A Refresh Ahead for Higher Ed?
June 23, 2017 – Here’s our weekly roundup of education news you may have missed. Advocates call for schools to better serve the needs of all gifted students and higher ed regulations might be up for a refresh.
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Elementary & Secondary Education:
- Less than 3 percent of the 3.4 million students enrolled in the nation’s gifted education programs are English Language Learners, finds Education Week.
- The Hechinger Report looks at the Educational Equality Index, an attempt to create a standard comparison for how effectively school districts are teaching their low-income students.
- William & Mary announces its new Institute for Research on the Suicide of Gifted Students. The Institute aims “to determine what factors related to giftedness might lead gifted children and young adults to suicidal thoughts and behavior and what can be done to intervene.”
Higher Education:
- The purchasing power of Pell Grants is at a historic low, says The Education Trust. The maximum Pell Grant amount “covers less than 30 percent of the cost of attendance at a four-year, public university.”
- Rather than reauthorize the Higher Education Act (HEA), Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos suggests “starting fresh” with new legislation. The Chronicle of Higher Education reports on reactions to her comments, and Politico details the “burdensome” federal regulations that the Education Department is reviewing.
- Chicago magazine illustrates how financial aid policies prevent many high-achieving, undocumented students from attending the prestigious institutions to which they are accepted.
Cooke Foundation Highlights:
- The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is this year’s recipient of our Cooke Prize for Equity in Educational Excellence. The $1 million award was covered in The Washington Post, The Herald-Sun¸ and The News & Observer.
- “Public flagships are looking more like large private universities,” states Jeff Selingo in a column for The Washington Post which cites the foundation’s research.
- Our latest study is also the topic of an article in Education Dive examining the “aggressive out-of-state recruitment tactics” at public flagships that are crowding out talented, low-income students.
- In Forbes, Cooke Scholar Ryan Liu describes how attending community college ultimately provided him with the opportunity to attend Yale University.
Social Media Spotlight:
The $1 million award from @TheJKCF and a matching pledge from #UNC will expand our affordability efforts and help make more dreams come true pic.twitter.com/bpO9s1zGCx
— UNC-Chapel Hill (@UNC) June 19, 2017