Posts published in March, 2010
Should Students Try To Graduate From College In Less Than Four Years?
Guest blogger Anna Miller provides her views:
I’ve heard people boasting that they’ve earned their degrees in less than four years; of course, some of them are plain braggarts who are twisting the truth so that people will be impressed. But there are others who’ve graduated before their classmates because necessity demanded it. They either choose accelerated degrees or take extra courses every year so that they meet their requirements within four years. And if you’re thinking of going down this road and finishing college faster than usual, it’s best to know all the advantages and disadvantages that this process involves.
· As most of us know, finishing college in less than four years allows you to save on tuition costs and also get a job earlier.
· But on the downside, you would have to give up almost all your free time and slog through college without getting to enjoy all the social activities that it offers, the pleasure of hanging out with friends, or just goofing off once in a while.
· When you finish college early, you don’t get to graduate with your friends. When you move into the professional world earlier than they do, there’s a disconnect between you because they’re still in college without too many responsibilities, while you have your career to focus on and so gain a more serious outlook towards life.
· Your grades may not be as high as you would like them to be because you’re taking on too many courses and trying to pass all of them in your effort to finish college early.
· You may not gain the edge that you desire if your year of graduation coincides with an economic slump and jobs, especially the ones that pay well, are scarce.
· You may not be able to work your way through college if you’re going to spend all your time in class because you want to finish your degree early. So while you may save on tuition fees by finishing in less time than four years, you may ultimately lose out if you have to take out a loan and pay interest on it as well because you don’t have the time to work at a part-time job.
· You’ll have to give up on vacations and summer breaks if you want to graduate in less than four years because you have to catch up on your coursework and prepare for exams.
So unless there are compelling reasons for you to earn an accelerated degree, it’s best to think through the decision to graduate early before you choose this option.
By-line:
This guest post is contributed by Anna Miller, who writes on the topic of online degrees . She welcomes your comments at her email id: anna.miller009@gmail.com
Should Students Try To Graduate In Three Years ?
The following news clip indicates the movement to graduate from college in 3 years is growing. Look for guest blogger Anna Miller to answer the question of whether this is a good idea in the next blog.
What was a year ago an emerging idea about how to reduce college costs and better serve students has begun to take hold at colleges across the United States, as more institutions introduce three-year bachelor’s degrees. Despite the surge of interest in and introduction of these programs, some experts are critical, arguing that students may miss out on key experiences, and wondering whether many students will be able to finish their degrees in three years. (Inside Higher Ed, 03/11/1
High Grades In High School No Guarantee Of College Readiness
A perfect grade-point average in high school is a coup, no doubt about it. It tells students they’re at the top of the heap — at their respective schools.
But a straight-A transcript does not guarantee a student is ready for college-level work. About 20 percent of the freshmen who enter Cal State East Bay with a 4.0 GPA need at least some remediation in math, English or both, according to Greg Smith, associate vice president of enrollment for the university.
The rate is about 60 percent when you include all first-time freshmen in the California State University system. Most of the 25,000 Cal State students placed in remedial classes each year held at least a B average in high school and completed a long list of university-approved college preparatory courses, as the admissions system requires.
Mike Kirst, professor emeritus of education and business administration at Stanford University, says that statistic is evidence that grades, course titles and even “honors” labels are suspect. It’s what’s taught in the courses that counts, he said — and too often, that content is weak.
“In America, high school course content and homework demands and pacing is detached from college,” Kirst said. “If you’re not in AP (advanced placement) classes, it’s really quite dangerous.”
“It’s not just Oakland at all,” he added about college preparation in high school. “It’s more common than uncommon.”
Frank Worrell, an educational psychology professor at UC Berkeley, said students with strong grades are more likely to succeed in college — but that a 4.0 GPA is by no means an absolute measure.
“If you are in a school where the standards are lower, an A doesn’t mean the same as it does in a school that’s more rigorous,” he said. “I think this is a problem that faces public schools, particularly schools in low-income areas.”
That may seem to be common sense, but high school students don’t always have a broader perspective.
Worrell has spent years working with low-income, minority students and studying the psychology behind their college experiences. He said they often arrive on campus and discover they have a year or two of remedial course work ahead of them. It’s common for them to feel they don’t belong, he said, and to drop out.
