January 23, 2015: Education News We're Reading This Week
Tuesday evening’s State of the Union address covered a number of education issues as predicted, though many found what wasn’t referenced striking. The Washington Post and The Huffington Post shared their views on what the President neglected to mention.
In addition, Executive Director Harold O. Levy wrote a response to Obama’s new education plans for The Huffington Post. He writes that high-achieving, low-income students looking to transfer must not be ignored when considering the free community college plan.
Kevin Carey of The New York Times writes about the complicated nature of President Obama’s college rating system, which was set to begin this month.
This article in The Hechinger Report explains how a lack of guidance counselors in California leads to an improper assessment of student needs. Many cannot adequately graduate due to certain errors, notes Brenda Iasevoli.
Research featured in The Atlantic shows that many “smart, low-income” students decide not to attend top schools due to easily correctable misconceptions. The paper cites misunderstandings of the terms “liberal arts” and “sticker price” as two examples.
New analysis of 2013 federal data shows that over 50 percent of students from pre-K to the 12th grade were eligible for free and reduced-price lunches. The Washington Post article begins: “For the first time in at least 50 years, a majority of U.S. public school students come from low-income families.”
The Chronicle of Higher Education references a report by the Association of American Colleges and Universities on the lack of preparedness for soon-to-be college grads. What students felt confident of achieving being able to contribute differed from how employers rated other recent graduates.
Executive Director Levy was quoted in an article covering the role of New York City school superintendents in The New York Times.
Cooke Foundation Dissertation Fellow Ben Castleman was recognized once again for his innovative work with University of Pittsburgh’s Lindsay Page on text message reminders. The University of Virginia professor was featured in The New York Times this past weekend.
The Oxford Journal of Human Rights Practice has published this paper on the legislative theater project for women in Afghanistan by Graduate Scholar Huma Saeed. Huma is currently pursuing her Ph.D. at the Leuven Institute of Criminology in Leuven, Belgium.
Undergraduate Transfer Scholar alumna Renata Martin was the subject of an article in Brown University’s Alumni Magazine.
Our new report on transfer from two- to four-year institutions, “Breaking Down Walls,” was highlighted this week by Community College Daily.