Citing the “new normal” and impending budget cuts, U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan urged state leaders to boost student achievement despite dwindling resources.

"There is a right way and a wrong way to cut spending, and the most important guiding principle I can offer is to minimize the negative impact on students and seize this opportunity ...]]>

Citing the “new normal” and impending budget cuts, U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan urged state leaders to boost student achievement despite dwindling resources.

"There is a right way and a wrong way to cut spending, and the most important guiding principle I can offer is to minimize the negative impact on students and seize this opportunity to redirect your spending priorities," Duncan warned during a national media call.

President Obama and leading foundations have called for dramatically increasing college U.S. degree production. However, current economic and political pressure suggest the goal will have to be accomplished with fewer resources.

The Education Department released several documents to help guide state policymakers. One provides specific examples of states and districts leveraging local partnerships and resources, promoting the use of technology and changing teacher and principal compensation systems to reward excellence.

For more, on degree productivity, see NEJHE articles “Making It Real” by Jane Wellman, director of the Delta Project on Postsecondary Education Costs, Productivity, and Accountability, and “Putting Money Where the Mouth Is” by Dennis Jones, president of the National Center for Higher Education Management Systems.

Related Posts: Complete College America Launches State Grants for Innovative Ways to Boost Degrees; Raising Degree Productivity by Spending Wisely

The annual Horizons report by Educause and The New Media Consortium has a pretty good track record identifying technologies that will have a significant impact on education. For example, the 2006 report cited social computing such as Wikipedia, Skype and internet tagging to be technologies that would soon have an immediate impact.

So ...]]>

The annual Horizons report by Educause and The New Media Consortium has a pretty good track record identifying technologies that will have a significant impact on education. For example, the 2006 report cited social computing such as Wikipedia, Skype and internet tagging to be technologies that would soon have an immediate impact.

So what does the 2011 Horizon Report see as the six technologies likely to have an impact on higher education over the next five years?

The technologies are separated by their “time to adoption” which ranges from one year or less to five years.

Predictions:

One year or less:

• Electronic books
• Mobiles

Two to three years:

• Augmented realities
• Game-based learning

Four to five years:

• Gesture-based computing
• Learning analytics

The longer-range technologies may not be mainstream yet, but they are making appearances. For example, "augmented reality," which the 2006 report identified in the four- to five-year adoption category, is being used by Logical Choice Technologies to help motivate young children to learn how to read, and Skidmore College has used it to enhance its campus map.

In a recent article in Inside Higher Education, transfer expert Marc Cutright of the University of North Texas writes about the growing importance that four-year colleges and universities should place on students transferring from community college. Public colleges, led by community colleges, grant more than a half million associate degrees annually and the number grew ...]]>

In a recent article in Inside Higher Education, transfer expert Marc Cutright of the University of North Texas writes about the growing importance that four-year colleges and universities should place on students transferring from community college. Public colleges, led by community colleges, grant more than a half million associate degrees annually and the number grew by 27% over a decade. But what about that other sector seeing large enrollment growth: for-profit colleges?

In a year of generally bad press for for-profit colleges—ranging from high student loan default rates and declining confidence on Wall Street—the sector's enrollment is rising, particularly at the two-year level. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, in 2009 6% of two-year enrollments were in for-profits, up from 5% the year before.

When you consider that for-profit two-year programs have a 60% graduation rate, compared with the 22% graduation rate for public community colleges, for-profits would only need a 27% share of students to produce as many associate degrees as community colleges. If for-profits increase their market share by 1% each year, this would happen in as few as 20 years.

Last year's was the largest single-year increase that the for-profits have seen in recent years, so that kind of continued growth is unlikely. However it does highlight the fact that this student population is growing and will needs to be considered as well.

The nation is consumed by the quest to grant more college degrees. A new report by Douglas Harris and Sara Goldrick-Rab if the University of Wisconsin-Madison offers a look at how to do that cost-effectively.

“The (Un)Productivity of American Higher Education: From Cost Disease to Cost-Effectiveness" compares several practices to see which are cost-effective for producing ...]]>

The nation is consumed by the quest to grant more college degrees. A new report by Douglas Harris and Sara Goldrick-Rab if the University of Wisconsin-Madison offers a look at how to do that cost-effectively.

