Advanced Placement Tests Are Leaving Some Behind
By Sam Dillon, The New York Times

More high schools across the nation are offering Advanced Placement courses to help students get into college and get ready for its academic rigors. In the process, however, many minority students who often need help most urgently are missing out.

Overachieving Students Hear a New Message: Lighten Up
By Lori Aratani, The Washington Post

In the DC area, where the high-school experience has evolved into an advanced placement-fueled academic arms race, parents and school officials are starting to do the unthinkable: they're saying no to adolescents who want to load up on AP courses, schedule eight-period days and join the school newspaper, track team and high school band all at the same time.

Report Says Black Pupils Gaining, but Gaps Persist
By Mary Otto, The Washington Post

Black students at Howard County's public schools continue to make progress in key academic areas, including fourth-grade reading scores and high school graduation rate, according to an annual report card issued by the local branch of the NAACP.

Online Classes Go Mainstream
By Seema Mehta, The LA Times

Nearly half of the states in the US offer public school classes online, and last year Michigan became the first to require students to take an online class to graduate from high school. For class selection, ease of scheduling and many other reasons, the shift to the Web is strong, but some see problems.

Bridging Gaps Early On in Oklahoma
By David Leonhardt

Oklahoma has instituted a voluntary public preschool program, which 70 percent of 4-year olds attend. The program represents one of the most serious attempts to deal with economic inequality anywhere in the country

College Admissions Counselors Say Bush Budget Proposal is Inadequate for Improving College Access
NACAC press release

According to the National Council of Academic Counselors, though President Bush has proposed to increase the maximum Pell grant, his budget eliminates equally important programs that support college access and diverts funding from programs that work to programs that are politically divisive or that lack a track record of success in helping students.

Moving Out of a Classroom, More Undergraduates Turn to Research
CNN

More universities are offering research positions to undergraduates, who represent cheap labor for faculty and the positions can be used as a marketing tool to assure prospective students that they'll work closely with mentors. Government agencies like the National Science Foundation have invested in the trend as well, hoping to encourage a new generation of scientists.

Greater Scrutiny on Colleges and Ties to Lenders
By Jonathan Glater, The New York Times

Colleges and Universities from Massachusetts to California began receiving formal requests for information yesterday from the New York attorney general's office as a part of an investigation of financial relationships they or individual college officials have with student loan companies.

Harvard Moves Ahead with Curricular Reform
By Scott Jashick, InsideHigherEd

A panel responsible for changing Harvard’s undergraduate curricular requirements for the first time since 1979 released the final version of its proposals this week. The approach would replace broad categories like foreign cultures and science with considerable more specific areas of study.

Russian Parliament Approves New Test Designed to Standardize University Admissions
By Bryon MacWilliams, The Chronicle of Higher Education (subscription required)

The Russian Parliament approved a controversial bill last Friday that is intended to make university admissions fairer and less corrupt. The bill mandates that the Unified State Examination, a standardized test that is similar to the SAT in the United States, must be put in place nationwide by 2009. Already the test is being used, at least partially, in all but three of the country's 88 regions.

Adults 'Wish for Qualifications'
BBC

One in three adults in the UK regrets not having got better qualifications while at school, a Learning and Skills Council (LSC) survey has suggested.

University Costs May Not Be Blocking Poor Youth: StatsCan
CBC News

Students from poorer families are less likely to enrol in university than children of wealthy families because of different parental expectations and weaker grades, suggests a new study released Thursday by Statistics Canada.

HS Graduation Rules Eased for BC Students
Vancouver Sun

Students in British Columbia will no longer be required as part of the province's graduation program to prepare a portfolio highlighting their work in art, community involvement, career planning, employability skills, information technology, and personal health.

Students Target Ottawa, Provinces on Tuition Fees
By Tenille Bonoguore, The Globe and Mail

The Canadian Federation of Students says bank balances, and not grades, are determining who has access to a university education. The federation led a series of demonstrations across the country on Wednesday calling for reduced tuition fees, increased federal funding to post-secondary education and creation of a needs-based student grant system.

New Website Helps Students Access Increased Financial Aid for College or University
CNW Group

High School to College and Careers: Aligning State Policies
Southern Regional Education Board

Differing state policies govern many key areas of college readiness, including: the courses and tests required in high school, early outreach, joint enrollment programs, college admission and placement standards, colleges' reports to high schools about their graduate' performance, and state financial aid. This update to the 2005 and 2002 reports provides a one-page summary of each SREB state's policies in these areas.

The Educational Policy Institute is an international non-profit think tank dedicated to the study of educational opportunity. The Week in Review is a weekly publication that highlights the top news stories, reports and statistics related to academic preparation and access and success in the US, Canada, and beyond. The publication also features a commentary written by either President Watson Scott Swail, EdD or Vice-President Alex Usher.

To submit comments, news releases, or submissions, please email Dr. Watson Scott Swail at wswail@educationalpolicy.org or call (757) 430-2200.