Group items tagged

by Jon Marcus on The Hechinger Report, December 26, 2011. Open University, a successful British online public university to be used as a model in the U.S. The goal is to help students who are intimidated by higher education adapt to and succeed in college. Next Generation Learning Challenges, a Gates funded initiative, will adapt two free Open University, at-your-own-pace online courses for use at about a dozen U.S. colleges and universities this academic year: one to help students be more comfortable with math so they do better on placement tests or move more quickly through remedial courses, and another to teach students skills to prepare them for college.

Published by the Association for Career and Technical Education(ACTE), this 2-page document asserts that career readiness combines academic, "employability," and technical skills, and is not the same as more traditional "college readiness." The document itself is undated, but is footnoted (though most of the sources are also undated).

By Tina Marie Macias in the advertiser. com (Louisiana), May 20, 2011. The author cites analysis by The Daily Advertiser (the print newspaper) that "the majority of 2010 ACT-tested Lafayette Parish students did not meet college readiness benchmarks." The article also compares the ACT as an indicator against TOPS (Taylor Opportunity for Students Award, a local grant).

By Kara Spak, Chicago Sun-Times, May 31, 2011. This article cites a recent report released by the Alliance for Excellent Education, which finds that "as many as one-third of students entering higher education need to take some sort of remedial or developmental course...." Putting a human face on these statistics is the profile of one student who graduated from high school with a 3.0 GPA and a B in "College Algebra" but still needed to take a non-credit developmental math course when she got to community college.

On Radio Times, WHYY Radio. Host Marty Moss-Coane talks withThomas Bailey of Columbia University's Teachers College and Joseph Merlino, president of the 21st Century Partnership for STEM. They discuss the question of whether colleges should offer remedial courses, why so many high school students need help and how high schools and colleges can work together to prepare students for the college work load.

By Tom Bissonette in The Chronicle of Higher Education, Commentary, August 14, 2011. The author brings attention to the fact that many students enter college with a variety of developmental issues and that these are not properly addressed. Faculty members are often lacking pedagogical education and knowledge of human development. The author argues for assessment of incoming students in several areas, including academic ability, social skills, study skills, vocabulary, general knowledge, work history, and community involvement. Results of these assessments would be used to identify appropriate support. The author believes that the concept of retention is misguided. When faculty and administration partner with students on the front end, the odds decrease that students will be unable to persist.

J.E.C. mentioned article in Summer 2011 Coffee Klatch

By George Lorenzo, 2011. A renewed interest in community colleges is resulting in looking at driving factors for the future success. This report looks at the potential solutions proposed in papers that came out of The White House Summit on Community Colleges held on October 5, 2010. These include industry partnerships, providing a more well-rounded education with career training, better support services at community colleges,etc. Lorenzo mentions The Learn and Earn initiative, technology with online and hybrid courses, open education resources and other ways to engage students. He looks at college readiness and what Complete College America, a new nonprofit organization, advises as ways to address this shortcoming.

Webinar designed to provide information on the Common Core State Standards initiative.

In R.O. Lesson 7, semester 2