COMMENTARY

In Sickness and in Health

June 4, 2010

Stephen Joel Trachtenberg, President Emeritus and University Professor of Public Service, The George Washington University 

Swans mate for life.  On the whole they are more loyal to their mates than are humans: monogamy is a trait they embrace.  In most Western traditional marriage ceremonies vows are recited that run, “Do you take this person to be your lawfully wedded spouse, for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health…?”  And in good faith, standing at the altar in front of witnesses, almost everyone replies, “I do.”  With a ring, a kiss and a public declaration the compact is sealed, the couple turns, walks up the aisle and begins a life together.

In the professional work world, the announcement of a new senior executive is most often made with somewhat less drama than is the case with weddings.  A memo from the chairman, an introduction around the water cooler, a press release to Wall Street and the new person takes over the corner office.  Colleges and universities, by contrast, put on a show that rivals crowning a king, queen or pope when a new president is inaugurated.  Universities induct presidents with medieval fanfare that includes academic processions, flags and banners, coats of arms, velvet robes and hoods, hats with gold tassels, benedictions, oaths of office, greetings from political leaders and speeches – lots of speeches. READ MORE...

The average salary for public school teachers in 2008–09 was $53,910, about 2 percent higher than in 1998–99, after adjustment for inflation. The salaries of public school teachers have generally maintained pace with inflation since 1990–91.

Source: Digest of Education Statistics 2009

THE NEWS

ACADEMIC PREPARATION

 States receive a reading list: New standards for education
By Sam Dillon, The New York Times
The nation’s governors and state school chiefs released on Wednesday a new set of academic standards, their final recommendations for what students should master in English and math as they move from the primary grades through high school graduation. The standards, which took a year to write, have been tweaked and refined in recent weeks in response to some of the 10,000 comments the public sent in after a draft was released in March. The standards were made public at a news conference on Wednesday in Atlanta.

2,933 to miss diploma over science MCAS
By James Vaznis, The Boston Globe
Nearly 3,000 high school seniors across Massachusetts will not get their diplomas next month because they failed to pass the MCAS science exam, the first rejections under a new state graduation requirement meant to develop a more scientifically skilled workforce. Guidance counselors and other administrators have been delivering the news to hundreds of those students this week who failed the most recent round of testing last month. Hundreds of other seniors who have yet to pass the exam did not take the retest last month for a variety of reasons.

Experts: Texas textbooks are unlikely to spread
By Paul Weber, The Washington Post
As the second-largest purchaser of textbooks behind California, the Lone Star State has historically wielded enormous clout in deciding what material appears in classrooms across the country. That's why the state school board's recent decision to adopt new social studies standards was closely watched far beyond Texas. Critics feared the new, more conservative curriculum in Texas would spread elsewhere. But publishing experts say those concerns are overblown.

In student retention, attitude seems to matter most
By David Glenn, The Chronicle of Higher Education
Suppose a college dean wanted to predict which first-year students would remain continuously enrolled at her institution for at least three years. She might look at the students' standardized-test scores, their study habits, or whether they live on campus. Those are all factors that are known to be associated with retention rates. But she might also try asking first-year students a simple question: Do you like it here? In a paper presented on Wednesday at the annual meeting of the Association for Institutional Research, two graduate students at the University of Maryland at College Park said that students' enrollment patterns at their institution were strongly predicted by how they answered a survey question in the eighth week of their first semester.

Playing catch up
By Paul Bradley, Community College Week
Community college officials recoil when they hear their institutions derided as the “13th grade,” merely an extension of high school. Yet for large numbers of community college students who arrive on campuses each fall unprepared for college-level work, the term has become an all-too-accurate description of the first days of their college careers. According to U. S. Department of Education statistics, about 60 percent of first-year students at community colleges test into at least one remedial class, and many test into two or more. Among black and Hispanic students, the numbers are even higher. Across all community colleges, the most common course is developmental math.

The faculty role in assessment
By Doug Lederman, InsideHigherEd
Amid continuing debate, and sometimes disagreement, about the value and wisdom of measuring student learning outcomes in higher education, a few areas of consensus are slowly emerging. One is that faculty members are usually too little involved in setting their institutions' strategies for assessing student learning and in using the results of those efforts to change teaching and learning practices. Another is that without meaningful involvement by the faculty, efforts to assess student learning are close to meaningless.

Hundreds of Iraqi scholarship winners are set to arrive on the U.S. campuses
By Aisha Labi, The Chronicle of Higher Education
The first Iraqi students taking part in an ambitious new scholarship program financed by their government will soon be arriving in the United States, where they will be enrolled at universities throughout the country. The program, the Iraq Education Initiative, is intended to help rebuild Iraq's once-renowned higher-education system by providing study opportunities at universities in the United States and Britain—and eventually Australia, Canada, France, and Japan—to men and women who will then return home and take part in their country's resurgence.
 
China and India back on line
By Guy Healy, the Australian
Universities have renewed formal ties with China and India - Australia's top two export education markets - as latest figures show higher education continuing to hold up the embattled $17 billion market. In the space of less than two months, Universities Australia has signed new high-level agreements with its counterparts in China and India aimed at deepening staff and student exchange and research links. Vice-chancellors attending the Shanghai Expo announced the extension of the China-Australia leadership capacity building program to executives, middle managers and researchers on Monday.

Better access to foreign grads helps B.C. business
By British Columbia News Release
Businesses will gain improved access to highly skilled, in-demand foreign graduate students with a new expansion to B.C.’s Provincial Nominee Program (PNP) announced Moira Stilwell, Minister of Advanced Education and Labour Market Development today at Langara College’s newly renovated International Education office. A three-year pilot program will enable graduates from B.C. masters and PhD programs in natural, health and applied sciences to apply for immigrant status in advance of receiving and accepting a full-time offer of employment, eliminating the need to wait for a job offer. With more foreign students per capita than any other province, B.C. is well positioned to tap into this valuable talent pool.

Reparable Harm: Fulfilling the Unkept Promise of Educational Opportunity for California’s Long Term English Learners
This publication by statewide group Californians Together presents new survey data collected from 40 school districts throughout all regions of California in 2009–2010. It includes information on 175,734 secondary school students, almost one-third of all secondary school English Learners in the state.The report calls upon state policymakers and leaders to provide solutions and outlines basic principles and promising approaches for school districts to meet the needs of English Learners more effectively.

2010 Shape of the Nation Report: Status of Physical Education in the USA
The Shape of the Nation Report provides a current picture of physical education (PE) in the American education system. Incremental improvements have been made in the last few years in the number of states that now require PE (17% increase) and student assessment in PE (26% increase). However, the Report shows that more states now allow waivers and exemptions from PE classes (77% increase) and no progress has been made in providing daily physical education in all grades K-12.

RETENTION 2010, International Conference on Student Success, June 9-11, 2010, Chicago, IL

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