A Sleepaway Camp Where Math Is the Main Sport

A Sleepaway Camp Where Math Is the Main Sport By RACHEL CROMIDAS, NYTimes

Educators have been brought to the campus of Bard College to teach low-income students who are gifted in mathematics concepts as varied as number theory and cryptography.

• Slide Show: Math Camp

The Master’s as the New Bachelor’s

The Master’s as the New Bachelor’s By LAURA PAPPANO, NYTimes

Call it credentials inflation. A four-year degree may not cut it anymore.

• The Postgraduate Population
• A Two-for-One Deal: Bachelor’s Plus Master’s

CollegeBoard 2nd ed. Test 6 Vocabulary Word Search Puzzles

Note from Teacher Jennifer--here are two new vocabulary puzzles--enjoy!

CollegeBoard 2nd ed. Test 6 Vocabulary (part 1 of 2) pdf

CollegeBoard 2nd ed. Test 6 Vocabulary (part 2 of 2) pdf

As Best Schools Compete for Best Performers, Students May Be Left Behind

As Best Schools Compete for Best Performers, Students May Be Left Behind
By MICHAEL WINERIP, NYTimes

Parents are supposed to rank their choices for the district lottery when it comes to selecting middle schools for their children, but the guidebook is vague about what each school is looking for.

Colleges Join Plan for Faster Computer Networks

Colleges Join Plan for Faster Computer Networks By JOHN MARKOFF, NYTimes

A coalition of 29 universities will reach out to telecommunications companies for suggestions and to corporations for business ideas.

The Critter People

The Critter People By TAMAR LEWIN, NYTimes

Dinosaur eggs, iguanas and ooh, look, a grad student. Inside the new school at the Natural History Museum

Getting In: The social logic of Ivy League admissions by Malcolm Gladwell

Getting In: The social logic of Ivy League admissions by Malcolm Gladwell, The NewYorker, October 10, 2005

I applied to college one evening, after dinner, in the fall of my senior year in high school. (read more)

The Case Against Law School

The Case Against Law School NYTimes Room for Debate

Should the standard three-year law school model, followed by passage of the bar exam, be the only path to a legal career?

• Reduce Credit Requirements David Van Zandt


• Allow Anyone to Take the Bar George Leef


• It's Not a Trade School Kevin Noble Maillard


• Improving, Not Overhauling Rose Cuison Villazor


• Bring Back Apprenticeships David Lat


• Learning to Think Like a Lawyer Geoffrey R. Stone


• A Priceless Degree Linda Greene


• Three Years, Better Spent Bryan A. Garner
  

Geography Report Card Finds Students Lagging

Geography Report Card Finds Students Lagging By WINNIE HU, NYTimes

Even as schools aim to better prepare students for a global work force, fewer than one in three American students are proficient in geography.

CollegeBoard 2nd ed. Test 5 Vocabulary Word Search Puzzles

Note from Teacher Jennifer--here are two new vocabulary puzzles--enjoy!

CollegeBoard 2nd ed. Test 5 Vocabulary (part 1 of 2) pdf

CollegeBoard 2nd ed. Test 5 Vocabulary (part 2 of 2) pdf

New Approach Proposed for Science Curriculums

New Approach Proposed for Science Curriculums By KENNETH CHANG, NYTimes

A new approach for improving American science education includes focusing on core ideas and problem-solving.

Summer Reading: 7 Education Books to Take to the Beach

Summer Reading: 7 Education Books to Take to the Beach By Andrew J. Rotherham, Time.com, Jul 14, 2011

School of Thought's recommended reading list for people who care about education

• Class Warfare, Steven Brill (Simon & Schuster)


• Sub Culture: Three Years in Education's Dustiest Corners, Carolyn Bucior (Outskirt Press)


• The Faculty Lounges and Other Reasons Why You Won't Get the College Education You Paid For, Naomi Schaefer Riley (Rowman and Littlefield)


• The American Public School Teacher, Darrel Drury and Justin Baer (Harvard Education Press)


• Special Interest: Teachers Unions and America's Public Schools, Terry Moe (Brookings Institution Press)


• The Failure of Environmental Education (and How We Can Fix It), Charles Saylan and Daniel T. Blumstein (University of California Press)


• The Same Thing Over and Over, Frederick M. Hess (Harvard University Press)

The Do-Good Zeal of College Applicants

The Do-Good Zeal of College Applicants Caitlan Flamagan, WSJ.com

Caitlin Flanagan on the latest fashion for college applicants: combining international travel with community-service experiences in poor countries.

