Cooke Chronicle: Jan. 27, 2017

Posted January 27, 2017 | By Cooke Foundation Staff

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Jan. 27, 2017 – Here’s our weekly roundup of education news you may have missed. Several publications detail the apprehension over federal policy changes and how they might affect both K-12 and college students.

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Elementary & Secondary Education:

  • Changes to the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), including accountability regulations, have been put on hold by the Trump administration, details Education Week.
  • “Senators’ offices have been flooded with thousands of calls and letters opposing the nomination of Betsy DeVos,” says Politico, while additionally noting that the nominee for secretary of education is expected to be confirmed.
  • Washington Monthly and the American Academy of Pediatrics describe their concerns about how policy changes, including the repeal of the Affordable Care Act and stronger immigration restrictions, may affect the nation’s children.

 

Higher Education:

  • The fate of undocumented students and college affordability initiatives such as Pell Grants have many higher education professionals concerned, says Education Dive. University of California President Janet Napolitano outlines her recommendations for the DACA program in a LinkedIn Pulse article.
  • While many state flagships and other higher education institutions focus on merit-based aid, the University of Kentucky plans to transition to providing a majority of need-based aid. Inside Higher Ed reports that the move is intended to increase retention among students with otherwise unmet financial need.
  • “Nearly half of the nation’s wealthy private colleges and universities enroll so few Pell recipients that they would rank in the bottom five percent of schools enrolling such students,” states The Hechinger Report in an article that details how a minority of private colleges buck the trend and are succeeding in enrolling large numbers of low-income students.
  • Allowing students to fill out the FAFSA earlier in the year was intended to help students, particularly those with financial need, receive and evaluate different financial aid packages before selecting a college. According to RealClearEducation however, “students who have submitted applications early are more likely to be younger, higher-income, dependent students with parents who have completed college or beyond.”

 

Cooke Foundation Highlights:

  • Perceptions about community-college graduates’ academic capabilities have begun to change in recent years,” reports The Wall Street Journal. “From 2006 to 2013, the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation invested nearly $10 million to help elite institutions like Amherst College and University of California, Berkeley, create pathways for low-income community college students.”
  • Executive Director Harold O. Levy and President Emeritus of New York University John Sexton emphasize the global effort needed to expand education in The Hill. Levy additionally comments on college access in letters to the editors of The New York Times and The News & Observer.
  • Cooke Scholar Maria De Abreu Pineda, currently a senior at Stevens Institute of Technology, is profiled in article on the college’s website that highlights her service to others and ambitions to become a pediatrician.
  • Nearly 5,100 high school seniors applied for our 2017 Cooke College Scholarship. View a list of the semifinalists for this prestigious award, worth up to $40,000 annually to attend a top college or university.

 

Social Media Spotlight:

Carver High School of Engineering & Science in Philadelphia, a Cooke Foundation grant recipient, shares this photo of students exploring STEM projects.