The Week in Review / Educational Policy Institute

| Forward to a Friend | Printer Friendly |

More of Less?

January 11, 2008

Alex Usher, Vice President, Educational Policy Institute

Credit where credit is due, and it is very definitely due to the editors at the Canadian Medical association Journal, who this week had a lovely editorial about the future of medical education in Canada. Very simply, they noted that for many years, two of Canada’s medical schools – McMaster and Calgary – have been pursuing curricula which allow their graduates to finish in three years instead of the more regular four. These schools are regularly inspected and accredited by the Canadian Medical Association, and their graduates are not known do perform worse than their colleagues at 4-year institutions when they begin practicing medicine.

Which raises the question: what’s that fourth year for? ...READ MORE

15-year-olds’ Science Literacy: 2006

U.S. Average Score: 489
OECD Average Score: 500

Learn More Here.





	Spellings Seeks to Cast Her Glow Over NCLB David J. Hoff, Education Week In her three years as U.S. secretary of education, Margaret Spellings has been a celebrity contestant on “Jeopardy!,” a guest on “The Daily Show With Jon Stewart,” and an occasional subject of Washington’s best-read gossip column. Above all, though, she’s been the nation’s leading spokeswoman for the No Child Left Behind Act. With one year left on the job and Congress stalled over reauthorizing the 6-year-old federal education law, the task of promoting and defending it is tougher than ever. 'Wolf is back' at state budget door Michael Rothfield, The Los Angeles Times The governor lays out his plan to pare a $14-billion shortfall. The key is a constitutional amendment to impose a spending cap.	PISA Results Scoured for Secrets to Better Science Scores Debra Viadero, Education Week When results from the latest international science and math exams were unveiled last month, American media attention focused on how U.S. teenagers stacked up in those subjects against their counterparts elsewhere in the world. And the news wasn’t pretty. But the report on the 2006 Program for International Student Assessment2006 Program for International Student Assessment, or PISA, contains a wealth of other data that offer clues to what educators and policymakers might do to improve U.S. students’ middling test scores.


	Yale Plans to Increase Spending From Its Endowment Alan Finder, The New York Times Yale’s announcement came in the wake of questions from Congress and donors as to why wealthy universities raise tuition faster than the rate of inflation while the value of their endowments soars. Attacking the GMAT Monopoly Scott Jaschik, Inside Higher Education M.B.A. programs are seeing new debates over how best to test applicants to their programs. For decades, there has been one way to apply to the top programs: You take the Graduate Management Admission Test, know as the GMAT. But in the last year, two top business schools — at Stanford University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology — have started giving students an option of submitting scores on Graduate Record Examinations instead. Johns Hopkins University has also been giving students the option.	Spitzer Wants to Endow State’s Public Colleges Danny Hakim, The New York Times In his annual address to the Legislature on Wednesday, Gov. Eliot Spitzer will propose establishing an endowment for the state’s higher education system and adding 2,000 faculty members, according to a person with knowledge of the speech. Teach Grant Program Is Popular With Student-Aid Applicants Paul Basken, The Chronicle of Higher Education A new tuition-grant program for future teachers is causing headaches for the Education Department and American colleges, who are working this week on the complicated job of drafting regulations to carry out the Teach Grant program. But it’s already proving popular with students.


	Tories protest at student funding BBCnews The Conservatives are adding to protests against government plans to cut funding from students taking a second undergraduate degree. Emerging Economies Make Ripe Markets for Recruiting Industry Martha Ann Overland, The Chronicle of Higher Education Tens of thousands of international students every year use local recruiters to help them get into colleges abroad.	Controversial Reform in New Zealand David Cohen, Inside Higher Ed New Zealand’s leading research university and academic trend-setter has said it will move this year to restrict admissions to its undergraduate programs.


	New Incentive Programs For Early Childhood Educators British Columbia News Release The Province is piloting a new student loan assistance program for new early childhood educators and an incentive program for trained early childhood educators to return to the child-care sector, Minister of State for Child Care, Linda Reid announced today. Classes cancelled at St. Thomas U due to labour dispute CP, Macleans.ca Administration locked out faculty last week. No talks were scheduled.	Carleton's new leader welcomes return to Canada Elizabeth Church, The Globe and Mail Roseann Runte, the U.S.-born French-language scholar chosen as Carleton University's next leader, says she always planned to return to Canada, where she has spent most of her career, after a stint of "training" as president of a U.S. school. Ontario may restore specialty programs Jill Mahoney, The Globe and Mail The Ontario government is considering restoring specialty programs for older elementary students, including outdoor education and technology and design classes.


	Parents set for soaring school costs Milanda Rout, The Australian PARENTS preparing their children to go back to school face soaring bills of up to $21,000 this year as the cost of tuition, uniforms and books continue to rise. College seeks fees for suspended courses Harriet Alexander, The Sydney Morning Herald A PRIVATE college being investigated under the Immigration Act is demanding students continue to pay fees of up to $5000.	Report slams 'unfair' schools funding AAP THE federal Government will keep the index it uses to fund schools for another four years, despite a report finding the system is inequitable.


	PISA 2006 Science Competencies for Tomorrow's World Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development Science Competencies for Tomorrow’s World presents the results from the most recent PISA survey, which focused on science and also assessed mathematics and reading. It is divided into two volumes. Learn More Here.


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.