The New York Times on page a-13 carried a good article on the new report advocating less reliance on SAT for admissions at the annual convention of college admissions officers. The report drafted by the Harvard admissions director said SAT is "incredibly imprecise" and favored students who can afford intensive SAT prep. Most of these charges are not new, but what caught my eye was the support for more college tests based on the high school curriculum. This suggests more k-16 talks and negotiations concerning course content alignment that is badly needed. For example,ACT and SAT1 are not as well aligned as the New York Regents tests are to NY courses like biology and history. But how to handle huge interstate k-12 differences in testing and state content standards will be very dificult.
Are we headed towards top down college advocacy for more uniform national standards?

Labels: College Admissions

HigheredWatch reports that Paulson put student loans into the bailout bill in the last few days. Many reports have come to my attention about student loan credit squeezes and private lenders in fiscal difficulty. So watch for whether a bailout happens and who gets the money. Is it some of the same lenders who exploited the interest rate loopholes in the past decade?

Labels: college costs, college lending

SIGNIFICANT SHIFTS IN INDIANA POLICY PRIORITIES
>OVER TIME INCREASE STATE RESIDENTS' ABILITY TO ACCESS AND SUCCEED IN COLLEGE
>
>Study Reveals How Policymakers, Education
>Officials, Interest Group Leaders Adopted
>Bipartisan Policies to Improve Postsecondary
>Opportunities for Hoosier Students
>
>Washington, D.C., September 17, 2008 ­ When it
>comes to improving access and success in higher
>education to the benefit of the whole state,
>Indiana is at the nation's forefront. This
>achievement can be credited to bipartisan
>efforts by key decision makers-policymakers,
>business leaders, and education officials-who
>continue to address some of the state's major
>educational issues through a process of
>evolutionary change that gave a seat at the
>table to all interested parties. Due in large
>part to those efforts, more than two-thirds (68
>percent) of Hoosier high school students
>completed a college preparatory curriculum in
>2006, compared with only 12 percent in 1994, and
>more than 65,000 additional students have
>enrolled in college in the state since 2001.
>
>According to a new report by the Institute for
>Higher Education Policy (IHEP), Indiana has made
>considerable progress in increasing college
>access over the last several decades. The study,
>Creating Change One Step at a Time: Efforts to
>Improve College Access and Success in Indiana,
>offers a glimpse at the interventions Indiana
>has undertaken in the areas of academic
>preparation, higher education affordability, and
>a diversified system of higher education.
>
>EXAMPLES OF INDIANA'S INITIATIVES IN CREATING A COLLEGE-GOING CULTURE
> * The Core 40 diploma-which requires
> students to take four years of English, three
> years of math through at least Algebra II, and
> three years of science-was created to improve
> academic preparation for high school graduates
> and is now required for nearly all students.
> * As a part of a commitment to provide
> need-based grant aid, Indiana awards
> approximately 86 percent of all undergraduate
> student aid based on financial need alone
> (rather than on academic merit or a combination
> of need and merit), compared with a national average of 49 percent.
> * The establishment of a statewide community
> college system, Ivy Tech Community College of
> Indiana, offers more affordable postsecondary
> options, especially for working adults and for
> underserved groups such as low-income and minority students.
>
>"By focusing its efforts on a clear policy
>goal-increasing college access and
>success-Indiana has been able to achieve a
>series of significant postsecondary policy
>changes that we hope will lead to a myriad of
>successful outcomes," said IHEP President
>Michelle Asha Cooper, Ph.D. "We applaud the
>state and its efforts to aggressively push
>through bureaucratic policy mazes to embrace
>bipartisan amendments resulting in the creation
>of a college-going culture among Hoosier residents."
>
>INDIANA'S KEY STEPS IN CREATING CHANGE The
>report highlights several key practices that
>have enabled Indiana to create substantial
>changes in the educational policy arena. These include:
> * Recognizing the need for change and
> expressing that need to all stakeholders.
> * Moving forward incrementally without
> letting initial setbacks stop the process of change.
> * Using data to inform policy decisions. The
> work of experts inside and outside the state
> can provide a range of options to address identified problems.
> * Connecting to national organizations
> working in the same areas. These connections
> offer support in developing new policies and
> links to other states that may have similar concerns or experiences.
> * Seeking financial support for new policy
> initiatives from nonprofit organizations,
> foundations, and the federal government.
> * Building public support through
> transparency and aggressive communication efforts.
> * Making sure all stakeholders have a seat
> at the table so problems and policy solutions
> can be thoroughly discussed before implementation.
> * Cultivating strong, sustained, and
> bipartisan state leadership. A few key
> individuals can make or break policy initiatives.
>
>Despite its progress in creating change and
>building a college-going culture, the report
>notes that Indiana still has to address a number
>of specific concerns, such as increasing
>postsecondary completion rates and doing more to
>assist low-income, minority, and adult students.
>The state also faces a number of ongoing
>challenges, including finding funding for
>need-based aid and other programs in the face of
>budget pressures as well as sustaining momentum
>for change through the election cycle and into
>the future. Nonetheless, the study points out
>that the factors helping Indiana be successful
>in promoting policy change thus far are likely
>to persist, and the state will continue to create change one step at a time.
>
>The full report,Creating Change One Step at a
>Time: Efforts to Improve College Access and
>Success in Indian, is available for download on
>IHEP's Web site at www.ihep.org.

