State looks into whether test compromised
Roslind Rossi, The Chicago Sun-Times
State education officials want to hire an independent expert to determine if a technical problem could have caused a decline in this year's high school test results, which reflected the lowest pass rate ever.

Bad Behavior Does Not Doom Pupils, Studies Say
Benedict Carey, The New York Times
Educators and psychologists have long feared that children entering school with behavior problems were doomed to fall behind in the upper grades. But two new studies suggest that those fears are exaggerated.

Top-Achieving Nations Beat U.S. States in Math and Science
Sean Cavanagh, Education Week
Students in the highest-performing U.S. states rank well below their peers in the world’s top-achieving countries in mathematics and science skill, according to a new study that judges American youths on an international scale.

New school approved for at-risk students
Rosalind Rossi, The Chicago Sun-Times
At-risk students or dropouts could learn to be anything from an assistant cook to a food store manager at a new high school in North Lawndale approved Wednesday by Chicago School Board members.

Congress OKs Head Start Renewal
Alyson Klein, Education Week
Congress today gave final approval to a long-awaited measure to renew the Head Start preschool program that would seek to increase accountability for grantees, make more families eligible, and eliminate a controversial test administered to students.

More Foreign Students — Everywhere
Elizabeth Redden, Inside Higher Ed
The total number of international students enrolled in the United States climbed significantly in the last academic year for the first time since 2001-2. As for American students studying abroad, the number increased by 8.5 percent to 223,534 in 2005-6, with short-term programs and study in non-traditional destinations outside Europe particularly hot growth areas, according to the Institute of International Education’s annual Open Doors report, released today.

Community-College Chiefs' Pay Lags Behind Presidents With Similar Loads
ELYSE ASHBURN, Chronicle of Higher Education
When Carl M. Kuttler Jr. became president of St. Petersburg College in 1978, the job's focus was academic. Almost three decades later, the St. Petersburg Times named him one of 10 people in the city to watch — not in education, but in business. Yes, business.

UCLA dentist school scandal
Louis Sahagun, Los Angeles Times
The UCLA School of Dentistry was hit by separate scandals Tuesday involving allegations of favoritism toward relatives of deep-pocket donors and student cheating on licensing examinations, university authorities acknowledged.

House Committee Votes on Amendments to Bill Setting Higher-Education Policy
Ruth Hammond, The Chronicle of Higher Education
The U.S. House of Representatives education committee began debating legislation on Wednesday that would set higher education policy for the next five years.

Some pupils 'should leave at 14'
BBC News
Ministers should consider allowing some pupils to leave school at 14, former welfare minister Frank Field has said.

Few Women Reach the Top in Japan's Universities
David McNeill, The Chronicle of Higher Education
At 68 and after a lifetime of academic work, Mitiko Go is at the top of her profession: president of Tokyo's Ochanomizu University. That might not seem like that unusual an accomplishment, but she is the only female president among Japan's 87 national universities.

Students arrested in Quebec tuition protest
CP, The Globe and Mail
Police have arrested more than 100 Montreal students who barricaded themselves in their junior college to protest tuition hikes.

U of S evaluates clinic hours during strike
Chris Purdy, The StarPhoenix
Management at the University of Saskatchewan is set to make decisions this week about its many medical clinics, which have been short 150 staff since the strike by support workers began two weeks ago.

AAMC addresses Canadian complaints about MCAT exam
Erin Millar, Maclean’s
This year’s batch of doctor hopefuls will not be facing the same problems last year’s students dealt with when writing the MCAT, the standard exam required to apply for medical school, according to the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC). Canadian test takers experienced headaches last year stemming from a shortage of test seats and computer malfunctions when the test switched to computer from the traditional paper-and-pencil version. However, the AAMC, which administrates the test, says they have heard Canadian complaints and key changes have been made.

Australian Leading VC welcomes Rudd spending plan
Guy Healy, The Australian
A LEADING university vice-chancellor has welcomed Kevin Rudd's spending promises for early childhood and school education.

Make higher education free, Greens say
AAP, The Sydney Morning Herald
Australia should introduce a free higher education system with a living allowance for students and apprentices, says Greens Leader Bob Brown.

Committing to Student Engagement
Reflections on CCSSE’s First Five Years
Many new community-college students receive little or no attention from advisers in their first four weeks of class, even though those first weeks are key to helping students succeed. Those findings, from this year's Community College Survey of Student Engagement, indicate that many students have barely made it through the door before they slip off their college's radar. The 2007 survey, which was released this week, for the first time attempted to determine exactly what services students need, but aren't receiving, in the first four weeks of college.

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.