The Week in Review / Educational Policy Institute

| Forward to a Friend | Printer Friendly |

Public Policy and Cultural Capital

February 29, 2008

Alex Usher, Vice President, Educational Policy Institute

The world over, governments think they know how to deal with inequality. Through progressive taxation, they take from the rich and give to the poor. That's also the basis of what are called high-tuition, high-student aid programs. Tax the rich through tuition fees, and give it out through need- or income-based student aid. When governments get the parameters right, this strategy works pretty well in the main. Poor students pay almost nothing for their education (as is surely right), universities get more money than they could get through relying on government funds alone, and they use this money to enhance quality and expand access by letting in more students. That's why access in countries with tuition fees tends to be the same as (or even a little better than) access in countries with no fees at all. READ MORE...

Money Matters... Total student debt in the United States is more than $471 billion – and that’s not including private loans. As such, between 2001 and 2010, 2 million academically qualified students will not go to college because they cannot afford it.

Source: United States Department of Education





	Despite IB Growth, College Credit is Elusive Jay Matthews, Washington Post College admissions officers say they love seeing IB courses on transcripts. Students say the IB writing instruction and five hour, end-of-course exams prepare them well for higher education. But there’s a catch: Students usually can’t get college credit for one-year IB courses, even though they are similar to one-year Advanced Placement courses, which are eligible for credit. Kaine is against NCLB pullout Olympia Meola, The Richmond Times-Dispatch Gov. Timothy M. Kaine does not support a state withdrawal from No Child Left Behind, his spokesman said yesterday.	Dropout data show most kids stay in school Nanette Asimov, The San Francisco Chronicle Defying conventional wisdom that students are dropping out of California high schools in droves, a new study shows that most schools -including many in San Francisco and the Bay Area- are doing a good job of keeping kids in class. A different kind of home schooling Sam Quinones, The Los Angeles Times Teachers work with immigrant parents to help them help their young students catch up. One goal is to prevent future dropouts.


	Nevada Higher Ed Seeks Increased American Indian Enrollment Lenita Powers, Reno Gazette-Journal Higher education officials have a formed a coalition to try to turn around the historically low number of American Indian students who go on to college in Nevada. Brown Ends Tuition for Lower-Income Students NACAC Brown University is eliminating tuition for students whose parents earn less than $60,000, after decisions by fellow Ivy League universities to bolster financial aid as their endowments grow.	Colleges Guard Soaring Endowments Peter Schworm, Boston Globe Under growing pressure from Congress, the country’s wealthiest colleges and universities are sharply resisting calls to spend more of their soaring endowments to expand financial aid and curb tuition hikes that critics say are putting college beyond the reach of ordinary families.


	Aptitude tests are biased against comprehensive school pupils’ Richard Garner, The Independent Britain’s biggest exam board will deliver a strong warning to universities today against using US-style aptitude tests to select their students. A major research project for the Assessment and Qualifications Alliance (AQA) concludes they are “invalid” in assessing candidates’ suitability for courses and an “unfair” method of allocating places. All University Staff to Lose Permanent Jobs Tabu Butagira & Agness Nandutu, The Daily Monitor (Kampala) The Ministry of Education has started drafting a policy document to phase out permanent jobs at all public universities to improve staff performance and efficiency.	Nearly a quarter of students do not finish their university courses. What is going wrong? Jack Grimston, The Sunday Times According to a parliamentary report published last week, £800m spent by the government over the past five years on various schemes to cut student drop-out rates has had no impact- 22% of students fail to complete their degrees, almost exactly the same proportion as in 2002. What the Finns Know Shouldn’t Surprise Us (But Does) Patrick F. Bassett, Education Week While reindeer jerky and lingonberries have yet to become an international sensation, the education system in Finland has managed to gain worldwide attention over the past few years. Test results from the Program for International Student Assessment, or PISA, have revealed that Finnish students routinely outperform those of other countries. And a recent report by the international consulting firm McKinsey & Co. highlights the country’s extraordinary successes. So, what does Finland know that shouldn’t surprise us (but does)?


	Canadian Federal budget changes the financial aid landscape Elizabeth Church, Globe and Mail The Canadian Government revealed its federal budget on Wednesday, announcing a variety of new financial aid programs, including a new grant program to take over from the Canada Millennium Scholarship Foundation, which will be eliminated in 2009. K-12 program tailored for first nations students Darah Hansen, Vancouver Sun The Prince George school district is poised to become the first in the province to offer full K-12 public school programming tailored specifically to first nations students.	Post-secondary grads slipping down the literacy scale Janice Tibbetts, Canwest News Service Post-secondary institutions are turning out more graduates than ever before, but they are less literate than their counterparts of past generations, suggests a Statistics Canada analysis, attributing the “deterioration” to an education system that seeks to be all-inclusive at the expense of the brightest stars.


	Let's work together to fix university funding Simon Marginson, The Sydney Morning Herald Has the old ritual stand-off between the universities and Canberra, a hallmark of the Howard years, sprung back like a conditioned reflex after just three months of Rudd? On Tuesday, Universities Australia sounded strident and nervous that the Government might renege on its modest promises to higher education. Teachers reject Pike's plea to halt strikes Farrah Tomazin, The Age STATE Education Minister Bronwyn Pike has appealed to Victoria's teachers' union to cancel plans for more strikes this week, but the teachers have rejected Ms Pike's request, and accused the minister of lying about the cost of a pay increase and improved conditions.	Public school students missing out on uni offers Milanda Rout, The Australian PUBLIC school students are those most likely to miss out on a university education as competition for places intensifies.


	How the world’s best-performing school systems come out on top McKinsey & Company A recent report by the international consulting firm McKinsey & Company highlights the Finland’s extraordinary successes, and lets us in on what Finland knows that shouldn’t surprise us, but does. Download and View PDF 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.