What's the Big Idea..?

The StudentEdge team understands the importance of staying informed about education topics. That’s why we’ve launched this blog to give you easy access to daily educational news links and important articles regarding new trends in education and counseling from a variety of sources. Just as StudentEdge is a one-stop resource for students, this blog is a one-stop resource for the education news and information that’s important to you.


EdNews.org - Daily EdNews

Tuesday, May 27, 2008

No SAT or ACT? No Problem...

At Smith College and Wake Forest University, students need not worry if they haven't taken their SATs. These two institutions join a growing number of small liberal-arts colleges that have decided to make these admissions test optional for applicants due to their concern of the validity of standardized tests to predict academic success.

Check out the entire article at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/27/education/27sat.html?_r=1&ref=education&oref=slogin

Friday, May 23, 2008

Dept of Education Outlines Plans to Guarantee Student Loans

Secretary of Education, Margaret Spellings, announced a plan, on Wednesday, that commits the federal government to buy college loans for the upcoming school year as well as ensure that students will have access to financing, despite troubled credit markets. Experts agree that the move will work to significantly stabilize the college student loan market.

Read more of this article at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/22/education/22loan.html?_r=1&ref=education&oref=slogin

Thursday, May 22, 2008

Girls' Gain Not at Boys' Expense

The American Association of University Women released a report on Tuesday that surmises the gains made by girls have not cost their boy counterparts in the classroom. Echoing a report released two years ago by the American Council on Education and other groups, that while girls have graduated from high school and college at a higher rate than boys, the largest disparities in educational achievement are between different races, ethnicities, and income levels.

Check out the entire article at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/20/education/20girls.html?_r=1&ref=education&oref=slogin

Monday, May 19, 2008

MIcrosoft to Join One Laptop per Child Group

A years-long disagreement between Microsoft and the education project "One Laptop per Child" is fundamentally over - the organization will soon bring Windows to their computers. Microsoft had long resisted joining the project because most of the organizations laptop were based off of a Linux operating system that is a freely distributed alternative to Windows. Though the idea is to get the laptops into the hands of children in developing nations, usually it is the ministries of education that purchase the computers.

Check out the rest of the article at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/16/technology/16laptop.html?_r=1&ref=education&oref=slogin

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Virtual Schools Becoming a Popular Option

Enrollment in online courses, last year, grew 22 times the level of enrollment in 2000 according to the North American Council for Online Learning. This report was quickly followed up by a paper from the Hoover Institute (a conservative Stanford University think tank) projecting that half of the courses in grades 9 through 12 will be delivered online.

Check out the entire article at:
http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0514/p03s08-usgn.html

Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Yearbooks Become a Memory

Yearbook sales have plummeted down by 80% in teacher Peggy Miller's tenure as yearbook advisor at Alief Hastings High School. Several schools in the Houston Independent School District have eliminated the creation of yearbooks all together. Though no one tracks yearbook sales nationally, many believe with the advent of social networking websites, that the popularity is diminishing.

Check out the entire article at:
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/5774505.html

Monday, May 12, 2008

Sanctions by No Child Left Behind

Four hundred eleven school districts across twenty-seven states failed to meet the standards set by the No Child Left Behind Act and now face sanctions and intervention by the federal government. The act, meant to shine a light on inequity in the nation's education system, will now affect an already shrinking budget for these school systems.

Check out the entire article at:
http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2008-05-10-school-districts-sanctions_N.htm

Friday, May 9, 2008

Measuring Teachers by Using Student Success

Can you evaluate teachers on the performance of his or her students? According to New York law, you cannot and even though data now exists, in large part due to "No Child Left Behind", it is not used in the decision to grant tenure.

Check out the entire article at:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121029630059279623.html?mod=opinion_main_commentaries

Thursday, May 8, 2008

Words from an AP drop out...

Tom Stanley-Becker is a junior at the University of Chicago's University High School who reflects on the AP frenzy that is prevalent in high schools across the nation and then speaks on his own experience with AP classes.

Check out the article at:
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-becker8-2008may08,0,4579485.story

Wednesday, May 7, 2008

Blogging as English 101

Recently, a survey pointed out how phone text-messaging was creeping more and more into students' formal writing assignments. Though that was enough to cause quite an alarm with writing purists, another finding didn't get much press but was more promising: blogging is helping teenager become prolific writers.

Check out the article at:
http://www.eschoolnews.com/news/top-news/?i=53663

Tuesday, May 6, 2008

Financial Aid Q&A

Five financial-aid directors discuss some common questions regarding college and finances.

Check out the Q&A at:
http://questions.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/04/19/college-and-money-ask-the-expert/

Friday, May 2, 2008

Reading First: $1 billion/year and Marginal Results

At a cost of $1 billion per year, Reading First was a pillar of the Bush administration's "No Child Left Behind" act. Already mired in a textbook scandal, the latest findings might be the knock-out punch for this plan. A study conducted by the US Department of Education's Institute of Education Sciences (IES) demonstrated virtually no difference in students' standardized test scores from those schools that received funding than those that did not.

Read the entire article at:
http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2008-05-01-reading-first_N.htm

Thursday, May 1, 2008

Fed Looks to Secure Loans for Students

The Senate, yesterday, approved legislation to ensure that today's restrictive credit markets don't hurt students' ability to receive a college loan. Akin to the bill that passed in the House, the Senate bill would increase the limits on the amount a borrower can receive. This, in turn, should ease students' reliance on private lenders - many who have left the market as a result of the credit crisis.

Read the entire article at:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/30/AR2008043003191.html