Increasing Access for Low-Income Students, and New Scholars in the News
April 28, 2017 – Here’s our weekly roundup of education news you may have missed. New York City’s mayor proposes free preschool for 3-year-olds; a report finds low-income college students earn less than more affluent students after graduation; and the Cooke Foundation announces five finalists for the $1 Million Cooke Prize for Equity in Educational Excellence.
Elementary & Secondary Education
- New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announces that he wants to make free, full-day preschool available for every 3-year-old in the city. The “3-K for All” program would offer long-term benefits to both children and families, the Century Foundation says in a commentary, but notes that launching the program “will require securing $700 million in funding from the state and federal governments” and says “this is no small feat.”
- TrustED cites what it calls “five myths about school choice.” For example, it says the common assumption that public schools are failing is not true, in light of statistics that show that public schools have been steadily improving for decades. And The Associated Press reports that “students attending private schools in the nation’s capital through a federally funded voucher program are doing worse in math compared to their peers.”
Higher Education
- Low-income students face many barriers when it comes to college admission and life on campus, the Ithacan reports. A new report from PayScale shows that this trend continues after college. In its “College ROI Report,” PayScale finds that lower household income when students enter college correlates with lower earnings after graduation.
- The New York Times highlights the University of Southern California’s success working with the Neighborhood Academic Initiative to admit more low-income students from neighborhoods near the university.
- The American Talent Initiative, which aims to expand the number of low- and moderate-income students enrolling in and graduating from top colleges, adds more institutions, including Brown University and UC Davis. Currently, 68 institutions have pledged to work toward the common goal of graduating 50,000 more low-income students by 2025.
Cooke Foundation Highlights
- The Cooke Foundation announces five finalists for the Cooke Prize: Brown University, Rice University, Stanford University, UC Berkeley, and UNC Chapel Hill. The $1 Million prize is the largest award in the nation recognizing a college making strides in enrolling low-income students and supporting them to successful graduation.
- Stories about new Cooke Foundation Undergraduate Transfer Scholars continue to come in. Read more about some of the scholars in the San Diego Union-Tribune and the Philadelphia Sun. Check out our blog for a list of the new scholars.
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