In 2019, average state funding per full time college student was still lower than the 2009 levels, the beginning of The Great Financial Crisis. Given projected reductions in state revenues for 2020, higher education leaders will likely again experience reductions in state subsidies starting this fall, as we discussed earlier. Students would be wise to…
Awoken at 6:46 am on the Saturday after the 4th of July, through groggy consciousness, I registered the staccato sounds of a teenage texter. I recalled that The College Board released the 2019 AP (Advanced Placement) Exam scores (at least in California) on that fine morning. His texts were the first of many I received…
Skip to 10:15 in the video. Reinvention also means the death of something and the resurrection of something from the past but then a creation of something that never existed before, a whole mindset that never existed before. Dr. Deepak Chopra As we all continue putting one foot in front of the other, walking our…
As an educational consultant, when I ask the question in the title, students and their parents are often stunned and momentarily speechless. Parents usually look at their kids, shrugging their shoulders, as if to communicate, “She’s asking you, you answer.” Then, kids often confess that although they expect to attend college, they’ve never really considered…
What I’m calling, “The Great Distance Learning Experiment of 2020” has commenced for nearly all of the 57 million K-12 students in the United States. In such an experimental phase, the continuity of instruction is muddled, and students, teachers and educators find themselves in uncharted waters. The old rules, like attendance policies, don’t apply, at…
Seemed apropos for these extraordinary times, as parents worry their children are falling behind in their learning, high school students worry they will be less competitive for college admissions with Pass/No Pass marks this spring, continuing college students worry they aren’t experiencing the quality of education through distance learning, isolated in their homes, not gaining…
Amidst the COVID-19 health crisis disrupting educational and instructional continuity, students, parents, and educators are asking and being asked questions about the current educational process, which is also spurring discussions about the value of education. The following is a selection of education-related news stories from the past few weeks, offering insights about the shifts…
Cornell University admissions officers will not require that Fall 2021 first year applicants submit SAT or ACT scores as part of their applications. Cornell’s policy change applies only for the Fall 2021 application cycle, so underclassmen in the Class of 2022 and younger may once again be required to submit SAT or ACT scores. Yet,…
Educators and students, participants in the Modern American Educational Industrial Complex, are mere glimmers of the Jeffersonian ideals of “essential merit”, which historian Joseph F. Kett defines as: …merit that rests on specific and visible achievements by an individual that were thought, in turn, to reflect that individual’s estimable character…’Merit’ was that quality in the…
The above letter is a response from Han Mi Yoon-Wu, Director of Undergraduate Admissions for the University of California Office of the President, after I emailed both UC President Janet Napolitano and the UC Board of Regents to request a response to my recent Open Letter to the University of California. I’m sharing Ms. Yoon-Wu’s…
Dear The College Board CEO David Coleman: After viewing your live cast on Daily Homeroom with Sal [Khan of Khan Academy], I respectfully request responses to my questions regarding the 2020 Advanced Placement (AP) exams, as well as my concerns about your replies regarding current high school students’ and their families’ worries. In stating that…
School district officials around the country are struggling to define how instruction will continue, and more importantly how students will be evaluated, given that school sites will be closed through the end of the school year. Some district administrators have decided to emulate the actions of many US colleges, and implement a Pass/No Pass grading…
Skip to 00:40 An inspirational message that one never tires in hearing.
No one knows when schools will reopen and “normal” life will resume. In the midst of the health emergency, ten states have simply closed all K-12 public schools and summarily ended their school year—Arizona, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Kansas, Indiana, Michigan, Alabama, Georgia, Virginia, and Vermont. However, for the other 40 states, the ending of school…
Dear UC President Janet Napolitano, the UC Board of Regents, Chancellor Gary May, Chancellor Carol Christ, Chancellor Howard Gillman, Chancellor Nathan Bostrom, Chancellor Kim A. Wilcox, Chancellor Pradeep K. Khosla, Chancellor Harry T. Yang, Chancellor Cynthia K. Larive: In reviewing the University of California’s changes to admissions policies for Fall 2021 admissions, affecting current high…
