GUEST COMMENTARY

Charting a Path to the Future: The Pan-American Cooperative

DR. ROSEANN O'REILLY RUNTE, President, Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada.

Several years ago, a report to UNESCO outlined a series of tensions in education, omitting the two principle sources of tension I have observed personally: time and money. As our knowledge of the universe expands, there is ever more material to include in the curriculum. We want our students to be both broadly educated and expert in at least one field. They need not only acquire literacy and numeracy, but also computing skills and more than one language. Faculty are pressured by the need to revise continually the curriculum and renew research striving for greater interdisciplinarity and pertinence. Universities are expected to teach and perform innovative research, while providing leadership in the fields of civic engagement and economic development.

Universities are indeed efficient and effective and have demonstrated their ability to respond to society’s needs, and grow with these READ MORE...

U.S. colleges and universities have long welcomed students from China, where the higher education system can't meet the demand. Two years ago, a record 10 million students throughout China took the national college entrance test, competing for 5.7 million university slots. Because foreign undergraduates typically aren't eligible for U.S. federal aid, colleges here can provide limited financial help. Now, thanks to China's booming economy in recent years, more Chinese families can afford to pay. In foreign post-secondary participation, China is second only to India when graduate students and undergrads are counted. But undergraduates are the newer phenomenon. Nationally, an 11% growth in undergrad enrollments last year was driven largely by a 60% increase from China, a report by the Institute of International Education says. Grad student enrollments were up 2%.
Source: USA TODAY

USDA to Serve Lawmakers Lunches from the School Cafeteria
Jane Black, Washington Post
In an effort to show lawmakers the improvements the Department of Agriculture has made in the nutritional quality of the $1.2 billion of school commodity foods, the department  will be serving Congressional staffers the same food provided everyday to public schools across the U.S. This comes with the hope of funding for further improvements.

Obama Puts $3.5B Toward Fixing Failing Schools
Libby Quaid, USA Today
The Obama administration will spend at least $3.5 billion to push local officials around the country to close failing schools and reopen them with new teachers and principals. Education Secretary Arne Duncan hopes to see the 5,000 worst-performing schools, about 1% of all U.S. schools, turned around in five years. The administration is beefing up the federal school turnaround program, which was created under the No Child Left Behind law

Math Scores Show Improvement at Schools in Large U.S. Cities
Sally Holland, CNN
Public school students in major metropolitan areas are showing improvement on test scores in mathematics from previous years, according to a report released Tuesday by the Department of Education. In Austin, Texas, and San Diego, eighth-graders raised their scores. In Boston, and Washington, fourth-grade students showed the gains. The report from the National Assessment of Educational Progress compared test scores from those two grades in 18 urban school districts.

Deployments Taking Toll on Military’s Children
James Dao, New York Times
A study commissioned by the National Military Family Association found that children in military families were more likely to report anxiety than children in the general population. The researchers also found that the longer a parent had been deployed in the previous three years, the more likely their children were to have difficulties in school and at home. The study was based on 1,500 telephone interviews with children ages 11 to 17, and their primary caregivers.

Fast-Food Standards for Meat Top Those for School Lunches
Morrison, Eisler, and DeBarros, USA Today
The USDA says the meat it buys for the National School Lunch Program "meets or exceeds standards in commercial products." But today, USDA rules for meat sent to schools remain more stringent than the department's minimum safety requirements for meat sold at supermarkets. But those government rules have fallen behind the increasingly tough standards that have evolved among fast-food chains and more selective retailers.

Plans Set for National Certification of Principals
Lesli Maxwell, Education Week
The National Board for Professional Teaching Standards announced this week that it has completed work to define what skills and characteristics school leaders need to be effective. It is in the final stages of crafting specific standards for principals that are expected to launch formally in 2011.

A New Look for Graduate Entrance Test
Tamar Lewin, New York Times
After two false starts, the Graduate Record Exam, the graduate school entrance test, will be revamped and slightly lengthened in 2011 and graded on a new scale of 130 to 170. The Education Testing Service, which administers the exam is calling the changes “the largest revisions” in the history of the test.
 
UC Charges Higher Fees to Broader Range of Graduate Students
Larry Gordon, LA Times
Starting next year, Future social workers, architects and urban planners studying at the University of California will be required to pay as much as $8,000 more a year in student fees than they do now. They will join law, business and medical students, among others, who have paid big surcharges for years. And some people say that isn't fair.

College Drops Required Fitness Class for Obese
MSNBC
A few weeks ago, Lincoln University, a historically black college near Philadelphia, instituted a policy in which students who maintained a body mass index above 30 would be required to take a fitness course as part of their graduation requirement. Now, the University lifted that requirement and replaced it with a suggestion to take the course.

