Congress and the Clinton administration have expanded dramatically the tax credits for college costs. But they are used only by families with income high enough to use them. Congress should redirect some of the $5 billion spent on tax credits to enlarging the Pell grant for low income students. Such changes would allow pell grants to exceed $6,ooo which is close to the average tuition at the average 4 year public college. Pell grants have eroded significantly over the past 30 years. Now that congress and the Bush administration have recently increased pell grants, it is time to break the policy mode and go after the tax credits.

Labels: college costs, income, support for college, wealth

Lumina Foundation has published new statistics showing faster growth in community colleges than other postsecondary sectors. perhaps this is because of lower costs. But the most interesting stat was that community colleges enroll 60% of all Hispanic students and 50% of all black students, but only 43% of all white students. Moreover, female students grew from 40% of all
students in 1970 to 58% now. The current female ratios are stunning - 57% of the hispanic students are female and 63% of black students are female. Where are the males? Still a mystery, and Lumina has other papers that explore this issue without any clear resolution.

Labels: two year colleges

osdcmuiMy last blog covered some of the basics of ECHS, but these schools are interesting in so many dimensions as examples of k-16 collaboration. Some ECHS are linked to major universities like Stanford, and others to community colleges. So the college courses they take in high school vary from applied vocational to introductory psychology. Everyone knows about AP for top students, but few know the potential that middle of the class students have to complete college work with the right academic and social support. The idea that students must stay in a high school building until they are 18 is dated, but often it is only the very best students who get a chance to experience college and improve their academic preparation.
One of the best ways to learn about college standards is to take a college course, so ECHS can help send clearer signals to first generation college students. But some college lecture courses may be taught using less interesting pedagogy than high school teachers use.

Labels: academic preparation, college information

I attended a conference on early college high schools that enable
average students to take college courses in high school up to 60
credits. These schools are spreading through Gates foundation grants,
and are impressive. They utilize lots of innovative practices
starting in the middle grades to prepare and nurture students for
college. Most of them are in low income areas and admit by lottery.
But they require students to attend longer hours, and to pursue a
college prep curriculum. But early college high schools have many
supports for students such as mentors, counselors, parent outreach,
and stimulating curriculum. They are smaller and more personalized
than typical big city high schools.

The costs are higher for early college schools and I wonder what
will happen after the foundation money runs out. However, the results
may be worth the extra money, and I was impressed with the energetic
staff and some preliminary outcomes for students. gates is evaluating
these schools so we will know more in a few years. For an overview,
check the major technical assistance provider for early college - www.jff.org

Labels: academic preparation College Completion, college costs, college information, college knowledge, College Preparation, College Readiness, College Success, curriculum alignment, ready for college

Some students decide to go to college without knowing much about what they are getting into when they arrive. Studies by the US Department of Education demonstrate that students are more likely to complete college if they go soon after high school. But the right time to go may depend on other factors such as lack of time to study because of work and family obligations. Moreover, lack of academic preparation may be crucial, and some increase in basic skills should precede college. Time management becomes crucial for college success as well as affordability.
In sum, there are a lot of interacting facors to answer the question of this blog. Fortunately, there are tools to help students analyse and understand the many factors for college success. Click on the site at the right corner of this blog- Mycollegepuzzle-www.mycollegepuzzle.com/ for help and a diagnosis letter at the end of completing the questions in the college puzzle.

Labels: College Completion, College Success

Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings tried to use the federal process of college accreditation to receive federal financial aid as a lever to focus accreditation on student outcomes such as college completion. Unfortunatley, she lost when Republicans abandoned her, and neither of the higher education reauthorization bills takes a more aggresive stance on accreditation. Colleges need incentives to increase student persistence and completion. Now many can just churn students and keep afloat financially.
Spellings tried to beef up accreditation through the federal regulatory process and bypass Congress. She stressed that no standardized tests would be used , but many legislators may not have believed her. There are some voluntary moves by some colleges to focus accreditation more on student outcomes, but little is likely to change. Only 24 % of community college students in Ca. complete any certificate or degree/transfer program after six years, and numerous four year colleges graduate less than half their students after 10 years.

Labels: College Completion, college information

States are making slow progress on k-16 data systems according to a new report by The Data Quality Campaign-www.DataQualityCampaign.org. Only 15 states collect student level college readiness scores. Only 11 states link data for students across k-12 and postsecondary, and just 10 states regularly report postsecondary data to high schools. High schools do not know if their students are prepared for college. At the high school level only 17 states collect student transcript data.
Four states have all the necessary data elements- AR,DE,Fl, and UT. Data is a first step for accountability in the k-16 system, so we are a long way from an outcomes based college preparation state system.

