Education is the Exception, Finally

As President Obama and his aides unveiled the administration's fiscal 2011 budget with lots of talk about reining in discretionary spending, they largely exempted programs important to higher education from the budget restraint they urged.

Not every higher education-related program would fare well under the budget blueprint; the administration would hold funding for many student aid programs other than Pell Grants at their 2010 levels and eliminate a handful of others; end the Department of Labor's Career Pathways Innovation Fund (a $125 million grant program for community colleges); and slice the budget of the National Endowment for the Humanities.

"At a time when most government spending is being frozen, President Obama is investing in education -- a clear reflection of the president's deep commitment to education," Education Secretary Arne Duncan said in a telephone news conference Monday. "The president has set a goal that America once again will lead the world in college completion by the end of the decade, and to do that, we need to improve the education at every level. This budget puts us on a path to success and meeting that goal. We have to educate our way to a better economy."

Read the full Inside Higher Ed article

Education Secretary Says Teacher Training "Mediocre"

Education Secretary Arne Duncan is today giving a talk in which he will denounce most teacher education colleges for offering "mediocre" training, and call for major reforms of those programs, The Washington Post reported. Duncan will make these remarks at Teachers College of Columbia University, and his comments follow similar criticism in a recent speech at the University of Virginia. In today's talk, Duncan will say that many colleges and universities treat their teacher education programs as "cash cows," enrolling many students but not focusing on what they learn. The key to reform, Duncan will say, is linking programs directly to the ability of graduates to achieve good outcomes with students they go on to teach.

College tuition up, bring students down

Over the last couple of weeks, my blog has been centered around the cost of education and tuition. Well today is no different. Here is a details account from the Associated Press regarding the increase in college tuitions during the recession.

Review the graphic showing the average college costs and available federal and nonfederal aid by year. Four year college tuition rose 6.5% this fall, private colleges 4.4 percent.

"Every sector of the American economy is under stress and higher education is no exception," said Terry Hartle, senior vice president of the American Council on Education. "It's regrettable, and it's yet another piece of disappointing economic news that affects families."

Read the full article

Colleges/Universities evaluating attrition

Yesterday my blog post dealt with many students having to leave college or university before graduating due to increased years of commitment from many institutions limiting class size and courses per semester. Then I read and article by John Thelin for Inside Higher Ed outlining the critical state of attrition at colleges/universities.

Most influential is the publication of Crossing the Finish Line, a study of completing college at America’s public universities, written by William G. Bowen, Matthew M. Chingos, and Michael S. McPherson. It’s reinforced by the June 2009 report, "Diplomas and Dropouts: Which Colleges Actually Graduate Their Students (and Which Don’t)," by Frederick M. Hess, Mark Schneider, Kevin Carey, and Andrew P. Kelly of the American Enterprise Institute. The two studies rekindled concern about the percentage of undergraduates who fail to complete their bachelor degrees.

It would appear there is definitely a correlation between students leaving university prior to receiving their degree due to cost and time and the attrition rate.

As we as a nation compete with the global marketplace of highly educated and skilled workers, these issues will become even more paramount.

'Online Skills Laboratory' Questioned

Fredrick Hess, director of education policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute, writes a detailed article regarding a new department of education policy called the ‘Online Skills Laboratory.’

The Obama administration has “launched a worrisome but largely unnoticed assault upon the nation’s publishers and the vibrant market in online learning. The U.S. House has approved a White House-backed provision to provide $500 million to develop free, and “freely available,” online college courses,” states Hess.

Providing everyone an education at a low cost is a good idea. What is unclear is how the money will be distributed and what current online courseware, if any, will be used in this new ‘Online Skills Laboratory.’

Read the full article here