Education News Review

Va. Dropout Rate Almost 9%

admin — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 17:11:47 +0000

Virginia education officials say nearly 9 percent of students who entered public high school in 2004 dropped out before their classmates graduated in 2008.

School Spotlight: DeVry University Online

admin — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 02:10:40 +0000

Chances are you’ve seen a commercial or two for DeVry University. This massive network of 23 campuses around the nation advertises practical learning with a career-based orientation.

Through DeVry University Online students can earn undergraduate and graduate degrees in dozens of majors. Popular bachelor degree programs include computer information systems, business administration, and game & simulation programming.

Like many for-profit programs, DeVry has been the subject of some criticism. However, the school prefers to focus attention on it’s high graduate employment rates. From 1998-2007, 90% of grads found jobs in their chosen fields within six months.

See Also:

Kaplan University Online

Everest University Online

DePaul University Online

Wanted: Your Views

admin — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 03:10:12 +0000

Good at giving advice? Have a question of your own? Just want to spout off about something?

Opportunities abound in the forum. We even have a few games going. Come on in and make some new friends.

Spotlight on Bucknell University

admin — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 02:00:13 +0000

Bucknell University

aurimasliutikas / Flickr

Today’s college spotlight takes us to Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, home of Bucknell University. Bucknell has greater name recognition than many of the colleges I spotlight, but the school is worth a closer look for many reasons.

Academically, Bucknell has surprising breadth for a university of under 4,000 students. Indeed, the atmosphere at Bucknell feels much more like a liberal arts college than a comprehensive university. This is part of the school’s attraction. The educational focus is almost entirely on undergraduates, yet the school can boast of an extremely strong engineering program, a popular management major, and numerous programs abroad. The heart of Bucknell University is the liberal arts and sciences, and the school was awarded a chapter of Phi Beta Kappa for its strengths on that front. With an 11 to 1 student / faculty ratio, undergraduates will receive lots of personal attention from their professors.

On the athletic front, Bucknell is also unusual for a small university. Bucknell has had great success in the NCAA Division I Patriot League, and the school can also boast of one of the highest athlete graduation rates among all Division I programs in the country.

Every week I spotlight a great college that might be off the radar of college applicants. If you’d like to recommend a school for a future spotlight, please do so here in the College Admissions forum. And if you’re familiar with Bucknell University, please share your impressions in the Bucknell University discussion thread in the forum.

To learn more about Bucknell University, be sure to check out the Bucknell profile and visit the official Bucknell website.

GMAT Prep Discounts

admin — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 01:50:56 +0000

GMAT prep courses can be expensive, but there are discounts available. Three of the largest and most well known GMAT prep companies in the world (Veritas, Manhattan GMAT, and PowerScore) have created exclusive discounts on GMAT prep courses for About.com readers. Click on the link below to find out how you can take advantage of these special GMAT prep discounts.

GMAT Prep Course Discounts

New ethics code would cover charter schools

admin — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 01:50:20 +0000

Charter-school administrators would be barred from using school funds, school credit cards, or lines of credit for personal gain under a new ethics code being released today.

The Pennsylvania Coalition of Charter Schools will ask charter schools across the state voluntarily to adopt the new “code of accountability,” which lays out strict performance standards in academics, ethics, governance and finances.

“Ideally, we would like to see every school adopt it and live up to the standards in the next six months,” coalition president Lawrence Jones Jr. said yesterday.

The code represents the first time that charter schools have attempted to police themselves since 1997, when the first such schools opened in the state.

Charter-school operators are to present the document during a media briefing at the Math, Civics and Sciences Charter School at 447 N. Broad St. this morning. Similar events are scheduled for Pittsburgh on Thursday and Harrisburg March 31.

The coalition represents 120 of the 127 charter operators in the state.

The code draws together in one place portions of several state laws and requirements covering charters. It also reflects recent amendments that bar charter-school administrators from collecting salaries from more than one charter school or from any company doing business with charter schools.

The majority of the state’s charter schools probably already abide by the tenets of “trust and transparency” outlined in the code, Jones said. But the new standards were developed in response to allegations of financial impropriety and mismanagement at several charter schools in the Philadelphia area.

“While there have been unfortunate situations that have occurred within a small number of schools, the majority of Pennsylvania’s charter schools have been and remain committed to operating in a trustworthy and transparent environment that puts children first,” said Jones, chief executive of the Richard Allen Preparatory Charter School, 2601 S. 58th St., in Southwest Philadelphia.

At least three Philadelphia charter schools and a cyber charter school in Devon are part of a widening federal criminal probe. The investigation began last spring after The Inquirer reported that the Philadelphia School District’s inspector general was investigating allegations of nepotism, conflicts of interest, and financial mismanagement at Philadelphia Academy Charter School in the Northeast.

