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8-17-16 Education in the News

Star Ledger--These 10 states take the most college freshmen from N.J., report says

New Jersey exported more than 30,000 college freshmen in 2014, with at least one student attending a traditional four-year college in every state except Alaska and Wyoming, according to a new Chronicle of Higher Education database. 

Pennsylvania attracted 9,046 first-year students from New Jersey, more than any other state. More than 850 of those students attended Penn State, the Chronicle of Higher Education found. 

http://www.nj.com/education/2016/08/these_10_states_take_the_most_college_freshman_from_nj_report_says.html#incart_river_index

Adam Clark | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com| August 16, 2016 at 2:04 PM, updated August 16, 2016 at 5:58 PM

 

NY Times--Taking Summer School to Get Ahead, Not Catch Up

GILL, Mass. — Chase Pellegrini de Paur didn’t flunk math, and he is not trying to hone his study skills. The 15-year-old honor-roll student nevertheless spent six weeks this summer studying geometry at the prestigious Northfield Mount Hermon boarding school here.

The goal was either to get credit for the class, which would let him skip ahead to higher-level courses earlier in his high school career, particularly Advanced Placement ones, or to take the course again in the fall and, already familiar with the underlying theorems, be all but guaranteed a top grade.

“It’s a win-win,” said Chase, a rising sophomore at New Canaan High School in Connecticut.

As the competition to get into the most selective colleges intensifies, high-achieving students are attending academic summer schools to turbocharge grade-point averages or load up on the A.P. courses seen as gateways to top-tier schools.

The practice even has its own lexicon: Students who are planning to repeat a class at their regular high schools are “previewing”; those who are using summer classes to skip ahead and qualify for higher-level subjects are seeking “forward credit.”

Critics, however, say the summer classes only add to the inequities of the college admissions process, in which wealthy families can afford to hire expensive SAT tutors and consultants who help develop the perfect college essay, while poorer students must fend for themselves.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/17/nyregion/taking-summer-school-to-get-ahead-not-catch-up.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Feducation&action=click&contentCollection=education®ion=rank&module=package&version=highlights&contentPlacement=1&pgtype=sectionfront&_r=0

By KYLE SPENCER|AUG. 16, 2016

 

Education Week-- Michigan to Take Aggressive Action, Close Failing Schools

Michigan’s School Reform Office plans to make aggressive moves this coming school year to rid the state of failing schools—putting chronically low-performing schools on notice that they might be closed by next June.

The number of schools expected to be shuttered isn’t known, said Natasha Baker, the director of the State School Reform Office. In 2014, more than 100 Michigan were ranked in the bottom 5 percent, but Baker cautioned against assuming that the state would close that many schools. She said that even the most aggressive school reformers have never attempted to close that many schools at one time.

“It is nowhere near 100 schools,” Baker said. “There has never been 100 school closings, and we certainly aren’t going to start that practice in Michigan.”

Baker said the aggressive action—first reported Monday by Chalkbeat Detroit—is needed because the state can’t continue to allow schools to fail year after year. She said the schools that would be identified for closure have failed for as many as 10 years.

http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2016/08/16/michigan-to-take-aggressive-action-close-failing.html

Lori Higgins, Detroit Free Press|August 16, 2016

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