How to make college cheaper

How to make college cheaper, by Schumpeter, The Economist, 2011-07-07

Better management would allow American universities to do more with less

4 Out of 5 in Community College Want to Transfer, Report Says

4 Out of 5 in Community College Want to Transfer, Report Says NYTimes, The Choice blog

A College Board report focuses on the transition from two-year community colleges to four-year institutions, a path many students take each year.

Top Science Fair Honors Go to American Girls

Top Science Fair Honors Go to American Girls By AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, NYTimes

Three girls from the United States won the top prizes in a global science fair started by Google for their projects on ovarian cancer, grilled chicken and indoor air quality.

Students Bring Innovation to Global Technology Competition

VOAVideo: Students Bring Innovation to Global Technology Competition

Imagine a world where technology helps solve the toughest problems. That is the challenge posed for innovative young people participating in the ninth annual Imagine Cup in New York. The event, which runs through Wednesday, is billed as the world's premier student technology competition, is hosted by the Microsoft Corporation. VOA Correspondent Peter Fedynsky reports.

CSU campuses on list of steepest tuition increases

CSU campuses on list of steepest tuition increases by Nanette Asimov, Chronicle Staff Writer

California State University students won't be surprised to learn that CSU campuses dominate a new list of top public schools in the nation - for fastest-rising tuition.

Highly rated instructors go beyond teaching to the standardized test

Highly rated instructors go beyond teaching to the standardized test By Teresa Watanabe, Los Angeles Times

Some Southern California teachers are finding ways to keep creativity in the lesson plan even as they prepare their students for standardized tests.

Summer School, R.I.P.

Summer School, R.I.P. , NYTimes Room for Debate

How can summer school be improved to save money and help students?

• Eliminate Summer Vacation Kathleen Porter -Magee


• Don't Make the Wrong Cuts Geoffrey Canada


• Summer School Triage Patrick Welsh


• Break With Tradition Paul Thomas


• Field Trips, Not Classrooms Roger Prosise


• Look to the Charter Schools Pedro Noguera


• Apprenticeships, Not Summer School Lucy N. Friedman
  

New for Aspiring Doctors, the People Skills Test

Doctors Inc. New for Aspiring Doctors, the People Skills Test By GARDINER HARRIS, NYTimes

A new admission process at medical schools involves a series of encounters meant to examine aspiring doctors’ ability to communicate and work in teams.
Well Blog: Screening for a Better Medical Student

California Cuts Weigh Heavily on Its Colleges

California Cuts Weigh Heavily on Its Colleges By JENNIFER MEDINA, NYTimes

Sharp tuition increases and cutbacks in services threaten to erode a much-admired college and university system.

Rock-Paper-Scissors: You vs. the Computer

Rock-Paper-Scissors: You vs. the Computer By GABRIEL DANCE and TOM JACKSON, NYTimes

Test your strategy against the computer in this rock-paper-scissors game illustrating basic artificial intelligence. (fun, interactive app)

Twitter Town Hall Meeting: the escalating cost of Higher Education

President Obama responds to a tweet about the escalating cost of Higher Education at the Twitter Town Hall Meeting, July 7, 2011

MR. DORSEY: You mentioned education. There's a lot of questions coming about education and its impact on the economy. This one in particular is from a curator who is pulling from a student in Ohio, named Dustin: "Higher ed is necessary for a stronger economy, but for some middle-class Americans it’s becoming too expensive. What can be done?"