The federal criminal investigation is continuing, according to sources with knowledge of the probe.

During a state Senate Education Committee hearing in York earlier this month, Jones announced that the coalition was drafting the code.

Sen. Andrew Dinniman (D., Chester), who had said before the hearing he planned to ask charter operators how they intended to police themselves to prevent further scandals, welcomed the coalition’s action.

The coalition had been discussing the importance of drafting a code for about a year; none of the individual standards was written to address problems at a specific charter school, Jones said.

“We looked for more global standards,” he said, adding that the coalition had reviewed codes adopted by charter groups in other states.

Jones said the coalition had no plans to sanction charters that fall short.

“We would reach out to that school or respond to them reaching out to us to see if there is anything we can do to help them get closer to the mark,” he said.

The code underscores charters schools’ commitment to putting “the best interest of students first,” stresses the importance of high ethical standards, and calls for “prudent financial stewardship” of public and private funds.

The code calls on charter schools’ leaders to allocate necessary resources for student achievement. It would bar charter-school trustees from having financial conflicts of interest with their schools; require charter schools to make their fiscal and annual audits public; and call on charter-school boards to make meeting minutes available for public inspection within 30 days of the meeting.

Contact staff writer Martha Woodall at 215-854-2789 or martha.woodall@phillynews.com.

Simeon Career Academy students rally: High schoolers mourn slain classmate Gregory Robinson

admin — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 01:40:43 +0000

More than a thousand Simeon Career Academy students flooded a street behind the high school Thursday, wiping away tears and solemnly listening to the names of the 29 city public school students killed this school year.

Among the names read at the memorial and anti-violence rally was that of classmate Gregory Robinson. The 14-year-old freshman was shot to death last week as he sat in the back seat of a car, returning from watching his cousin play in a Simeon playoff basketball game.

Ronnie Mosley, the school’s senior class president, implored students and the public to remember that each of the lives lost to violence this school year left behind other fractured lives. Mosley helped organize the rally to call on state lawmakers to pass more gun-control laws.

“Greg was not No. 29, Greg was Gregory Paul Robinson III, a champion. We have to commemorate each and every one of them,” he said. “Can we at least have 29 days here at Simeon with non-violence and peace? It’s time to take a stand.”

Ad Sales by Prince William, Virginia, School Web Sites Fuel Debate Over Commerce and Education

admin — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 01:40:29 +0000

On Battlefield High School’s Web site, students can find homework assignments, check sports schedules and even track their finances via a link on the home page — if they have an account with BB&T. The bank’s click-through logo is part of an Internet advertising deal, considered a first for Washington area public schools, that is helping Prince William County educators find private sources of revenue when public money is tight.

School Spotlight: Graceland University Global Campus

admin — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 01:30:35 +0000

Launched in 2005, Graceland University Global Campus has continued to grow in popularity. Today, it focuses degrees on just two service-related subjects: teaching and nursing.

One of the more popular courses at Graceland University Global Campus is classroom management, actually taught by renown teachers / authors Harry and Rosemary Wong.

It’s important to note that, while most coursework is done online, online students are required to attend a 4-day on-campus conference once or twice before graduation. For more information about programs, tuition rates, and admissions policies, see: Graceland University Global Campus Profile.

See Also:

California University of Pennsylvania Online

Colorado Technical University Online

Non-Trad, Online Law Students Win Moot Court Competition

admin — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 01:20:25 +0000

Online schools are still striving to be respected. They gained a good deal of ground last weekend at the Regional Competition Rounds of the American Constitution Societys (ACS) Constance Baker Motley Moot Court. Concord Law School students Marjorie Daily and Tom Fleming won the competition and will go on to compete in the nationals this summer in Washington D.C. Barry Currier wrote yesterday about this remarkable first for rethinkinghighereducation.com.

Daily and Fleming are both non-traditional, online law students at Concord. They beat competitors from schools like the University of Michigan, Duke, Berkeley, and Wayne State, teams of students that had practiced together in person, in the courtroom, with lots of mentors. How did they do it?

Currier asks a paragraph full of rhetorical questions, one of which was, “Could it be that the cyber hallways of Concord have the interactivity, collegiality, and professionalism that is in the air in the brick/mortar hallways of traditional law schools?”

He closes with this wish:

“As online programs, such as the one we offer at Concord, demonstrate through the successes of students and graduates that they deliver effective courses of study, then maybe the doors will open wider to solid programs like ours that expand educational access and opportunity.”

Big congratulations to Daily and Fleming. We all gain from your win in court, moot or not. Thank you!