He said he tells them, “It doesn’t mean you cannot be successful. You just need to understand that you’ll need to work harder.”
Worrell said high school students benefit from summer outreach programs at universities, including UC Berkeley. Not only do they get a sense of what will be expected of them in college, he said, but they work closely with motivated students from other school
New Draft Of Common Core Standards Is Released
WASHINGTON—The National Governors Association Center for Best Practices (NGA Center) and the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) today released the first official public draft of the K-12 standards as part of the Common Core State Standards Initiative, a process being led by governors and chief state school officers in 51 states, territories, and the District of Columbia. These draft standards, developed together with teachers, school administrators and experts, seek to provide a clear and consistent framework to prepare our children for college and the workforce.
The NGA Center and CCSSO have received feedback from national organizations representing, but not limited to teachers, postsecondary education (including community colleges), civil rights groups, English language learners, and students with disabilities The NGA Center and CCSSO encourage those interested in the standards to provide further feedback by Friday, April 2, 2010, at www.corestandards.org.
“We are pleased to release the K-12 standards today and to begin reviewing comments from the public,” said Dane Linn, director of the NGA Center’s Education Division. “These standards build upon the goals articulated in the college- and career-readiness standards released last year and will ensure our students are prepared to compete and succeed in a global economy. We look forward to working with educators, leaders and state board members in the states as they consider adopting these standards that will guide their educational programs.”
“The feedback and comments states and our additional stakeholders have provided us are solidifying these standards into the better standards our students need,” stated Gene Wilhoit, executive director of CCSSO. “We will continue to work diligently and tirelessly to ensure these standards are where they need to be, and today we are asking the public to help us do just that.”
These standards define the knowledge and skills students should have within their K-12 education careers so that they will graduate high school able to succeed in entry-level, credit-bearing academic college courses and in workforce training programs. The standards are:
- Aligned with college and work expectations;
- Clear, understandable and consistent;
- Include rigorous content and application of knowledge through high-order skills;
- Build upon strengths and lessons of current state standards;
- Informed by other top performing countries, so that all students are prepared to succeed in our global economy and society; and
- Evidence- and research-based.
The standards are expected to be finalized in early Spring. For more information, visit www.corestandards.org.
What Works In Midwest To Improve College Persistence And Completion
The following publication comes from WISCAPE at the University of Wisconsin:
Many factors prevent individuals—underrepresented students in particular—from enrolling in college and pursuing a postsecondary degree. As a result, admissions applications, enrollments, and graduation rates fall short of desired levels, and this deficit impairs economic and community viability. This problem is especially pressing in the Midwest, where lagging economies and low degree attainment rates hinder community development efforts.
In response, concerned stakeholders throughout the region have established postsecondary opportunity programs (POPs)—state, county, municipal, institutional, and private programs and partnerships that aim to increase educational attainment by confronting barriers to postsecondary access, persistence, and success. Many of these programs identify educational attainment as a means to economic and community development.
This report, the second in an occasional series published by the Midwestern Higher Education Compact (MHEC) called Promising Practices: What Works in the Midwest, offers a definition for these programs to help researchers and policymakers describe, compare, analyze, and evaluate them. The report also focuses on three exemplary programs—the Illinois Promise at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; the state-run All Iowa Opportunity Scholarship; and Campus and Community: Together for Good, a partnership between Finlandia University and Hancock Public Schools in Hancock, Michigan—providing brief descriptions of each, the characteristics that establish them as promising practices, and the lessons they offer other programs.
States Creating Separate College And Career Secondary School Pathways
Two deep south states (La. and Ms.) have created or condidered separate courses and paths for college and careers. This makes me wonder about agreement on a 50 state common core curriculum for all secondary school students. See the announcement below by ECS:
High school students who don’t want to go to college would have an option to pursue career-track studies under a bill being considered in the Mississippi legislature. House Bill 1210 outlines 20 course unit requirements for the so-called career track curriculum. Students who choose to go that route still would have to earn four units of English and at least three in math and three in science. Some districts already offer such curricula under the state department of education’s high school redesign program, which is being expanded.
