U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan apologized this week to leaders of historically black colleges for the Obama administration’s “poor” communications in a recent switch to tighter standards for issuing loans to parents.

The shift in lending criteria had an outsize impact on those colleges, including Howard University in Northwest Washington, because they serve a large number of students whose parents rely on federal PLUS loans to help cover tuition. Skeptics of the PLUS loan program say it sometimes leaves families in too much debt.

The transition left many college students scrambling for funds in 2012 and this year, forcing some to leave school at least temporarily. Enrollment fell at Howard and many other schools in the fall of 2012, though Howard officials say their student count rebounded this fall.

“Our department is required to carry out the law as it was designed to protect parents and taxpayers against unaffordable loans,” Duncan said in a speech Thursday in Washington to a gathering of leaders of historically black colleges and universities, known as HBCUs. “But we could have and should have handled the process better. Communications internally and externally was poor, and I apologize for that and for the real impact it has had.”

Duncan added: “I have talked with many of the people here in this room about the PLUS loan challenge. It has been hard, it has been frustrating, and I know some of you are angry.”

via Duncan apologizes to black colleges for ‘poor’ communication on parent loans – The Washington Post.

Michael F. Shaughnessy

Donald J. Foss, PhD is a distinguished and award-winning researcher and teacher, and currently a Professor of Psychology at the University of Houston. He is a cognitive psychologist (PhD, University of Minnesota; Post-doctoral Fellow, Harvard University) who has published research and written extensively about language comprehension, learning, memory, and related topics. He also received an all-university outstanding teacher award from the University of Texas at Austin. In addition to teaching and research, Dr. Foss has extensive leadership and administrative experience in higher education. He has been chairman of the Psychology Department at the University of Texas at Austin; a Dean at Florida State University; and Senior Vice-President for Academic Affairs at the University of Houston.

His latest book : “Your Complete Guide to College Success: How to Study Smart, Achieve Your Goals, and Enjoy Campus Life” can be purchased on www.amazon.com

In this interview he discusses some of the issues regarding the completion of college and tangential issues.

1) First of all, could you tell us about your experience in higher education and a bit about your background and experience….

Thank you very much for the opportunity to talk about a topic that is important to millions of students and their families, and for public policy. I think it’s a crucial one.

I’m a professor of psychology who has specialized in how we comprehend spoken and written language, and how we remember and use the material presented to us; and now I study how to get through college and provide advice based on the best research. I’ve taught at the University of Texas in Austin, where I also served as Chair of the Psychology Department; at Florida State University, where I was Dean of the College of Arts & Sciences; and at the University of Houston, where I served as Senior Vice President. In these roles, I learned how important it is for students to persist—and learned first hand about the problems they run into. I recently wrote a book that passes this information along to students.

2) Now, I think we all in education want students to graduate on time- but sometimes things get in the way—like pregnancy, delivery, hospitalization. How should a student be preparing for such events?

It’s useful to distinguish between events over which we have little or no control—to take a dramatically sad example, a death in the family; and events that result from what I’ll call “behavioral misadventures”—for example, frequent binge drinking, which is something we do control. It’s clearly good to avoid the latter. I’m highly sympathetic if a student gets sick, or if his or her child gets hospitalized. The best way to prepare for any emergency that crops up is to be up-to-date in one’s studies when it happens so you have a realistic shot at catching up.

Speaking of graduating on time, nothing beats doing that if you want to keep college costs low. Delaying graduation not only means an extra year of tuition and other expenses, it also means a year without the salary from a good job. Giving up that salary is really costly—it’s called an “opportunity cost.” The opportunity cost is so high that it dwarfs almost any other cost factor.

3) Failing a course- particularly when that course is not scheduled or rotated around for another two years can be a very dramatic setback- How should a student handle an F?

Well, of course, the best thing is to not earn the F. I’m serious. There is so much help available to students these days, and we know so much more about how they should study, that most students can avoid failing if they take college seriously. I cover those techniques in my book, Your Complete Guide to College Success. But, sadly, some students aren’t serious, though they may be seriously immature. One freshman fraternity pledge who wrote about being in college said, “…all I really want is just some time to kick back and relax, and as far as I can tell the only time to do that is during class.” He’ll enjoy that for one semester, possibly two, and then be gone.

4) Changing majors and minors can be EXTREMELY problematic–should colleges and universities LOCK students into a major declared in their freshman year- or do they simply need more advising?

Huge numbers of students, perhaps as many as three-fourths of them, are uncertain about their major when they start college. And many, many students change majors at least once (I changed twice, not counting a major my university had called “Undetermined”!). I don’t think this is a big problem IF done in a smart way. That means taking most general education or “core” courses early—they are necessary for most majors so the student makes progress no matter what major he or she settles upon. It also means making use of the assessment tools and, yes, the advising offered on most campuses, as well as efficiently learning about the realities of various careers. In my book I describe in detail how to do those things.

