Justices Hear Arguments on ‘Unilateral’ Private Placements
Mark Walsh, Education Week
The U.S. Supreme Court appeared sympathetic today to arguments from the New York City school system that Congress intended to limit when parents of children in special education could be reimbursed for tuition when they enroll their children in private schools.

Finding a Good Grade School, for a Fee
Eddy Ramirez, U.S. News and World Report
As admission to selective schools grows more competitive, consultants offer families help.

Support, Data Seen Key to Pre-K Teacher Effectiveness
Linda Jacobson, Education Week
A yet-to-be published study of preschool sites in four states shows that giving prekindergarten teachers access to mentors and to immediate data on children’s pre-reading skills can have a positive effect on student performance, regardless of the teachers’ own education levels.

Peer Tutoring’s Potential to Boost IQ Intrigues Educators
Debra Viadero, Education Week
Two Norwegian scientists published an important pair of studies in June showing that firstborn children have higher IQ scores than their younger siblings—and, more significantly, that those differences owed more to family dynamics than to biology.

What’s a Financial Aid Director to Do?
Doug Lederman, Inside Higher Ed
Let’s say you’re a financial aid director (with his or her trusty lawyer in tow) at a college in New York State, and you’re deciding what practices should govern your future dealings with students and loan providers in the highly charged climate in the wake of last spring’s student loan scandal. The general principle is obvious — less interaction, much more disclosure — but on specifics, questions arise. Do we continue to have a preferred lender list, and if so, how many lenders should be on it? If our guarantee agency provides reimbursement to professional development seminars, do we accept it?

High-Priced Student Loans Spell Trouble
Marcy Gordon, Associated Press
The near doubling in the cost of a college degree the past decade has produced an explosion in high-priced student loans that could haunt the U.S. economy for years. Many in the next generation of workers will be so debt-burdened they will have to delay home purchases, limit vacations, even eat out less to pay loans off on time.

An Unwelcome Invitation
Jay Tolson, US News and World Report
Columbia University President Lee Bollinger raised an interesting question last week: Is it OK to invite an odious foreign leader to speak at your campus as long as you make it clear to the audience how despicable he is before you hand him the mike?

Exploring Ways to Shorten the Ascent to a Ph.D.
JOSEPH BERGER, The New York Times
For those who attempt it, the doctoral dissertation can loom on the horizon like Everest, gleaming invitingly as a challenge but often turning into a masochistic exercise once the ascent is begun. The average student takes 8.2 years to get a Ph.D.; in education, that figure surpasses 13 years. Fifty percent of students drop out along the way, with dissertations the major stumbling block. At commencement, the typical doctoral holder is 33, an age when peers are well along in their professions, and 12 percent of graduates are saddled with more than $50,000 in debt.

The Changing Community College President
Elizabeth Redden, Inside Higher Ed
“The majority of community colleges have been very, very weak with our involvement with alumni only because we never really understood the need for it until fund raising became important. We need to connect with our alums because some who go on to four-year colleges really have nothing to do with their two-year colleges. They forget about us,” says President John J. (Ski) Sygielski.

Graduation Rates for Athletes Stable
Doug Lederman, Inside Higher Ed
The proportion of athletes who entered Division I colleges between 1997 and 2000 and earned degrees within six years — 77 percent — did not budge from the previous year, National Collegiate Athletic Association officials said Wednesday in their first of several annual reports on how athletes fared academically. But the association’s president, Myles Brand, cited data showing improvements over time in high-profile (and traditionally low performing) sports — notably men’s basketball — to argue that the NCAA’s newly adopted academic rules are beginning to have an impact.

Japan government officials hint at WWII textbook change following mass protest
AP, Eduction Week
Japanese officials hinted Tuesday the government will support changing school history textbooks to reinstate references to forced mass civilian suicides during World War II, following a huge protest last week.

UK private schools’ Beijing link
BBC News
The Chinese government is to fund the teaching of Mandarin and Chinese culture in 10 UK independent schools.

Schools told to end meals decline
BBC News
A lack of consultation with children and parents is partly to blame for the fall in pupils having school meals in England, inspectors have said. Ofsted found fewer pupils taking meals in about 70% of the 27 schools visited since healthy eating rules came in.

Venezuelan President Threatens to Nationalize Universities
Mike Ceaser, The Chronicle of Higher Education
Hugo Chávez, Venezuela’s president, has threatened to nationalize any educational institution that does not adopt his socialist government’s new curriculum.

New graduates losing millions in post-secondary tax credits
Macleans.ca Staff
Advocates for student loan reform are crying foul over $240 million Ottawa has collected in the past four years from graduates who neglected to pay interest during a so-called "grace period" on their repayments.

Lights, camera, start… video game as theatre?
University of Calgary News Releases
University of Calgary Fine Arts professor Dr. James (Jim) Parker connects Computer Sciences with Fine Arts and brings the components of theatre to video gaming with his creation of Booze Cruise, “a driving game with a serious drinking problem.”

Stats Can delays releasing tuition data for second time
Maclean’s.ca Staff
After twice delaying the release of Canadian tuition data in September, Statistics Canada is promising the annual report on tuition and university fees on October 18. There report will be ready "come hell or high water," said Raymond Lortie, the chief of post-secondary education and tuition statistics for StatsCan.

Liberals oppose merger of Saint John university and college
CBC News
Staff, students and university alumni aren't alone in opposing the recommendation to merge the University of New Brunswick Saint John with New Brunswick Community College. Some of the government's own Liberal riding associations are against the plan.

Uni fund creates winners, puzzles
Bernard Lane and Brendan O'Keefe, The Australian
THE University of Wollongong and the University of Technology, Sydney, have swept the field in the $83 million learning and teaching performance fund announced today.

Schools warned about values and anorexia
AAP, The Age
Secondary schools are promoting values that could inadvertently encourage some teenage girls to become anorexic, an Australian researcher says.University of Western Sydney Associate Professor Christine Halse said schools encouraged self-discipline, high achievement, a drive for perfection and body awareness - all key indicators of anorexia.

Teacher union puts acid on Brumby
Bridie Smith, The Age
THE Brumby Government has come under increased pressure to cut a deal with the state's teachers, as the powerful teacher union releases an open letter to the Premier today declaring "now is the time to act".

States shun league tables for schools
Farrah Tomazin, The Age
STATE Labor premiers have vowed to give parents more information on how students perform — but have refused to endorse the Federal Opposition's election-year push for so-called "league tables" comparing school results.

A New Paper Studies the Past, Present, and Future of Higher Education in the United Arab Emirates
Center for Studies in Higher Education
University of California, Berkeley
A new CSHE affiliated paper examines the past, present and future of the universities and education systems of the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The paper, by Dr. Warren Fox, analyzes the higher education system of the wealthy Middle-Eastern country in terms of how well it is preparing its population for the future.

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.