The Week in Review / Educational Policy Institute

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The Rise of the Millennials

June 27, 2008

Watson Scott Swail, President & CEO, Educational Policy Institute

With the "real" start of this election year in the United States, which is being followed with fervor around the world (e.g., "Is Obama or Clinton going to win the nomination?" says a European colleague to me in Ljubljana, Slovenia in April), much of the focus is on the "next generation" of voters. This group, which is affectionately called the "Millennials," consists of youth born between 1982 and 1992. According to information supplied by my friend and colleague Jay Goff of the Missouri University of Science & Technology, the leading edge of this group graduated from high school in 2000, from college in 2004, and probably currently graduating from their graduate programs. I have a few of them working for me now.

This group is a defining group in our society and differs greatly from their predecessors, the GenXers. They were "so last decade." I'm not typically one of those who puts much into this branding of groups or generations. But the Millennials are different and are impacting the political race and higher education as we know it. READ MORE

Self-Awareness at a young age: "A lot" vs "A little", what does that mean?...

In 2007, 29% of self-identified American Indian/Alaska Native fourth-graders reported they knew “a lot” about their tribe or group, and 52% reported that they only knew “some” about their tribe or group.

Source: National Indian Education Study, 2007





	Report: Racial gap narrows, but what did No Child law do? Ledyard King, USA Today Math and reading test scores are up in most states since the No Child Left Behind law took effect in 2002, but it's impossible to know how much credit the law deserves, a new report says. Coalition says using a culturally based education model could help close achievement gap Michelle D. Anderson, Diverse News in Higher Education Teachers must be sensitive and inclusive to all students’ cultural backgrounds, educators and advocacy organizations said during a congressional briefing on Capitol Hill Wednesday. The briefing, “Culturally Based Teaching: A Model for Student Success, ” provided educators and student advocates with the opportunity to share their views and provide federal policymakers with first-hand accounts on how using a culturally based education model will empower students and help close the achievement gap. The teaching model encourages quality instructional practices rooted in cultural and linguistically relevant contexts.	Students can miss class but still pass Lori Higgins, Detroit Free Press School districts across Michigan are increasingly altering long-standing rules that tie students' grades to how often they come to class. The changes are prompted by a state policy that now allows students to test out of a class. But critics say the relaxed attendance policies risk sending the message to impressionable teens that getting to class isn't important. Study: Teachers not being taught math properly Nancy Zuckerbrod, Associated Press For kids to do better in math, their teachers might have to go back to school. Elementary-school teachers are poorly prepared by education schools to teach math, finds a study being released Thursday by the National Council on Teacher Quality.


	Skill-level testing graduates to college Allison Sherry, Denver Post One hundred Colorado State University freshmen will sit down before school starts this fall and take a test to measure how thoroughly they think, how well they write and how deftly they solve problems. Increasingly, colleges and universities want to see how well they are doing their jobs — either internally or against competitors — by giving students tests to measure basic college- level skills. Cost shift: Universities forced to pass on rising expenses to students Jennifer Berghom, The Monitor Since the Texas Legislature allowed public universities to set their own tuition in 2003 and capped its mandated tuition at $50 per semester credit hour starting in September 2005, the institutions have increasingly shifted the cost of attending college onto their students.	Colleges use 529 savings plan as a recruitment tool Melissa Korn, Wall Street Journal The 529 plan has provided tax benefits for years. Now a growing number of colleges and universities are using it as a recruiting tool. Hundreds of schools, including Stanford University and Duke University, are offering tuition discounts, prepaid plans with extra incentives and even scholarships for families that put money aside for higher education in 529 plans. Minnesota state colleges and universities system launches online accountability dashboard Melinda Voss, Minnesota State Colleges & Universities The Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system today launched the Board of Trustees Accountability Dashboard to track performance of the system and its 32 colleges and universities on 10 key measures. The dashboard displays such indicators as net tuition and fees as percent of median income, student persistence and completion, related employment of graduates, licensure exam pass rates, percent change in enrollment and condition of facilities. Data are available for six of the 10 performance indicators. The other four indicators are under development.


