Breaking the Small Business Code

The Brick Walls Keeping Education from Improving

    US News & World Report's Education Blog has a GREAT blog article on how the eduation "community" received President Obama's proposals for improving education. The differing opinions on what he said and what needs to be done is sadly another example of why it will be so difficult to improve education in America.

    To refresh your recollection, President Obama said he wants the United States to have the highest proportion of college graduates in the world by 2020 and asked every American to complete a year or more of college or career training. He talked about the need for more reform in education and said he wants to reward teacher performance and grow the number of charter schools. He also talked about providing ore financial support from pre-school through college.

    Sadly, as usual, the "education community" was NOT pulling together. As usual the entrenched interests looked at their position and as the comments of the various "experts" show - they are all going in different directions.

    I am becoming so frustrated that I voiced my opinion in the comments section!  To read the article AND my comments, go to the On Education Blog Comment Section.  Then add your own comments there or here!

Pork Barrel Bill and Transparency by Blog

     You may or may NOT have heard about some of the shennanigans burried in the new "Relief" aka BAILOUT bill passed last night by "our" Senate from the "mainstream" media.  But no one else said anything including NPR other than "this was an important bipartisan bill" or showed the self-congratulating senators pushing to get to the microphone.  I saw just ONE outside expert commentator on Fox plop down a telephone book-sized bill that had evolved from Paulson's 3 page outline but he gave no details!  And the eMail alert I got from US News today also only summarized the high points that related to the crisis. 

       I was clueless about the bill's REAL details and contents until I started reading my morning blogs like "Don't Mess with Taxes".

     Thank you blogosphere!  Thank you "Don't Mess With Taxes!" and the 20 or so other blogs I subscribe to each day.  Yes, I know there are kooks and way-out-there blogs but there seems to be no where else to learn what is REALLY going on in our congress.  Blogs by citizens like me who share what they have learned seems to be the best place to learn what is really going on out there!

     Here's what got me so angry:  Did you hear about the arrow tax break provision? This little add-in waives the tax on child's practice arrows and costs taxpayers about $200,000 a year (enough to send 8 kids to UCLA free every year).  Granted, this is a very teeny tiny part of the NEW ADDITIONAL $108 billion (!) in businesses and individual taxpayer "sweeteners" that were added to make the bill pass.  BUT IT SHOWS how our politicians can't help but pork out everything -- something even as critical as this bailout bill!

    Politico lists some of the various "sweeteners" and their costs. While an kid's arrow tax may soon become great fodder for Saturday Night Live or Jay Leno, it is the poster child for PORK BARREL POLITICS.  The Senate sounding so serious about how critical their efforts were was nauseating this morning on the AM news.  They were all patting themselves on the back for a bi-partisan effort.  Yeah, bi-partisan means they both were equally adding pork!

    My client families and the members of the College Leadership Foundation's College eCoaching Club have been flooding us with questions on how to afford college with their savings and home equity cut or gone.  They want to know what they can do to pay for college while waiting on the "financial rescue" AKA "bailout" bill. Most think it will someone help them personally.

     My recommendation to these families is to call the House of Representatives and tell them to scrub out every ounce of pork.  Focus only on what Congress SAID was important to stabilize the financial industry if that is STILL as important as they make it sound.

    In my opinion, if this was soooo critical, they wouldn't have taken the time to stuff it like a goose full of special favors and little unknown tax breaks! 

     SO what are your feeling on this mess?  Mine can't be printed because it would scorch the screen I am so angry.  Pass this blog along so Google will pick up all your comments and maybe we can get the idiots  we elected to come to their financial senses!  STOP THE PORK BARREL POLITICS disguised as crisis!

 

Do AP Classes Teach the Subject or to Pass the Test?

     My favorite resource for college-related news US News has ANOTHER great article -  this time on how some high schools are considering dropping the College Board's Advanced Placement (AP) classes. 

    The reason being given is it "restricts" how teachers can teach.  The issue teachers say is they want to put less emphasis on memorization and test preparation and more on "exploration" of the material.  This is another example of the conflict between testing to make sure our students have a minimum level of skills versus teaching to pass the exit or other measurement exam!

     What complicates things is the AP class is considered as being a "valuable"  indicator of the ability of the student to do college-level work compared to taking a traditional/non-AP classes.  Because AP classes are taught to a specific "rigorous" college prep level and there is a national test through the College Board (same people who do the SAT), it helps validate a student's college potential compared to other students.  This is especially valuable when the college admissions staff does not know much about the high school's reputation.

     Most high schools also add a point to the student's classroom grade (e.g., a 3.0 is a 4.0 in an AP class) in recognition of the difficulty of the classes compared to the traditional level classes.  This AP bonus can mean a higher overall GPA value for students.  The problem in dropping the AP classes is the more elite the college, the more likely other applicants are taking AP classes and that their high school GPA will be over 4.0!

    I can agree that "learning" may be different when there is less emphasis on memorization and preparation for passing the AP test. I also agree there is a need to measure the "learning outcome" so we can tell if our children are getting the education they need.  So both approaches are right and both are wrong.  We need a blend of both!

   Again, what do you think?  What should we do to measure student preparation versus teaching beyond passing a test?

   

Impact of High School Accreditation

     What happens when the high school loses its accreditation?

     This is more than a theoretical question.  The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS), one of the nation's major accrediting agencies, revoked the Clayton County school system's accreditation in late August after the district's leaders failed to achieve eight of nine mandates for improvement set by SACS in February 2008.  This situation is impacting thousands of students, many who are applying to college right now.

      There is a great summation of the situation at US News & World Report posted on 9-19-2008. (click logo for link to article).