Labels: college information, College Preparation

Accuplacer is a community college placement test. It is part of the College Board and administered by ETS. I recently looked at the cut scores for placing a student in remedial math established by different states, and found they are all over the place. For elementary algebra, Floridas uses 72,Massachusetts 82, Texas 63, Minn 75, and Colorado 85! Students who score below these cut points are usually placed in remediation for algebra.
Clearly, there is little consensus on what remediation means and how it is determined. Placement exams and their standards are the dark continent of education testing. How can high schools students possibly know what they must know and be able to do to start college in credit bearing courses that are not remedial? College completion and preparation are less adequate because of this lack of transparent standards.

Labels: College Testing

Largely due to data limitations, higher education research has focused chiefly on income and less on other socioeconomic proxies, with the specific role of wealth largely left unexplored. Wealth and income are markedly different. Wealth measures the total supply of financial resources available to a family, whereas income only measures the current stream of cash payments. As such, wealth better measures the financial well-being of families – it “signifies the command over financial resources that a family has accumulated over its lifetime along with those resources that have been inherited across generations”.

Wealth’s inclusion in the analysis of postsecondary access would greatly improve the understanding of the college choice process, just as it has enhanced the understanding of academic achievement, and racial inequalities. Research in these areas indicates that when looking at measures of social equality, disparities in wealth are much greater than disparities in income.

If wealth and income were strongly correlated, income would be an adequate measure of financial well-being, but they are not. When income stemming from assets is not included when measuring income, the correlation is 0.26. Wealth can provide income (and income may eventually build to wealth), but wealth also has other beneficial characteristics that income does not have. Wealth brings stability. It generally does not change drastically over time in the way that income may. It can be passed on from generation to generation. Unlike income, it is not used for daily expenditures; it is used to “create opportunities, secure desired stature and standard of living, or pass class along to one’s children”.

Research indicates that focusing solely on income to measure financial resources ignores the huge gaps in wealth by race. While the income gap between blacks and whites is still very large, the wealth gap is even larger. In 1998, black households earned sixty-two cents for each dollar earned by white households. In comparison, black households held between zero cents to twenty-five cents for each dollar of wealth held by white households.

Not only is the wealth gap between blacks and whites distressing, the proportion of black families that are nearly or totally without financial resources is alarming. Approximately 83% of black households did not have enough net financial assets (measured as assets minus debts and equity accumulated in a home or vehicle) to survive at the poverty line for six months without any income, as compared to only 43% of white households.

More importantly for studying issues of college access, the disparity in wealth between blacks and whites is present for households with children. Nearly twice as many black children as white children (almost 75% of all black children) grow up in households without any net financial assets. Even more striking, nearly 90% of black children are raised in households without the financial resources to support themselves at the poverty line through three months without income – slightly more than half of white children live in households with similarly dire financial situations.

Labels: College Admissions, College Success, income, Student Success, wealth

Girls were 58% of 4-year college graduates last year. The graduation rate of boys has been a declining trend for many years with last year's all-time low of 42% of all college graduates.

Yet, in new research on Baltimore school children, Doris R. Entwisle, Karl L. Alexander, and Linda S. Olson found no evidence of boys in crisis. The researchers found that boys and girls enter school performing at about the same rate in reading.

Nevertheless, a gap favoring girls does surface during the elementary years, but only among disadvantaged youth – as defined by those who receive meal subsidies.

Disadvantaged boys fare poorly for two reasons:
(1) They are especially likely to have behavior problems, and
(2) their parents expect them to perform less well at school.

The research suggests that the so-called boy crisis is really a poor boy crisis.

Entwisle, Doris R., Karl L. Alexander, and Linda S. Olson, 2007. "Early Schooling: The Handicap of Being Poor and Male."Sociology of Education, 80(2), 114-138.

Labels: College Completion, College Success

NCLB was never designed to set standards or accountability for college success and completion. High Schools need only test once between grades 9 and 12. California uses a low level statewide exit exam with standards for 6-8th grade. NCLB is essentially a k-8 intervention, that has not considered college aspirations. Curriculum content issues are underdeveloped.
President Bush proposed changes to improve this, but Congress over the last four years has never seriously debated it. Now with NCLB reuthorization postponed until 2009, no federal stimulus for college preparation is likely soon. However, the increasing use by some states of college aligned end of course exams has potential to help college transition.

Labels: College Completion, college sucess, curriculum alignment