	Schools face quality test Geoffrey Bew, Gulf Daily News (Bahrain) Every school in Bahrain is to be inspected as part of a new scheme to raise standards to international levels, officials have confirmed. Experts from the UK have been drafted in to help set up the School Review Unit (SRU) and train local staff to carry out evaluations. Businesses spending more to improve education Dariya Orlova, Kyiv Post (Ukraine) Businesses in Ukraine are investing more money in university classrooms, hoping to better prepare students and prospective recruits for the workplace and repair Ukraine’s ailing universities.	Russia looks for ways to end isolation, invisibility of disabled Peter Finn, Washington Post Foreign Service People with disabilities are literally almost invisible in Russia, isolated in homes, special schools and sheltered workshops. “There are norms for accessibility of schools for children,” said Alexander Lomakin-Rumyantsev, head of the All-Russia Society of People With Disabilities and a member of parliament, noting that all new schools and schools undergoing reconstruction work are supposed to be made accessible. “But they're not doing it.” White working class boys least likely to go to university Nicola Woolcock, Times Online (United Kingdom) Universities are failing to recruit white, working-class students despite receiving £400 million from Government to widen participation, regulators claim today.


	More opt out of provincial examinations Janet Steffenhagen, Vancouver Sun B.C. - Post-secondary schools seem to be losing interest in provincial exams and so, too, are Grade 12 students. British Columbia high schools say shrinking numbers of senior students are writing provincial exams this week because increasingly more universities, colleges and technical institutes in Canada are considering class marks only when making admission decisions. Canadian universities hurting for funds Elizabeth Church, Globe and Mail Universities are receiving thousands of dollars less for each student on their campuses than they did two decades ago, a drop that is hurting the quality of higher education and putting Canada at a competitive disadvantage, a report released Wednesday morning by university leaders says.	Grade 10 history exam a ‘killer’ Brenda Branswell, Montreal Gazette The Grade 10 provincial history exam has always been a pressure-cooker test for many students because they need to pass the course to graduate. It might have been more stressful this year because several history teachers say Monday's provincial exam for the History of Quebec and Canada course was the toughest they've seen in years. Can public schools learn from private tutors? Jesse Robichaud, Times & Transcript Much has been said about the failings of the New Brunswick school system, but the idea of infusing the public school system with private sector solutions has garnered little attention. The debate around the usefulness of private sector solutions in the province's public health-care system has been well articulated on both sides of the debate, and the New Brunswick government has pressed forward with several public-private partnerships to speed along the construction of schools.


	Autistic children to see $190m support Nicola Berkovic, The Australian Parents of young children with autism will receive up to $12,000 over two years for early intervention support, as part of a $190 million package announced by the Government yesterday. Parliamentary Secretary for Disabilities Bill Shorten said about 9000 children aged six and under would be eligible. Boarding schools ‘not viable’ for indigenous education Australian Broadcasting News An Indigenous research fellow at Sydney University says the Federal Government's commitment of almost $12 million to upgrade Indigenous boarding schools is a tragedy. Vicki Grieves from the Department of Anthropology says governments keep looking for a quick fix when it comes to Aboriginal affairs and tend to adopt a one size fits all approach to Indigenous people.	Universities face up to double threat Caroline Milburn, The Age An ageing university workforce and fierce global competition for top academics pose some of the biggest threats to the prosperity of Australia's higher-education sector, according to a national discussion paper. Student dropout rates top 50% Mark Wooley, The Mercury Less than 50 per cent of Tasmania's public school students finish Year 12. Premier and Education Minister David Bartlett released the state's first “warts and all” public education performance report yesterday, which shows retention rates have dropped across three of the four school regions.


	Has Student Achievement Improved Since 2002? State Test Score Trends Through 2006–07 Nancy Kober, Naomi Chudowsky, and Victor Chudowsky, Center on Education Policy Using testing data from all 50 states, this study addresses two key questions: has student achievement increased and have achievement gaps narrowed since the No Child Left Behind Act was enacted in 2002. A comparison is also made between state test results and results from the National Assessment of Educational Progress. No Common Denominator:The Preparation of Elementary Teachers in Mathematics by America's Education Schools National Council on Teacher Quality American students' chronically poor performance in mathematics on international tests may begin in the earliest grades, handicapped by the weak knowledge of mathematics of their own elementary teachers. NCTQ looks at the quality of preparation provided by a representative sampling of institutions in nearly every state. We also provide a test developed by leading mathematicians which assesses for the knowledge that elementary teachers should acquire during their preparation. Imagine the implications of an elementary teaching force being able to pass this test.


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.