Students choosing Price over Prestige?

Surveying the Admissions Landscape in California

Surveying the Admissions Landscape in California by Rachel Gross, NYTimes

On The Times’s Bay Area blog, Rachel Gross takes a comprehensive look at the changes in admissions throughout the University of California system, which is sustaining severe budget cuts.

Oxford Tradition Comes to This: ‘Death’ (Expound)

Oxford Tradition Comes to This: ‘Death’ (Expound) By SARAH LYALL, NYTimes

All Souls College is scrapping its one-word exam, on which applicants demonstrated their intellectual flexibility.

• Sample Fellowship Exam

Two about Supreme Court Justice Nominee and Harvard Law Alum, Elena Kagan

A B-Minus? The Shock! The Horror! By CHARLIE SAVAGE and LISA FAYE PETAK, NYtimes

Elena Kagan received marks that were low — for her — in her first term at Harvard Law, but they did not derail her career.

At Harvard, Kagan Aimed Sights Higher By SHERYL GAY STOLBERG, NYTimes

Elena Kagan, the Supreme Court nominee, had hoped to succeed Lawrence H. Summers as the president of the university.

Citing Individualism, Arizona Tries to Rein in Ethnic Studies in School

Citing Individualism, Arizona Tries to Rein in Ethnic Studies in School By TAMAR LEWIN, NYTimes, Published: May 13, 2010

Less than a month after signing the nation’s toughest law on illegal immigration, Gov. Jan Brewer of Arizona has again upset the state’s large Hispanic population, signing a bill aimed at ending ethnic studies in Tucson schools.

Student’s Arrest Tests Immigration Policy

Student’s Arrest Tests Immigration Policy By ROBBIE BROWN, NYTimes, May 14, 2010

ATLANTA — Jessica Colotl, a 21-year-old college student and illegal Mexican immigrant at the center of a contentious immigration case, surrendered to a Georgia sheriff on Friday but continued to deny wrongdoing.

Group Fights for AP Italian Exam

Group Fights for AP Italian Exam WSJ.com

Spearheaded by Dr. Margaret Cuomo, president of the Italian Language Foundation, the Columbus Citizens Foundation pledged $500,000 to help bring back an Advanced Placement Italian language and culture program.

The Death and Life of the Great American School System

‘The Death and Life of the Great American School System’
By DIANE RAVITCH Reviewed by ALAN WOLFE, NYTimes Book Review

An expert on schools changes her mind about testing and choice.

• Scholar’s School Reform U-Turn Shakes Up Debate

Colleges Seeing No Downturn in Freshman Acceptances

Colleges Seeing No Downturn in Freshman Acceptances
By JACQUES STEINBERG, NYTimes

The selective colleges that have reported their respective admission yields have so far experienced any drop in midst of the sluggish economy.

Report Card? How About That Annual Report

Report Card? How About That Annual Report

Silicon Valley is filled with teen entrepreneurs like Cupertino high school senior Diane Keng, who has launched her third start-up company in between homework assignments and extracurricular activities.

The 6th Annual AP Report to the Nation from CollegeBoard

The 6th Annual AP Report to the Nation from CollegeBoard

Highlights include:

Across the nation, educators and policymakers are helping a wider segment of the U.S. student population experience success in AP.

Increasing numbers of African American, Latino and American Indian students are participating in AP, but these students remain underserved.

An equity and excellence gap appears when traditionally underserved students comprise a smaller percentage of the successful student group than the percentage these students represent in the graduating class.

More low-income students are participating and experiencing success in AP than ever before.

(Read more...)

API Scores!

API scores of Shareworld SAT prep students:

• Monta Vista High School 935
• Saratoga High school 933
• Lynbrook High School 925
• Henry M. Gunn High School 915
• Palo Alto High School 901
• Cupertino High School 879
• Homestead High School 852

For all API Scores, see the California Department of Education API Report or Great Schools

The API: 10 things parents should know
The Academic Performance Index (API) is California's system for measuring school performance and improvement. By GreatSchools Staff (exerpt)

1. The API is not a test.
2. The API measures both school performance and improvement.
3. The API has very high stakes.
4. The API measures academic performance, not school quality.
5. The API focuses on achievement for all students.
6. The API focuses on achievement for all students.
7. API results are for schools and districts only.
8. The API has changed.
9. The API is complicated.
10. GreatSchools Ratings and the California API are different.

See also: SJ Mercury: Test scores show most Santa Clara, San Mateo counties students reaching state goal

Exploiting the New Student-Loan Rules

Exploiting the New Student-Loan Rules by Mary Pilon, Wall Strret Journal

Tuition continues to soar, but there might be some relief for borrowers grappling with student-loan debt: federal income-based repayment programs.

A Campus Where Unlearning Is First

A Campus Where Unlearning Is First By MICHAEL SLACKMAN, NYTimes

At American University in Cairo, students are taught to analyze and hypothesize, a method at odds with the country’s traditional method of rote learning.

