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Homeroom: August 2012 Archives

August 2012 Archives

Senate Finds Huge Cost Gap Between For-Profit, Public Colleges

By Homeroom on August 24, 2012 4:33 PM   |   Comments   |   Bookmark and Share
Among the findings of a U.S. Senate committee’s recently released investigation of the nation’s for-profit college industry is a stark assessment of the huge gap between what it costs to get a degree or certificate from a career college and the price tag of a comparable program at a public college or university in California.

The two-year investigation by the U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee took a sweeping look at 30 for-profit education institutions nationwide, combing through financial statements, internal company documents and other data to create a picture of a sector that it says fails to provide adequate return on investment for students and taxpayers.

Read the full article here.
Reprinted with permission from The Hechinger Report.

Without Good Preschools, Miss. Kids Are Left Behind

By Homeroom on August 24, 2012 2:23 PM   |   Comments   |   Bookmark and Share
When school begins next month in Mississippi, Akeeleon Lewis will head to kindergarten for the second time. He started school last fall not knowing his colors or numbers.

“He couldn’t even hold a pencil,” says Judy Packer, his kindergarten teacher at McNeal Elementary School in Canton, a city of 13,000 about 30 miles northeast of the state capital in Jackson.

Read the full article here.
Reprinted with permission from The Hechinger Report.

Colleges Freeze, Reduce Tuition as Public Balks at Further Price Hikes

By Homeroom on August 21, 2012 10:38 AM   |   Comments   |   Bookmark and Share
As an undergraduate at the University of California–Irvine, Christopher Campbell was almost forced to drop out by repeated double-digit increases in tuition—some in the middle of the academic year—to compensate for massive state budget cuts.

Campbell ultimately made it through and is starting law school at UCI this fall. But he watched classmates driven out of college by the unpredictable mid-year price hikes.

Now he’s pushing an amendment to the California constitution that would ban public universities from raising tuition for students after they’ve enrolled.

Read the full article here.
Reprinted with permission from The Hechinger Report.

Mayor Bloomberg Breaks Ground on New High School in Manhattan

By Homeroom on August 20, 2012 5:38 PM   |   Comments   |   Bookmark and Share
English: New York Mayor, Michael R. Bloomberg.
Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, Schools Chancellor Dennis M. Walcott and City Council Speaker Christine C. Quinn today broke ground on the new Beacon High School in Manhattan. The six-story building – formerly a New York Public Library Annex – will be completely renovated to accommodate more students and feature high-quality classroom resources including wireless internet access, state-of-the-art technology labs, a dark room, a black box theatre, music suite, library and exercise facility. 

An additional seventh floor will be built to provide a regulation-size, 7,500 square foot gymnasium and separate 432-seat auditorium. The new, larger school will accommodate 1,487 students, including for special education District 75 students. 

“Our public school students live in the most dynamic city in the world, and we are working to make sure our classroom match those resources,” said Mayor Bloomberg. “The new Beacon High School building will offer Wi-Fi, science labs and arts suites to complement and support our students’ innovation. Most importantly, it will provide more space for one of our most successful and growing high schools.”

Read the full press release here.



Game Changer: New Test for New Teachers

By Homeroom on August 15, 2012 5:04 PM   |   Comments   |   Bookmark and Share
Those of us who prepare teachers for the classroom find ourselves at the center of a national conversation about teacher preparation and “effectiveness,” as well as how to measure and improve student achievement. In each of these cases, students’ standardized test scores are the central metric. And now, federal and state policymakers have begun to use student test scores to evaluate teacher education programs.

Without question, teacher education programs should be genuinely concerned with their graduates’ impact on student learning and achievement. However, using student test scores to measure program effectiveness is both inappropriate and unhelpful. There are significant challenges—substantive and logistical—to accurately linking student scores to preparing institutions and interpreting what they mean. And even if these were solved, it is extremely difficult to control for the variation in the K-12 schools where graduates end up teaching.

Reprinted with permission from The Hechinger Report.
Read the full article here.

What Ryan & Romney Mean for Education

By Homeroom on August 13, 2012 6:24 PM   |   Comments   |   Bookmark and Share
Mitt Romney’s pick of Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) as his vice presidential candidate over the weekend offers new clues about what a Romney administration could mean for federal education policy. Although Ryan hasn’t made education a signature issue during his seven terms in Congress, he believes the federal government should cut back its involvement in education. 

Read the full story at The Hechinger Report.
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