.ly/e6RpZO

"Men and women graduated at roughly comparable rates, but there were significant differences by race: 45.5 percent of Asian students had earned bachelor's degrees in six years, compared to 36.4 percent of white students, 16.9 percent of Hispanic, 16.7 percent of black, and 27.3 percent of mixed race students."

4. University of Phoenix Lays Off 700 http://www.freep.com/article/20101130/BUSINESS07/101130017/1002/business/University-of-Phoenix-lays-off-700-nationwide

"The Phoenix-based company expects new-student enrollments to decline roughly 40% in the current quarter, which ends Nov. 30, as it changes the way it compensates admissions counselors and introduces new student orientation meetings. The meetings are designed to ensure that a larger proportion of beginning students are qualified to complete their degree programs but also might result in some dropouts."

5. The 10 Brainiest Cities: Portfolio Study - http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/12/01/the-10-brainiest-cities-p_n_790503.html#s196031

"Which American cities boast the most cerebral residents? According to Portfolio, Boulder, Colo. takes the No. 1 spot. Using new American Community Survey data, Portfolio assessed the average level of higher education obtained by the residents of 200 cities, coupled with their relative earning power of adults who live in them."

6. More Students with Disabilities Attending College, Volunteering, by Christina Samuels - http://t.co/3mpo08X via @educationweek

‎"The researchers compared student information gathered in 1990 to reports gathered in 2005. According to the report, within four years of leaving high school, 46 percent of young adults in 2005 were reported to have enrolled in a postsecondary school versus 26 percent in 1990. The gains spanned across a broad range of postsecondary programs: an 18 percentage-point increase in community college enrollment, a 13 percentage-point increase in postsecondary vocational, business, or technical school enrollment and a 9 percentage-point difference in enrollment at four-year universities."

7. A Mission to Transform Baltimore’s Beaten Schools, by Sabrina Tavernise - http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/02/education/02baltimore.html?_r=1&hp

"Not everyone likes Dr. Alonso’s methods, and many find that his brassy self-confidence can grate. But few are arguing with his results. Since he was hired, the dropout rate has fallen by half, more students are graduating and for the first time in many years, the system has gained students instead of losing them."

8. Half of All First-Time Students Earn Credentials Within 6 Years, by Beckie Supiano - http://chronicle.com/article/Half-of-All-First-Time/125585/

"By the end of the six-year period, 9 percent of the students earned certificates, 9 percent associate degrees, and 31 percent bachelor's degrees. The numbers are similar to those of the last cohort the department followed, which began college in 1995-6.
Among students who began at public two-year colleges, 9 percent earned certificates, 14 percent associate degrees, and 12 percent bachelor's degrees. Among those who began at four-year colleges, 2 percent received certificates, 5 percent associate degrees, and 58 percent bachelor's degrees."

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