“The (Un)Productivity of American Higher Education: From Cost Disease to Cost-Effectiveness" compares several practices to see which are cost-effective for producing more degrees. The practices include programs such as GEAR UP, Upward Bound, call centers for colleges, reducing student-faculty ratios, and hiring more full-time instructors.

The findings support the common wisdom that outreach programs such as GEAR UP and Upward Bound are relatively expensive.

But they also support the notions that adding full-time faculty is more cost-effective than adding adjuncts and that running campus call-centers to contact students who miss class or fail to register can be cost-effective measures in producing more degrees. At the Des Moines Area Community College, student persistence is between 2 and 15 percentage points higher when the call center actually makes contact with the student.

According to a June poll by First Focus, an advocacy organization dedicated to making children and families a priority in federal policy, 70% of Americans support the DREAM Act. Rallies are occurring all across the country. There is even a hunger strike in Texas to help get the bill passed. In addition, legislators from the ...]]>

According to a June poll by First Focus, an advocacy organization dedicated to making children and families a priority in federal policy, 70% of Americans support the DREAM Act. Rallies are occurring all across the country. There is even a hunger strike in Texas to help get the bill passed. In addition, legislators from the six New England states seem to be highly in favor of it. Eight of the region’s 12 U.S. senators and 19 of its 22 members of the House are likely to vote yes on the DREAM Act, according to www.dreamact.info.

The DREAM Act would grant undocumented youth eligible for a six-year-long conditional path to citizenship that requires completion of a college degree or two years of military service.

How might the act affect New England?

Based on data from the U.S. Census, Department of Homeland Security, and StateMaster, my rough and conservative estimates indicate that approximately 206,000 illegal immigrants live in New England. About 121,000 of them would be under age 35 (so potentially eligible for DREAM Act benefits).

NEBHE’s New England 2025 initiative states that New England will need 665,000 additional college degrees by the year 2025. While not all of those eligible under the DREAM Act would become college graduates, if only 20% of those eligible earned a college degree that would be an additional 24,280 college degrees.

A lot is said about the potential cost of the DREAM Act, but this is a country built on the belief that education is a strong investment. The real concern should not be what the cost of the act is, but what benefit an investment in 25,000 college degrees would bring New England. Or even more so, what is the cost if we lose students? America needs to support all talented individuals within its borders if we are to maintain our status as the top economy in the world.

Related Posts: Mass. Gov. Patrick Vows In-State Tuition for Illegal Immigrants; Immigrants as “Jet Fuel” for Jobs in Mass.; Papers? Fairfield Gets Grant to Study Undocumented Students; Bipartisan Support for DREAM Act; Immigrant Education

The percentage of state lawmakers who are women will shrink to 23% in 2011, down slightly from almost 25% in 2010, according to a new report by the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL).

This reverses a trend in which women made up a larger proportion of state legislatures each year back to 2005 when women ...]]>

The percentage of state lawmakers who are women will shrink to 23% in 2011, down slightly from almost 25% in 2010, according to a new report by the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL).

This reverses a trend in which women made up a larger proportion of state legislatures each year back to 2005 when women comprised just over 22%.

While New England legislatures have included more women historically, the region suffered a much larger loss than the nation at large.  In 2010, 32% of state legislators in New England were women; in 2011, just over 27% will be.  This drop was driven by New Hampshire, where 53 women lost seats in the legislature. Among other New England results, Connecticut lost five women legislators, Maine lost tow and Massachusetts lost six.

Vermont and Rhode Island were the only two states to  gain women in their legislatures. Rhode Island has traditionally lagged behind the U.S. average in the percentage of women in its legislature, but with this year's gains, the Ocean State joins all the other New England states in above-average representation of women.