Education Chief Vies to Expand U.S. Role as Partner on Local Schools

Education Chief Vies to Expand U.S. Role as Partner on Local Schools By SAM DILLON and TAMAR LEWIN, NYTimes

Arne Duncan has been called the most assertive secretary of education ever. He is a highly visible proponent of increasing the federal government’s role in how the nation’s schools are run.

Education Chief Vies to Expand U.S. Role as Partner on Local Schools

Education Chief Vies to Expand U.S. Role as Partner on Local Schools By SAM DILLON and TAMAR LEWIN, NYTimes


Arne Duncan has been called the most assertive secretary of education ever. He is a highly visible proponent of increasing the federal government’s role in how the nation’s schools are run.

KIPP: Six Days of School, and Then a Day Not of Rest for the founder of KIPP

Six Days of School, and Then a Day Not of Rest By ELISSA GOOTMAN, NYTimes

David Levin, co-founder of the KIPP charter school network, spends Sundays with his wife, their 1-year-old son and friends and family.

• More Articles in the Series »

Mother's Day for Peace

bravenewfoundation — April 02, 2009 — Gloria Steinem, Vanessa Williams, Felicity Huffman, Fatma Saleh, Alfre Woodard, Ashraf Salimian, Christine Lahti and Mother's Day for Peace talk about the origin of Mother's Day by Julia Ward Howe as a protest against war. http://www.mothersdayforpeace.com/

Arise, then, women of this day!

Arise, all women who have hearts,
Whether our baptism be of water or of tears!

Say firmly:
"We will not have great questions decided by irrelevant agencies,
Our husbands will not come to us, reeking with carnage, for caresses and applause.
Our sons shall not be taken from us to unlearn
All that we have been able to teach them of charity, mercy and patience.
We, the women of one country, will be too tender of those of another country
To allow our sons to be trained to injure theirs."

From the bosom of the devastated Earth a voice goes up with our own.
It says: "Disarm! Disarm! The sword of murder is not the balance of justice."
Blood does not wipe out dishonor, nor violence indicate possession.
As men have often forsaken the plough and the anvil at the summons of war,
Let women now leave all that may be left of home for a great and earnest day of counsel.

Let them meet first, as women, to bewail and commemorate the dead.
Let them solemnly take counsel with each other as to the means
Whereby the great human family can live in peace,
Each bearing after his own time the sacred impress, not of Caesar,
But of God.

In the name of womanhood and humanity, I earnestly ask
That a general congress of women without limit of nationality
May be appointed and held at someplace deemed most convenient
And at the earliest period consistent with its objects,
To promote the alliance of the different nationalities,
The amicable settlement of international questions,
The great and general interests of peace.

23rd Annual The Tech Challenge

23rd Annual The Tech Challenge

The Tech Challenge is an annual team design challenge for youth in grades 5 through 12. A signature program of The Tech Museum, the challenge introduces and reinforces the scientific process with a hands-on project geared to solve a real-world problem. All this, and it's fun!

NYTimes Topic: Advanced Placement Program

NYTimes Topic: Advanced Placement Program

The Advanced Placement offers college-level work in 37 subjects, from calculus to human geography. The College Board administers the Advanced Placement exams each spring, and scores them on a five-point scale, with most colleges offering course credit to students who earn a score of 3 or higher.

• Read all of the NYTimes AP articles

E.R.B.: Private School Screening Test Loses Some Clout

Private School Screening Test Loses Some Clout By JENNY ANDERSON, NYTimes

A school coalition says that pretest preparation casts doubt on the value of the exam known as the E.R.B.

Morgan Hill students sent home over clothing

Morgan Hill students sent home over clothing AP and SJ Mercury News

MORGAN HILL, Calif.—Five Morgan Hill high school students were sent home after showing up in clothing emblazoned with American flags on Cinco de Mayo.

Students of the Great Recession

Students of the Great Recession By DAVID LEONHARDT, NYTimes Book Review

The economic slump has pushed more people to enroll in college, but it won’t prevent them from dropping out.

Choose Privacy Week Video

Choose Privacy Week Video from 20K Films on Vimeo.

The American Library Association's "Choose Privacy" week kicks off with a ~20 minute video featuring writers and thinkers talking about the value of privacy in simple, accessible, thought-provoking terms. Included are me, Neil Gaiman, and many others. Produced by Laura Zinger and 20K films, it's a really fine little introduction to subject from the towering heroes of the information revolution: the librarians.
(via BoinBoing.net)

Scholarships That Don’t Require Social Security Numbers

Scholarships That Don’t Require Social Security Numbers Submitted by Mohammad on April 27, 2010, on DREAMACTIVIST

Educators for Fair Consideration have created this comprehensive list of scholarships, please pass it around!

• Scholarships That Don’t Require Social Security Numbers

A Long Walk for a Cause

A Long Walk for a Cause
Four students arrived in Washington, having walked from Miami to support a bill that would give legal status to immigrants who arrived at age 15 or younger. For more info, see Trail of Dreams and DREAMACTIVIST.