5) Athletics can also be a factor- do you have advice for our student athletes- and if they have another year of eligibility- why SHOULD they graduate on time?

The vast, vast majority of student athletes have no chance of “going pro.” As I’ve mentioned, the cost, especially the opportunity cost, of staying in school an extra year is enormous—whether due to an extra year of eligibility or to the perceived need to have an outside job, or because the student is afraid to take a full load of courses that will enable him or her to graduate on time. Of course, if you can compete at quarterback with RG3 or Andrew Luck, or get signed by a major league ball team, that might change things—and good luck!

6) Some college students fall in love, get married- go on a nice long ocean voyage- and then miss a semester or two—Do you have overarching guidance for these individuals or tell people not to get married during college?

Michael, if I told people not to fall in love and get married they would click away from your site! So I won’t do that. And those who can afford a nice long ocean voyage may not need to worry about the time spent in college. But for most, they should plan that June wedding and be back in summer school for the second session, or by fall at the latest.

7) Death of a parent can be devastating. Should the student just try to muddle through and hope for C’s or should they withdraw from classes and take the time to mourn and grieve and bury their loved one?

The death of a loved one requires some time to process, and people differ greatly in how soon they can cope. It’s not wrong to return to class quickly if you can; indeed, it’s probably what the deceased parent would want, and staying engaged with studies can itself be part of coping. But for some students it will be useful to remember what good generals know: namely, that retreat from a battle is sometimes the best way to win a war. This is an individual decision and I would advise students in this situation to confer with people who know them well and who care about their long-term success.

8)  Parental responsibility for money–in your mind—when should a parent start saving for their child, and in your mind, how responsible is a parent for their son and daughter’s tuition- or is it totally on the college student to be saving when they are say 12 years old and have a paper route ?

Don’t we wish we still lived in a world where in six years a student had a shot at saving enough to pay for college? It’s a family proposition now, especially since for public universities the states have cut back enormously on the fraction of college costs they cover. So parents should start saving early!

It is important to remember two things:

(1) in many, many cases the “sticker price” will not be the actual price a student and family have to pay, and (2) financial resources have to play a role in the choice of a college. Students may not afford their dream college any more than they can afford their dream car. That’s all right: a quality education exists on many hundreds of campuses all across the country.

9) You suggest that study skills, time management and the like may help graduate on time- Should colleges be forced to provide these skills? And why were they not procured in high school?

Many colleges have learning resource centers that can offer helpful tips, but these are usually voluntary. I suspect that most faculty think that such a course is, in effect, remedial learning and they wish to minimize the number of such courses. Since there is evidence that the majority of students, even those coming to some of the prestige schools, don’t have good study skills, this might have to change.

10) Let’s talk for a while about high schools—Do they have ANY responsibility at all in terms of preparing their students for college?

I can’t speak for the high schools, of course, but I think there is widespread belief that students “naturally” pick up good techniques of studying. The problem is that much of what they pick up does not lead to effective and efficient learning. I summarize the best evidence-based study techniques in my book.

11) I know that there are limits on certain things- they only give you I think 7 years to finish the Ph.D.  Should colleges have an upper limit- say 6 or 7 years? Would this help?

In general, my concern about opportunity costs applies to graduate students aiming for a PhD as well as to undergraduates. Finishing sooner is way less costly than finishing later. However, in many programs, especially those in the humanities and social sciences, graduate students are asked to be teaching assistants, composition instructors, etc. in order to earn money, to qualify for reduced tuition, and to be competitive when they apply for jobs as a faculty member. Understandably, that can slow them down. And in many fields the students must have published some scholarly work while in graduate school to be strong candidates in the job market. That, too, can take time.

12) I can hear the liberal left screaming now–But what about the poor poverty stricken kids who need to work part time? Your response to those individuals ?

There is some evidence that working up to about 20 hours per week might be helpful, but trying to do much more than that may be harmful to progress. Given the high cost of stretching out the time it takes to graduate, it often makes economic sense to borrow money to allow one to graduate sooner.

13) Enforcement is always an issue- how can colleges and universities MANDATE graduating in four years? Or should this all be in the sweet suggestion category?

I think colleges can have an effective impact if they are creative about providing incentives for students to graduate in four years. For example, if a student successfully completes a full load the first year, the college might consider holding tuition constant the next year, or having a smaller increase.

14) Even I had to take an additional summer semester to graduate- courses are simply not offered frequently enough, AND there are conflicts- are colleges and universities aware of these factors?