Maryland Targets College Completion For Programs Less Than 4 Years
Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley launched an initiative to prepare the workforce to meet an expected surge in jobs requiring certification beyond a high school diploma but less than a bachelor’s degree. A recent study said that by 2016, the state will gain 434,000 so-called middle-skill jobs – including police officers, computer specialists and nurses. Only 37% of the state’s workforce has the credentials to fill those jobs, however. A target of the workforce training efforts will be 730,000 adult residents lacking a high school diploma and fluency in English
Student Survey Says High School Counseling Is Not Effective
The counseling that students receive in high school isn’t effective in helping them enroll in college, according to a Public Agenda survey. Sixty percent or more of survey respondents ranked their counselors as fair or poor in helping them find an appropriate college, find ways to pay for college or thinking about different career paths. The report says there appears to be a correlation between the degree to which students have a good counseling relationship, and whether they make decisions that land them at the right institutions, and with a plan to pay for college
Voluntary Accountability In Higher Education Is A Failure
Washington, D.C.—As the call for more stringent forms of accountability and transparency in higher education have become louder, the major trade associations have responded by creating two voluntary, public databases to which schools can submit new information on college costs and quality. The participating associations have touted these efforts as a step toward meeting the pressing need for improvements in transparency and increased accountability. Are they?
In False Fronts: Behind Higher Education’s Voluntary Accountability Systems, an important new examination of these widely touted efforts, Chad Aldeman of Education Sector and Andrew P. Kelly of the American Enterprise Institute find that the new voluntary systems each have serious flaws that undermine their utility as engines of accountability:
- The site for private colleges, U-CAN, provides almost no new information about costs, student experiences, or learning outcomes to parents and prospective students.
- The site for public colleges, the Voluntary System of Accountability (VSA), does not allow for the easy comparison of institutions, as many of the most crucial VSA data elements are incomplete or selected in a way that often obscures differences between institutions.
- Because of VSA’s voluntary nature, not all institutions participate, particularly those at the top and bottom of the quality scale.
Aldeman and Kelly conclude that “Unless these flaws are resolved, the nation runs the risk of ending up in the worst of all worlds: the appearance of higher education accountability without the reality.” Most importantly, as the authors note, the small steps already taken “should not persuade policymakers that accountability can be increased by harnessing the good intentions of the very institutions that they seek to hold accountable.”
Chad Aldeman is a policy analyst at Education Sector whose research focuses on higher education policy and issues of college and career readiness. He can be reached at caldeman@educationsector.org. Andrew P. Kelly is a research fellow at the American Enterprise Institute whose research focuses on higher education policy, the politics of congressional policymaking, and political behavior. He can be reached at andrew.kelly@aei.org.
Organization Launches State College Completion Initiative Supported By Five Foundations
Today, Complete College America — the product of an historic alignment of five of our country’s leading philanthropies — formally launches its efforts to significantly increase college completion.
Signifying their intent to take bold action, 17 states have joined Complete College America’s Alliance of States, committing to set degree goals at state and campus levels, establish common measures of progress and publicly report results annually, and develop and implement action plans to graduate more students.
The charter members of the Alliance of States are:
Connecticut Massachusetts South Dakota
Hawaii Nevada Tennessee
Idaho Ohio Utah
Illinois Oregon Vermont
Indiana Pennsylvania West Virginia
Maryland Rhode Island
Once first in the world, America now ranks 10th in the proportion of young people with a college degree. Less than 40% hold an associate or bachelor’s degree, and substantial racial and income gaps persist. Recognizing that within a decade 6 of 10 Americans must have a degree or quality credential to succeed, it is vital that more students graduate.
Complete College America is dedicated to working with states to implement systemic reforms, accomplish innovative approaches at scale, and remove needless obstacles that too often block the path to graduation day.
More of the same will not do…and will ensure that this generation of Americans will be the first to be less educated than their parents.
We believe there is great reason for optimism…and a clear path forward. With a little help — and some common sense — all Americans will share in the benefits of our students’ success.
Please join us, making graduation our shared priority. To learn more about Complete College America, go here.
With thanks,
Stan Jones