Labels: academic preparation, College Success

>
>
>Eight Leading States Selected to Develop Cutting
>Edge College- and Career-Ready Assessment and Accountability Policies
>
>
>WASHINGTON, D.C. - September 10, 2008 - Today
>Achieve, the Data Quality Campaign, the
>EducationCounsel, Jobs for the Future and the
>National Governors Association Center for Best
>Practices announced an unprecedented partnership
>to provide guidance, advice and support to
>states through the "College & Career-Ready
>Policy Institute" ("Institute"). The Institute
>is supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
>
>The Institute is designed to help states put
>K-12 assessment and accountability systems in
>place that will ensure that all students
>graduate from high school college- and
>career-ready. In addition, the Institute will
>also assist states in developing strategies for
>building the capacity of districts and schools
>so that all students successfully reach higher
>standards. The support to states by the partners
>will include multi-state gatherings where state
>teams will participate in cross-state leadership
>sessions, the first of which begins today in
>Washington D.C., as well as in-state, customized technical assistance.
>
>The eight Institute states, all participants in
>Achieve's American Diploma Project Network, are
>Arizona, Arkansas, Georgia, Louisiana,
>Minnesota, New Mexico, Ohio and Tennessee. The
>Institute states were chosen through a
>competitive selection process based on the
>states' strong leadership and commitment to a
>college- and career-readiness agenda as
>demonstrated by their success in raising
>academic standards and graduation requirements
>for all students. These states are now well
>positioned to tackle the difficult, but
>essential, task of ensuring that their
>assessment and accountability systems are
>likewise anchored in college- and
>career-readiness and that state education
>policies cohesively support this critical goal.
>
>Specifically, the Institute will assist states in:
> * Developing goals for improving high school
> graduation, college- and career-readiness and postsecondary attainment rates;
> * Putting in place a comprehensive state
> assessment system that is aligned with college-
> and career-ready standards and that measures student progress over time;
> * Establishing a coherent system of
> accountability that makes college- and
> career-readiness a central priority and that
> "incentivizes" proper actions, promotes
> accurate judgments, and drives effective supports and interventions;
> * Designing a statewide system of supports
> and interventions to assist low performing
> districts and schools and ensure continuous
> improvement for all schools and districts around the state; and
> * Providing educational options and supports
> to boost the achievement of low-income students
> and other groups at high-risk of not achieving
> college-ready standards and college success.
>In addition to assisting the eight states in
>developing and implementing a comprehensive
>college- and career-ready policy, it is hoped
>that the lessons learned from these Institute
>states can assist other states also committed to
>the college- and career-ready agenda, therefore
>boosting the academic prospects for even more U.S. students.

Labels: College Readiness

In a September 15 press release Secretary Spellings noted that 4 year college completion among adults 25-34 inched forward by 2% from 2000 to 2007. This is a slow pace, and many other nations have surpassed our rate of 31% in the past decade. Some surveys have 9 nations ahead of us and others 15. Until recently the USA lead the world in college completion rates, in part because of our high level of female attainment.