They are. But for the past several years universities have been looking at declining resources from the states. In some cases this has led to negative consequences for the students, even though most colleges have not wanted to get to that point.

15) And, my gosh, cancelled classes- Are universities and colleges aware of what they are doing to maybe a small handful of students?

Classes normally get cancelled for one of two reasons. In some cases (probably a small number of them overall) not enough students sign up to make it cost effective to offer the course. Contrary to some popular belief, colleges and universities are aware that they need to use their resources efficiently. More commonly, especially in the past few years, cancelling classes has been a highly reluctant decision on the part of higher education administrators when faced with the budge reductions they’ve had to cope with.

16) What have I neglected to ask?

You’ve given me a comprehensive set of questions, and I’ve enjoyed discussing them with you!

David Coleman, master of the Common Core and characterized as one of the “Ten Scariest People in Education,” has launched a crusade against literature and narrative.

By Bruce Deitrick Price –

A key component of the blitzkrieg known as Common Core Standards is something called “close reading.”

 

This is an educational activity that children are supposed to engage in.  They will not merely read; they will read deeply and profoundly, like professors.

 

“Close reading” is not a new term.  “The technique as practiced today was pioneered (at least in English) by I. A. Richards and his student William Empson, later developed further by the New Critics of the mid-twentieth century[.] … Close reading describes, in literary criticism, the careful, sustained interpretation of a brief passage of text.” 

College students majoring in English literature know they must try to dive deep into famous works of fiction and nonfiction.  Of course, at that point in their lives, the students have read 50 books — probably 250.  They are fast, relaxed readers.  The surface of the text is like the surface of a lake for a powerful swimmer.  These people are ready to plunge to deeper levels.

 

Hold on, says the Education Establishment.  “[C]lose reading can’t wait until 7^th grade or junior year in high school.  It needs to find its niche in kindergarten and the years just beyond if we mean to build the habits of mind that will lead all students to deep understanding of text.”  

 

Caution: now entering an alternative reality.

 

A serious problem at this point is that more than half our fourth graders are not proficient readers.  Same with our eighth-graders.  You cannot expect these children to do “close reading” because they cannot, in any real sense of the word, do “reading.”

 

Let’s pause for a moment and consider what should be going on.  Reading is like learning to ride a bike.  You have to be on the bike for many hours, riding over streets, grass, and curbs, until you are comfortable and riding for pleasure.

 

Children in elementary and middle school need quantity, not quality.  Schools should use every trick to seduce children into reading lots of books.  Such books do not need depth.  It’s enough that they have a good story or engaging information, and that children say, “That was fun.  I want to read another one.”

 

For hundreds of years, there were books written especially for children — for example, the Hardy Boys or the Bobbsey Twins.  Children who are devouring such books at a rapid rate can be encouraged to read more complex texts, and to read them more deeply.  Unfortunately, such readers are the exceptions.

 

Many Americans, even college graduates, never reach the level of reading for fun.  Millions can read in some technical sense, but the whole process is hard work.  They do it on the job, if they have to.

 

NPR’s “All Things Considered” reported: “Fewer and fewer Americans are reading for pleasure. That’s the conclusion of a study released today by the National Endowment for the Arts. It tracks a decline among Americans of all ages. Here are a couple of the most striking statistics. On average, Americans spend two hours a day watching television and seven minutes reading. And only one-third of 13-year-olds are daily readers.”

 

But now, thanks to the genius of Common Core, children who may not have finished one actual book will be parsing and analyzing like a literary critic at the New York Times. 

 

According to a Common Core website, “[e]ssentially, close reading means reading to uncover layers of meaning that lead to deep comprehension. Close, analytic reading stresses engaging with a text of sufficient complexity directly and examining meaning thoroughly and methodically, encouraging students to read and reread deliberately. Directing student attention on the text itself empowers students to understand the central ideas and key supporting details.” 

 

This is patently unlikely for average kids.  Their pulses will not quicken.  A lot of this “deep comprehension” sounds boring even for literary types.  Kids will never know that literature was created to be entertainment.  

 

Some of the recommended text are clearly not what an ordinary person would curl up with on a rainy day: speeches by Martin Luther King, a Shakespearean play in the fourth grade, and the Constitution.

David Coleman, master of the Common Core and characterized as one of the “Ten Scariest People in Education,” has launched a crusade against literature and narrative.  Instead, he wants children to marinate in dreary, informational text.  Males especially will suspect that “close reading” is merely another chapter in the war against boys.  Coleman embraces insulation installation manuals, presidential executive orders, environmental programming, and federal reserve documents.  In short, tough, dull text, probably with a PC spin.  But in the real world, people read for story and beauty, or hardly at all.  Dramatic stories are how we draw young people inside books. 