Vermont has traditionally had the highest proportion of women in its legislature in the region and the second-highest in the nation. Its legislature is 38% women. The state with the highest proportion in the country is Colorado with 39%.  The percentages in the New England states are:

Connecticut: 29%
Maine: 28%
Massachusetts: 23%
New Hampshire: 25%
Rhode Island: 26%
Vermont: 38%

Related Posts: How New England Fared in the 2010 Midterm Elections; Special Policy Report: A High-Stakes Election for New England; Boys Club Connection Fall 2000 (pdf)

Average student loan debt grew to an average of $24,000 per student in the Class of 2009, up 6% over the Class of 2008, according to the latest national report from The Project on Student Debt.

The report is especially worrisome for New England where all six states have higher student debts levels than the national ...]]>

Average student loan debt grew to an average of $24,000 per student in the Class of 2009, up 6% over the Class of 2008, according to the latest national report from The Project on Student Debt.

The report is especially worrisome for New England where all six states have higher student debts levels than the national average. New Hampshire had the second highest debt load in the nation behind Washington D.C. by $590. Massachusetts is the closest to the national average.

Here are the results for the six New England states from highest debt to lowest debt.

New Hampshire - $29,443
Maine - $29,143
Vermont - $27,786
Rhode Island - $26,573
Connecticut - $25,038
Massachusetts - $24,484

U.S. Average - $24,000

New England is home to four of the 21 highest-debt public universities and six of the 20 highest-debt private colleges and universities. Williams College is the only New England college among the nation's 20 lowest-debt schools.

The states with the lowest average student debt are: Utah, Georgia, Nevada, Wyoming and Delaware.

Employed wives brought home 47% of their family's total earnings in 2009, up from 45% in 2008, according to a new report by the Carsey Institute at the University of New Hampshire.

That “marks the largest single-year increase in 15 years,” according to the report Wives as Breadwinners: Wives’ Share of Family Earnings Hits Historic High ...]]>

Employed wives brought home 47% of their family's total earnings in 2009, up from 45% in 2008, according to a new report by the Carsey Institute at the University of New Hampshire.

That “marks the largest single-year increase in 15 years,” according to the report Wives as Breadwinners: Wives’ Share of Family Earnings Hits Historic High during the Second Year of the Great Recession.

The report's author Kristin Smith notes that the increase is not a sign of less wage disparity between men and women, but a disproportionate increase in the unemployment rate among males.  The median salary for women actually fell from $31,041 in 2007 to $30,000 in 2009.  The unemployment rate for husbands in these families jumped from 3% in 2007 to 7% in 2009.

Smith's earlier study noted that as the husband’s level of education increases, the wife’s proportional contribution decreases.  In families where a husband had less than a high school education, her contribution was 52%. When he had a college degree, her contribution was 40%.

In February 2010, The New England Journal of Higher Education published a study, Failure to Launch, by Lane A. Glen and Suzanne Van Wert.  This study shows that the achievement gaps between males and females is getting worse and that 80% of high school dropouts now are males.  Combining these two studies suggests that the importance of the wife as the “breadwinner” in a family will continue to grow in the future.

The MacArthur Foundation recently listed its 2010 Fellows on its website. Awardees of the fellowships, sometimes referred to as "genius grants," range from artists and linguists to historians and scientists.

Among the 2010 awardees are two educators: high school teacher Amir Abo-Shaeer, a physics teacher and director of Dos Pueblos Engineering Academy in Goleta, Calif., and ...]]>

The MacArthur Foundation recently listed its 2010 Fellows on its website. Awardees of the fellowships, sometimes referred to as "genius grants," range from artists and linguists to historians and scientists.

Among the 2010 awardees are two educators: high school teacher Amir Abo-Shaeer, a physics teacher and director of Dos Pueblos Engineering Academy in Goleta, Calif., and music educator Sebastian Ruth, the founder and artistic director of Community MusicWorks in Providence, R.I.

Of the 24 Fellows this year, six come from New England.  This continues a tradition of New England being highly represented in the recipients. Over the past three years, 14 New Englanders have received this honor out of 72 total recipients.

In addition to Ruth, the 2010 recipients from New England are Jessie Little Doe Baird, Nicholas Benson, Matthew Carter, Annette Gordon-Reed and Nergis Mavalvala.

The full list of 2010 MacArthur Fellows can be found here.