Labels: academic preparation College Completion

The Dream Project is a student-initiated
>high-school outreach program that operates as a
>University of Washington course and partners UW
>students with first-generation and low-income
>high school students to assist in the college
>admissions process. Over 100 UW undergraduates
>work with over 300 juniors and seniors in seven
>area high-schools. The undergraduates attend
>class once per week for an hour and a half, and
>then travel to the high-schools for at least one
>hour per week throughout the entire school
>year. In the high-schools, juniors and seniors
>work through the entire college application
>process with the UW undergraduates, including:
>thinking about the right "fit" for college,
>studying for the SAT and ACT, preparing
>articulate personal statements, turning in three
>or more college applications, understanding and
>filling out the FAFSA, applying for
>scholarships, matriculation, and the transition into college.
>
>
>
>Once they have transitioned into college, many
>students will find a community-in-waiting,
>especially if they choose to come to the
>University of Washington. Similarly, other
>college campuses across the state (and the
>nation) are either starting their own Dream
>Project this year or are currently learning how
>to start one in future years. These
>communities--groups of undergrads that are
>already friends with the transitioning high
>school students--help to ensure high retention
>and graduation rates of the Dream Project
>scholars. In effect, the line is blurred
>between high school student, college student,
>and college graduate because many students who
>are involved in the Dream Project start out in
>one of the partner high schools and then join
>the Dream Project as an undergraduate
>themselves, continuing the cycle of giving back
>to their community. In this way, high school
>students can find their older peers at nearly
>any of the colleges to which they apply.
>
>
>
>In the UW course, undergraduates learn about
>educational opportunity and social mobility
>while gaining the skills necessary to mentor the
>high school students throughout their
>preparation for and application to
>colleges. Each week, undergraduates work with
>and learn from college admissions counselors,
>financial aid and scholarship officers, SAT/ACT
>preparation experts, and numerous faculty and
>staff who speak about mentorship, social
>justice, non-profit work, and public schooling
>issues. Also, undergraduates are the leaders of
>the program--from collaborating with the high
>schools and school districts, to creating the
>class syllabus and course readings, to fund
>raising and development efforts. The
>undergraduates hold panels with the counseling
>staff from the high schools so that they can
>better understand how to collaborate and learn
>from one another's efforts. Similarly, the
>undergraduates work with an advisory committee
>of university faculty and staff to help the
>university understand the needs and changes of
>the program and the schools with which the Dream Project works.
>
>
>
>The Dream Project is unique on many levels, but
>two DP achievements are particularly relevant to
>this blog. First, the Dream Project has helped
>to develop better communication between and
>among the public high-schools it serves and the
>higher education world in Washington State,
>including career/college counselors, high-school
>administrators, teachers, parents, college
>admissions counselors, university
>administrators, and university faculty and
>staff. Second, the Dream Project has induced an
>"in-reach" effect by changing the culture of the
>high schools we serve, such that the younger
>high-school students and their teachers,
>administrators, counselors and parents are
>preparing earlier and more accurately for
>college admissions. The Dream Project's
>students--undergraduates and high schoolers--are
>well aware of the "myths" of college and have
>aimed to dispel those myths wherever they occur,
>which happens to be at all levels along the P-16
>continuum. I believe that is why the Dream
>Project's dedication to collaboration and
>communication between all areas of education
>(K-12, higher education, funding partners,
>students, and parents) has been so successful.

For more information contact: Jenee Meyers ,myersja@u.washington.edu

Labels: college information, College Success Studies

The New York Times ran an article on september 10 reporting on how wealthy selective institutions defend high and rising tuitons. Two facts caught my eye. Only 3% on the nations college students are at institutions costing $25,000 dollars or more- just 75 universities control over 70% of all endowment assets! Amherst spends $80,000 a year for each pupil.
Meanwhile the California community colleges spend on average around $6,000 per fte and have almost no endowment. They charge $18 a credit hour. California State University recieved $10,600 from the state per fte in 2005. These gaps are so large between selective and broad access that it is difficult to think about any public policy that they share in common.

Labels: college costs

Opinion: Start new community college chancellor off on the right foot
By Pamela Burdman and Michael Kirst



This spring, for the first time in a century, the University of California regents hired an outsider to lead the 10-campus, 200,000-student system. To lure Mark Yudof unfrom the University of Texas, the regents doubled the president's salary package to more than $800,000. Yudof's arrival was heralded on the front pages of our state's newspapers.
Similar attention needs to be paid to the arrival of another education leader, one who will influence the lives of far more students. In his new position as incoming chancellor of California's community colleges, state Sen. Jack Scott, D-Altadena, will assume responsibility for the education of 2.6 million students at the 110-college system.
It's not just that the vast majority of Californians who go to college attend a community college. It's also that unlike the California State University system, which admits the top one-third of students, or UC, which enrolls the top one-eighth, community colleges are open to the top 100 percent. They serve the students least prepared to complete college with the fewest resources per student. Furthermore, they enroll large numbers of ethnic minorities: The Los Angeles district alone has nearly four times as many African American students as the entire UC system.
The job of ensuring that those students can succeed is as complex as it is important. The colleges' next leader must marshal talented educators and unify policy leaders around this mission in the face of severe state budget constraints. Fortunately, Scott brings with him more than just Sacramento savvy. A former college president, he understands well the educational challenges.
But his job may be more difficult than Yudof's for another reason: Unlike UC's president, the chancellor's job has traditionally been relatively powerless. It pays just $198,000, a fraction of the UC president's earnings, and less than many of the district chancellors. And to represent those 2.6 million students, the chancellor has a staff of just 130 people — fewer than UC's information technology office. Before the recent budget cuts, UC employed about 2,000 people.
Precise parity in salary and staffing between two vastly different systems is not realistic. But placing a priority on community colleges is not just realistic, it is imperative. The colleges deserve more dollars, but there is another tool that in Scott's hands they could make good use of: state policy. The state has focused primarily on making sure students have access to college, but it also needs to ensure that more high school students are prepared for college and that more who attend community college can complete a credential or transfer to a four-year university.
Two policy proposals championed by Scott, if signed by the governor, could strengthen the colleges' ability to do their job well.
The first would help community colleges partner with California State University to address the large numbers of students who complete high school unprepared for college-level work. The proposal would encourage the colleges to join with California State University system in using an 11th-grade test to advise students of their proficiency in math and English then use their senior year to improve their skills. Given that the colleges have made a commitment to improving success rates of under-prepared students, they need support in implementing this policy.
The second proposal would launch a comprehensive higher education report card to keep us in the know about how well our colleges and universities are serving California: how affordable they are, and how many of their students are completing credentials and benefiting the state. If we are to ask more from our community colleges, we need clear measures to indicate when they are meeting those expectations.
Scott, who becomes chancellor in January, introduced both proposals well before he was tapped for the job. Alone, they will not ensure success of community college students, but both are needed steps to providing community colleges not just the right leader, but also the tools to be successful.

