Blending learning in practice. Utah lawmakers are considering a bill that would fund year-round, blending learning initiatives in schools around the state. How can educators find the right mix of online and face-to-face instruction? A panel of experts and practitioners will share their experiences during Education Sector’s next event, “Finding the Right Mix: Blending Learning in Practice,” lateContinue Reading »

Don’t mock the jocks. They’re cashing in on their degrees in exercise science. (Wall Street Journal)

“So where is Waldo, really?” This and other offbeat questions are popping up on college applications this year, as admissions officers try to get a better sense of students’ personalities. (Los Angeles Times)

Take it or lose it. New York City schools stand to lose $250 million in sContinue Reading »

A new Department of Education study reports that 22.4% of students at “Very selective” colleges take at least one remedial class. By definition, these colleges are turning away countless students, many of whom would not need remediation (50.4% of all college students need remediation, and the remaining students could more than fill every seat at these colleges).

This raises uncomfortableContinue Reading »

Missed opportunities. More than half of low-income, “highly talented” students (in the top 4 percent) don’t apply to selective universities, according to new research. (Inside Higher Ed)

Underfunded pension plans. Pennsylvania is trying to make up for its long-term deficit in teachers’ pensions by charging more from taxpayers. But these are band-aid fixes; Education Sector analysts have Continue Reading »

Today the College Board launched a new resource, BigFuture, meant to help students make better decisions about college.  Where the government’s College Navigator provides an overwhelming dashboard of mind-numbing statistics on institutions with (seemingly) little attention paid to user-friendliness, BigFuture draws you in with savvy graphics and a heavy-hitting quote:

Your big fuContinue Reading »

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The girls at Brearley prep are simply flipping out! According to The New York Times, many Brearley seniors didn’t get into Yale early admissions which means they might actually have to go to Cornell, or even worse, a state flagship. Every admissions season, the media loves a good story about how tough it is to get into college. These articlesContinue Reading »

While I write a lot about higher education, I’ve always tried to avoid college admissions as a topic. The large majority of college students attend schools that have either open or relatively non-selective admissions policies. Yet media coverage of higher education obsessively focuses on the selective admissions rat race among a small percentage of very privileged young men and women whosContinue Reading »

Bucking the trend. Washington State University increases the size of its freshman class while maintaining a focus on in-state students. The incoming freshman class has 1,200 more students than last year and WSU expects 1,100 more in-state freshman than the previous year. WSU has been recruiting minority and high-achieving students from across the state. (The Seattle Times)

A high school Continue Reading »

Parents are reading to their kids more. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, parents, especially low income parents, are spending more time with their children—reading, having dinner together, playing—than a decade ago. (Education Week)

Back at work. After six months of negotiating and two rounds of votes, public employee unions in Connecticut have approved contract concessions of more tContinue Reading »

Richard Vedder on the decline of American public universities: “I think federal student financial-aid programs on balance have hurt state universities. Student loans have allowed many middle-class students who would have attended the local state school to apply to more expensive private institutions, contributing to a relative decline in the prestige of state schools. The rise inContinue Reading »