Pell Grant Program Faces Shortfall
USA Today
As part of President Barack Obama’s stimulus package, lawmakers approved a 13% increase in the maximum Pell Grant. The problem: no one can anticipate the number of eligible recipients that will apply. However, an administration official shares that the program will cost $18 billion more than Congress projected over the next three years.

India Maoist Conflict 'Affects Children's Education'
Chris Morris, BBC News
In a new report, Human Rights Watch has urged rebels to stop attacking state-run schools in India. It has also asked the government to instruct its troops not to use school buildings as part of their operations. According to the government, the rebels have a presence in more than 223 of India's 600-odd districts across 20 states. HRW says school children - often from the poorest families - are suffering in specific ways. The Maoists have attacked schools as symbols of state power in rural area - a total of 14 schools have been attacked in the states of Jharkhand and Bihar alone over the past month.

More Children to Get Free Meals Says Pre-Budget Report
Gary Eason, BBC News
In the 2009 school census in England, 656,500 children in nursery and primary education qualified for free meals and 439,000 in secondary schools. Chancellor of the Exchequer, Alistair Darling, said in his pre-budget report that another half a million school children in England will also receive free lunches. He also promised spending on schools in the UK would continue to increase above inflation after 2010-11.

Hiring Plans Not Keeping up with Recovery
Toronto Globe and Mail
Canada's economic recovery may be gathering speed, but a new survey released by Manpower Canada suggests the road remains bumpy for the labour market. The survey of more than 1,900 Canadian employers shows the net employment outlook rose to 13 per cent on a seasonally adjusted basis. It's the highest level in a year, though down 5 percentage points from last year's levels. About 15 per cent of employers plan to add to payrolls, 13 per cent see cutbacks and 70 per cent will maintain staffing levels. Two per cent are unsure.

One in Four Kids Developmentally Vulnerable
Ben Worsley, ABC News- Australia
Australia has completed its first ever census of the nation’s five-year-olds. Ninety-eight percent of the country’s five-year-olds, or 261,000 kids, were tested over the past year for developmental vulnerability. 'Developmentally vulnerable' means a child is in the lowest 10 per cent in at least one of five categories, including physical health, behaviour, emotions, language and communication. The census found that a third of children living in Australia's poorer suburbs fall into the lowest grouping at some point, compared to 6 per cent of those in wealthier suburbs.

Complaint Filed With UN
Gerry Bellett, Regina Leader-Post
The University of British Columbia's Alma Mater Society has lodged a complaint with the United Nations that Canada is violating an international covenant signed in 1976, in which Canada promised eventually to provide free post-secondary education. The complaint points to dramatic increases in absence of tuition freezes, resulting in low-income families being unable to afford to attend universities or colleges..

Engaging the Voices of Students: A Report on the 2007 & 2008 High School Survey of Student Engagement
A nationwide survey of high school students finds that nearly 90 percent expect to earn their diploma and go to college, but many report a lack of interest and effort in the classroom that may dampen those hopes. The survey asked more than 134,000 high school students about their thoughts, beliefs and perceptions in 2007 and 2008. The 2007 survey covered 104 schools in 30 states, and 119 schools in 27 states participated in the 2008 High School Survey of Student Engagement (HSSSE).

The Nation’s Report Card: Mathematics 2009 Trial Urban District Assessment
Results from the 2009 NAEP Trial Urban District Assessment (TUDA) make it possible to compare the performance of students in urban districts to public school students in the nation and large cities (i.e., cities with populations of 250,000 or more). Changes in students’ performance over time can also be seen for those districts that participated in earlier assessments. Representative samples of fourth- and eighth-grade public school students from 18 urban districts participated in the 2009 assessment. Eleven of the districts also participated in earlier assessment years, and seven districts participated for the first time in 2009. Between 1,800 and 4,300 fourth- and eighth-graders were assessed in each district.

States, Schools, and Colleges: Policies to Improve Student Readiness for College and Strengthen Coordination between Schools and Colleges
In an era when most students who leave high school enroll in postsecondary education, what is needed is a focus on the continuity of the students' educational experiences from school through college, along with greater emphasis on student achievement and the completion of educational programs. The states must play an enabling role in leadership and support to achieve changes of this magnitude—a reality that has been recognized by many state and educational leaders. But this is largely uncharted territory, and finding the appropriate path has required trial and error. The National Center is publishing this report to stimulate and encourage examination of the effectiveness of state policies in linking high schools and colleges, in the interest of attaining higher levels of student achievement.