Labels: academic preparation, College Success

On August 8 in Forbes magazine,the former president of the University of California, Richard Atkinson, recommends that SAT be shortened by reducing the critical reading portion , but keeping the writing and math parts. Atkinson taught statistics and measurement and led the fight to put a writing sample in SAT. He contends that the new SAT is a "dramatic improvement", and has come a long way toward becoming an achievement test. But it is only a promising first draft, and the critical reading section does not add significant value to the predictions of college academic performance. The new test is an hour longer, so cutting part of it makes sense to him.
This is a provactive proposal and worth consideration. I agree with Atkinson we need some external assessment to monitor high school grade inflation.

Labels: academic preparation, College Testing

Last blog opened up the definition and conceptual boundaries of this emerging area of P-16. For now, I am avoiding the discussion of P-20 that includes preschool through graduate school. In order to be a "field" P-16 must develop several characteristics- shared identity, standards of practice, knowledge base, leadership and grassroots support, and funding. Right now there is some funding and a lot of players , but not much progress on the other dimensions.
Shared identity implies clarity around terminology and relationship to other education reforms. Shared identity also implies high alignment on goals and core practices and research targets.Right now these are lacking , and there is a low affilation with the field of k-16 by many people who adress these issues.
Knowledge base in k-16 is hampered by too few vehicles to facilitate knowledge sharing and collaboration. There is no annual meeting of activists or even subparts of large organizations like AERA or ASHE. Practicioners meet at separate k-12 and postsecondary metings.
Who will lead and organize this emerging field? There are no obvious candidates. There are 39 state P-16 councils and more on them in next blog.

Labels: State p-16 councils

Last blog opened up the definition and conceptual boundaries of this emerging area of P-16. For now, I am avoiding the discussion of P-20 that includes preschool through graduate school. In order to be a "field" P-16 must develop several characteristics- shared identity, standards of practice, knowledge base, leadership and grassroots support, and funding. Right now there is some funding and a lot of players , but not much progress on the other dimensions.
Shared identity implies clarity around terminology and relationship to other education reforms. Shared identity also implies high alignment on goals and core practices and research targets.Right now these are lacking , and there is a low affilation with the field of k-16 by many people who adress these issues.
Knowledge base in k-16 is hampered by too few vehicles to facilitate knowledge sharing and collaboration. There is no annual meeting of activists or even subparts of large organizations like AERA or ASHE. Practicioners meet at separate k-12 and postsecondary metings.
Who will lead and organize this emerging field? There are no obvious candidates. There are 39 state P-16 councils and more on them in next blog.

Labels: State p-16 councils

The more I talk with people in the domain of this blog, the more confusing it is about how to specify and bound the "field of k-16'. Most of us have do not much focus upon preschool or elementary grades. Few people I meet discuss changing how college courses are taught that are not developmental -eg more use of technology and less lectures. One way to start thinking about this is to look at the University of Georgia website , go to www.usg.edu and then go to " Office of p-16. UGA has one of the oldest and most ambitous p-16, and has a working definition. But it is not complete, and does not align with the focus of this blog. UGA features teacher education- a focus that is not covered by this blog.
If there is no conceptual agreement on our field then it is difficult to organize a professional network. Who should be invited to a meeting to set up an organization and communication system? More on this next blog.

Labels: State p-16 councils