THE PRESIDENT: Well, here is some good news. We’ve already done something that is very significant, and people may not know. As part of a higher education package that we passed last year, what we were able to do was to take away subsidies that were going to banks for serving as middlemen in the student loan program and funnel that to help young people, through Pell Grants and lower rates on student loans. And so there are millions of students who are getting more affordable student loans and grants as a consequence of the steps that we’ve already taken. This is about tens of billions of dollars' worth of additional federal dollars that were going to banks are now going to students directly.

In addition, what we’ve said is that starting in 2013, young people who are going to college will not have to pay more than 10 percent of their income in repayment. And that obviously helps to relieve the burden on a lot students -- because, look, I’m a guy who had about $60,000 worth of debt when I graduated from law school, and Michelle had $60,000. And so we were paying a bigger amount every month than our mortgage. And we did that for eight, 10 years. So I know how burdensome this can be.

I do think that the universities still have a role in trying to keep their costs down. And I think that it’s important -- even if we've got better student loan programs, more grants, if the costs keep on going up then we'll never have enough money, you'll never get enough help to avoid taking on these huge debts. And so working with university presidents to try to figure out, where can you cut costs -- of course, it may mean that the food in the cafeteria is a little worse and the gym is not as fancy. But I think all of us have to figure out a way to make sure that higher education is accessible for everybody.

One last point -- I know, Twitter, I’m supposed to be short. (Laughter.) But city -- community colleges is a huge, under-utilized resource, where what we want to do is set up a lifelong learning system where you may have gotten your four-year degree, but five years out you decide you want to go into another field or you want to brush up on new technologies that are going to help you advance. We need to create a system where you can conveniently access community colleges that are working with businesses to train for the jobs that actually exist. That’s a huge area where I think we can make a lot of progress. (transcript from LATimes.com)

A Newcomer Makes Good in the Credentials Market

A Newcomer Makes Good in the Credentials Market By D.D. GUTTENPLAN, NYTimes

Starting from a handful of schools in Switzerland in the 1960s, the International Baccalaureate, or I.B., has spread to 139 countries around the world.

• Web Leak of Exam Topic Mars French Graduation

Crusading From Outside to Lower College Costs

Crusading From Outside to Lower College Costs By REEVE HAMILTON, The Texas Tribune via NYTimes

Michael Crosno and MyEdu, the Web company of which he is chief executive, are working to reduce the costs of college and lower the average time for getting a degree.

Expanding Hispanic Students’ Academic Horizons

Expanding Hispanic Students’ Academic Horizons By IDALMY CARRERA, Chicago News Collective via the NYTimes

The United Neighborhood Organization, or UNO, steps in to guide Hispanic elementary school students in applying to high schools with favorable graduation and college-enrollment rates.

Frederick Douglass's "Fourth of July Speech, 1852"

What, to the American slave, is your 4th of July?



Danny Glover Reads Frederick Douglass

Actor Danny Glover reads abolitionist Frederick Douglass's "Fourth of July Speech, 1852" on October 5, 2005 in Los Angeles, California. Part of a reading from Voices of a People's History of the United States (Howard Zinn and Anthony Arnove.)

What’s the Most Expensive College? The Least? Education Dept. Puts It All Online

What’s the Most Expensive College? The Least? Education Dept. Puts It All Online By TAMAR LEWIN, NYTimes

The new Web site, College Navigator, lists tuition costs for public and private colleges and also notes which ones have the fastest-rising costs.

A New Type of Student Loan, but Still a Risk

A New Type of Student Loan, but Still a Risk By RON LIEBER, NYTimes

Fixed-rate student loans from banks are a welcome innovation, but they should serve as a reminder of the hazards of this kind of debt.

Making a Portfolio, and More, at Money Camp

Making a Portfolio, and More, at Money Camp by PAUL SULLIVAN, NYTimes
Summer camps where children learn skills like investing and developing a business plan are one way to increase young people’s financial literacy.