     Supposedly, college-bound students will not be directly impacted by the revocation.  Per the US News reporting, Georgia does not require in-state applicants to its state universities to graduate from accredited high school.  Several colleges, including Harvard, said its admissions process doesn't really look at lack of accreditation.  The reason given is they admit students from other than "traditional" high schools including home school and foreign students.

     So what does this mean for students at marginal high schools? The impact on college admissions becomes how the college will evaluate the applicant GPAs.  The use of "neutral" or equally administered admissions tests like SAT,  SAT IIs, ACT, and AP tests may become more important when the value of the grades becomes questionable.  The more elite the college, the important testing may become to prove the level of education received.

    The same US News article had a great quote from Forest Park High School Parent Teacher Student Association President Theresa Brown-Manuel. She feels strongly that parents should ask: "What can I do as a parent and as a member of the PTSA to help solve this problem? Well, I can do a lot."      Parents and students need to be involved with their high schools to INSIST that they be given the best education possible.  Look at testing scores.  Look at what percent of students go on to colleges.  If they are not good enough, work to make them better!

Wall Street Meltdown Affecting Student Jobs

There is a great blog by Alison Go at the U.S. News blog site about the impact of the failure of Lehmann Brothers on student jobs.  Not only are college seniors and graduate students with offers being impacted, alumni from the elite Ivies like Yale are calling career centers for help.

     What I found the most interesting is a quote in the blog that was taken from the Michigan Daily by Al Cotrone, director of career development at the Business School:

"With fewer positions available and more veteran bankers looking for jobs, every student who's interested in banking will need to take a real serious look at the career they want and the life they want and the risks they take with that choice," said Michigan's business school career development director. "

    

 

             THE MAJOR YOU CHOOSE CAN IMPACT YOUR JOB PROSPECTS!

     Why is this such a big deal to me?  It's because over and over again I hear counselors tell students to pick majors in topics that interest them.  I like to call it the "follow your bliss" mantra from the 1960's.  Do something you love and success will follow.

     I agree with a Yes, BUT!  There is no guarantee that you will be able to find a JOB in what it is you like to do.  You may LOVE and be very good at English Romance Literature but I don't know about very many jobs in that field. 

    So the answer is BALANCE, RESEARCH and FLEXIBILITY.  It's okay to major in something you like but DO THE RESEARCH to understand the potential for jobs.  Have a balanced approach about picking a major you like with an education that lets you get a job.  And should you not be able to find a job in your major because the market has changed like it has just done, you need to be FLEXIBLE and learn new skills or maybe even look into a major or job you don't like as well!

    College is a great place for an education.  The problem is the real world will want to hire you to do something.  The question is whether or not your major in which you have an education can get you a job that allows you to live the life you want!

US News Rankings are Out - Good Thing or Bad?

ORIGINAL DATE: 08/25/2008 09:13:58 AM

One of the rituals that marks the start of Fall and return to school is the release of US News & World Report's college rankings (http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/college/index.html).  Good thing or bad for college-bound families?

For families who are overwhelmed by the thousands of potential colleges, having a guide can be "a good thing". According to Federal Statistical Abstracts, there are over 4,000 colleges split between 2,363 4-year colleges and 1,721 2-year colleges. So the listings can improve visibility for schools like Grinnell in Iowa or Dickenson College in Pennsylvania that are not generally known to students outside their home states.

But the rankings are equally "a bad thing".  Year-after-year I meet with families who bring their copy of the magazine all highlighted and sticky-noted so they can find ways to afford "the best" colleges. What is scary, these families don't know what the "best" rankings are based on! This means they don't know anything about that college for their student other than the rankings and maybe where they are located.

So should you use these lists for your college searches? For many parents, the articles in the magazine can be a good basic introduction to the college process. But be careful in applying everything ANY magazine writes to your personal college situation! Using the articles as your main source of information for college decisions is like using their medical articles for diagnosing and treating a health issue!

Learn what the rankings (in ANY resource) are based on! Are any of these seven categories used by US News something important to you?  Does the percent of importance the same as the percent for you? How does one of these measures help you pick a college?

1. Assessment by administrators at peer institutions = what they think about each other inside the "industry". Theory is insiders will know what "good" means. But does what insiders think is the "best"  what you think would be the best?
2. Retention of students = supposedly a measure of how well they support students.  This puts schools who take a higher percent of applicants at a disadvantage compared to selective ones.  The wider the range of students you take, the higher the probability you will have more drop-outs.
3. Faculty resources  = measure of class size and the "importance" of the faculty.  Double-check these numbers because they have been manipulated by schools who include non-teaching staff in the numbers.  Again, selective schools have an advantage over large (usually) state schools who take more applicants per teacher.  And a professor who wins a prize may or may not be a good teacher!
4. Student selectivity  = how many they take versus the total number of applicants. The theory is the better the student body the better the school. My complaint is this measurement is way too easy to manipulate by actively recruiting students who will never qualify for consideration.
5. Financial resources = how much money they HAVE, not necessarily how much they spend.  This is one of the big problems for many elite colleges who have BILLIONS in resources, charge the most per year but who spend less than 5% of their endowments per year. 
6. Alumni giving = this is used as a measure of how happy graduates are with their education.
7. (For national universities and liberal arts colleges, ) "Graduation rate performance"  = the difference between the proportion of students expected to graduate and the proportion who actually do. 
   

So be aware of the BASIS of all ranking regarding colleges and decide what they mean for your student's college success.  It is a place to start, not to end the college planning process.

What do YOU THINK about the various rankings available for college selection and ranking?  What do you think about these criteria?  What criteria would YOU like to see measured?