 

There is also the question of culture, as in a shared experience.  Who would want to share the fatuous, acultural experiences that Coleman is foisting on the schools?

 

One recalls that in New Math, children were supposed to learn matrices, Boolean algebra, and base-eight.  What could be the purpose of this absurd leap into adult academic activities?  For one thing, it probably intimidates parents.  Are they going to admit they don’t know what Boolean algebra is? 

 

Close Reading seems to me like teaching Boolean algebra to fourth-graders — pretentious and inane.  New Math did not teach math.  It’s a safe prediction that Close Reading will not teach reading.

 

In sports, if you take children up an expert slope and turn them loose, you may end up in jail.  But in education, you can put children in an uncomfortable, hopeless situation, where they can never really succeed, and you get a grant or a promotion. 

 

Here’s more shtick on an education website: “Reading Packs provide teachers with a resource that promotes careful analysis of text while building 21st Century skills of critical thinking, collaboration, and communication. Students contemplate a Key Question as they participate in self-directed, small-group, and whole-class discussion following their independent reading of engaging passages on a common topic…The Teaching Tips also provide teachers with pointers for serving as discussion facilitators as they help students reach consensus on their answer to the Key Question.”

 

Notice the phrases “small-group” and “whole-class discussion” leading to “consensus.”  It’s possible that children murmur and stumble through text as part of a group but never engage in anything legitimately called close reading. 

 

So, we are told, the walking wounded of the typical public school will be led to the literary promised land.  People who cannot read a few paragraphs out of the newspaper without major mistakes will magically become college- and career-ready, thanks to Close Reading.

 

Isn’t this just too creepy and unrealistic to be taken seriously?  Alas, no.  Common Core, as described earlier, is a blitzkrieg, a massive 2,000-mile front advancing across the United States, twisting arms and throwing cash in all directions.  Common Core is being forced into life the same way ObamaCare was — much more a political maneuver than a welcome societal outcome.

 

Bruce Deitrick Price explains theories and methods on his site Improve-Education.org.

via Articles: Close Reading Is Close to a Con.

 

Barbara Cargill
Chair of Texas State Board of Education

by Barbara Cargill

Chair of Texas State Board of Education

Now is the time to ride the wave of public concern and outrage about CSCOPE. Although many past lessons may have been corrected or changed, why was there poorly written, biased content in the first place? (I read the lessons myself, using my own assigned password.) This issue is only the tip of a huge iceberg. There are other instructional materials that contain questionable content, and they are not being reviewed for the quality of their content.

In 1995 the legislature voted to limit the State Board of Education’s authority over the review of textbook content. Since that time, there has been no public, transparent, citizen-led process for vetting the quality of content in our children’s textbooks. Now that almost all textbooks are online, this becomes an even greater issue of concern because content can be changed with a few strokes on a keyboard.

How were textbook reviews done in the past? Before 1995, the board could instruct review panels (consisting of volunteer parents, teachers, industry leaders, and other citizens) to check for factual errors and also to review the quality of the content.

Here are a few things panel members could review prior to 1995:

· Does the textbook content present positive aspects of U.S. heritage?

· Does it contain balanced, factual treatment of political and social movements?

· Does the textbook promote respect for citizenship, patriotism, recognized authority, individual rights, the free enterprise, and respect for the work ethic?

· Does it reflect an awareness of various ethnic groups?

· Does the book reflect the positive contributions of individuals and groups on American life?

What changed? In the board’s current textbook review process, panelists are instructed to check for factual errors and for TEKS coverage, period. Checking for TEKS coverage is NOT checking for the quality with which the TEKS are covered. For example, George Washington is required to be covered in American history, since he is listed several times in the TEKS. How he is covered in the content, however, is not part of the review.

It is time for the citizens of Texas to demand change and to regain the right to vet the quality of content in our children’s textbooks! The same public passion that resulted in content changes in CSCOPE lessons must be harnessed and directed toward state policy-makers who can reinstate the vetting of content quality to the board’s adoption process.

What can you do?

I highly encourage you to ask your child’s teachers what curriculum and textbooks they use. Parents must stay informed about what is being taught in the classroom; it is your right. According to the Texas Education Code 26.006, parents are “entitled to review all teaching materials, instructional materials, and other teaching aids used in the classroom of the parent’s child; and review each test administered to the parent’s child after the test is administered.” As we approach the 2014 election season, ask elected officials and candidates their position on this issue. We must be advocates on behalf of our schoolchildren; let’s show them that we have learned our lesson about what can happen when quality of content goes unchecked.