Monday, June 14, 2010

Federal Student Loans Get Cheaper, Easier - US News and World Report

Federal Student Loans Get Cheaper, Easier

2010 brings lower interest rates, easier application and repayment rules

Posted June 14, 2010

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Because states have been cutting back on scholarships while hiking tuition, more students are having to borrow to fund college. Luckily, at least some federal student loans are getting cheaper, easier to get, and easier to repay.

[Read about how government rule changes will affect federal parent loans.]

Easier application: While students will still have to fill out a Free Application for Federal Student Aid, starting July 1, students who want a federal Stafford loan need only ask their college. They no longer need—or have the opportunity—to shop for a bank to make a federally backed loan.

[Read more on how on reforms will affect students.]

Cheaper: Congress has lowered the interest rates for student Stafford loans awarded to those who qualify as needy. In the 2010 academic year, which starts July 1, students who qualify for the "subsidized" federal Stafford student loan will be charged no interest while the student is in school, and just 4.5 percent after they leave. (They will also pay an up-front fee of 0.5 percent of the value of the loan.) In the 2009 academic year, the government charged 5.6 percent in after-graduation interest on subsidized Stafford loans. The government makes subsidized loans to students whose FAFSA shows they cannot afford the full cost of their college, and who don't receive enough scholarships and other aid to make up the difference between the cost and what they can afford.

Ore. boy's disappearance now a criminal case - Boston.com

Ore. boy's disappearance now a criminal case

This undated photo provided by the Multnomah County Sheriff's Office shows Kyron Horman. Investigators have limited the search for the missing 7-year-old Portland boy to the city's metro area, despite tips from as far away as Washington state, a sheriff's spokesman said Tuesday, June 8, 2010. (AP Photo/Multnomah County Sheriff's Office)

By Nigel Duara

Associated Press Writer / June 14, 2010

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PORTLAND, Ore.—Ten days after a 7-year-old Portland boy disappeared, Multnomah County Sheriff Dan Staton fought back tears while announcing the search has been reclassified as a criminal investigation.

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Until now, Kyron Horman has been considered a "missing endangered child," a designation that spans a range of possibilities, including that a minor is danger after getting lost.

Staton announced the reclassification -- along with a $25,000 reward for information that leads to Kyron -- at a crowded news conference Sunday. But he offered no explanation for the change.

"(The investigation) is not going to stop," Staton said. "I will address those types of issues once we've located Kyron."

It's not the only detail about Kyron's disappearance that remains a mystery, as school officials and law enforcement try to keep a clamp on information they say could compromise the investigation.

What is known is that Kyron saw his stepmother, Terri Moulton Horman, in the hallway of rural Skyline Elementary School on the morning of June 4. It was minutes after he had presented his second-grade science fair project, a diorama on red-eyed tree frogs.

Hours passed. Kyron's school bus arrived at his home that afternoon, but he

Appeals court to rule on N.J. Gov. Chris Christie's school cuts Education - NorthJersey.com

Education - NorthJersey.com

Appeals court to rule on N.J. Gov. Chris Christie's school cuts

Monday, June 14, 2010

WIRE SERVICE

Associated Press

TRENTON — An appeals court panel is expected to rule on Governor Christie's executive order to force school districts to use surplus money to make up for cuts in state aid.
In February, the Republican governor ordered the freeze of $475 million in school aid payments in 2010 by requiring districts to use their excess surplus instead of state aid. The cuts were made at the time to help plug a more than $1 billion surplus in the current year budget.
The Perth Amboy school district, which lost $15 million in state aid, filed the lawsuit.

Do we have a “boy crisis” in our schools? � InterACT

Do we have a “boy crisis” in our schools?

by Kelly Kovacic

Books played an important role in my life growing up. They were stacked on book shelves in my bedroom where I spent hours fully engaged in the next story. My library card was well used on weekly journeys to the local public library to discover the next new world. I stayed up late at night reading, rarely left the house without a book in my backpack, and did quite well in school. On the other hand, my younger brother did not share the same passion or the same grades. An avid sports fan and athlete, he was constantly on the move. Even without weeknight TV and video-game privileges, his recreational reading, if any, was confined to the Sports Section of the Los Angeles Times. Circumstances changed dramatically with age and time. After high school, with the help of an inspirational junior college professor and a clerk job at the local independent book store, my brother slowly transformed into reading dynamo. His grades and confidence in school improved. He graduated from the University of Oregon with a major in English, went to law school where he wrote for the law review, and today is our family’s go-to person for book recommendations. His reading list exceeds mine by volumes.
This sibling difference in pre-college interests and achievements sheds some light on a growing dialogue in the education community.
There has been a lot in the media recently about the “boy crisis” in education – the fact that female students are beginning to outperform their male counterparts at a somewhat alarming rate. As an undergraduate at the University of California, San Diego, I wrote my honors thesis on the history of female education in the United

Eduflack: A Work-Around for Edu-Jobs?

A Work-Around for Edu-Jobs?

by Eduflack

Edu-jobs. For the past month or so, we have been hearing how our K-12 public school systems need $23 billion in emergency funding from the federal government in order to keep teachers across the nation in jobs this fall. EdSec Arne Duncan has made passioned pleas on Capitol Hill for such funding. The teachers unions have stood behind Duncan's request in a way far stronger than they have ever supported the EdSec. And House leaders like Education and Labor Committee Chairman George Miller (CA) and Appropriations Chairman David Obey (WI) have echoed the calls and urged their fellow leaders on the Hill to ask, "what about the teachers?"

To date, though, Congress has resisted. Many senators, wary of spending more and more money, have refused to move the issue forward. They even cite the absence of edu-jobs from President Obama's request for emergency funding from Congress. Despite the best of intentions, right now, it seems like efforts to fund edu-jobs aren't going anywhere.

It all has Eduflack thinking. In February of 2009, the U.S. Congress passed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, a $787 billion spending bill designed to help states and localities IMMEDIATELY deal with the budget shortfalls and shrinking coffers just about everyone was facing. By spring, we saw roadside signs

Schools Matter: Change Is Coming to Chicago Education: Will the AFT and NEA Smell the Coffee?

Change Is Coming to Chicago Education: Will the AFT and NEA Smell the Coffee?

by Jim Horn

Progressives should be celebrating in Chicago and everywhere else that ranks learning over testing and accountability over accounting. From the Chicago Sun-Times:

June 13, 2010

BY MARY WISNIEWSKI AND ROSALIND ROSSI Staff Reporters

Karen Lewis, a high school chemistry teacher who has been a fierce opponent of Mayor Daley's Renaissance 2010 program to shake up and rejuvenate public schools, handily defeated two-term president Marilyn Stewart for the leadership of the Chicago Teachers Union early Saturday.

Lewis and her Caucus of Rank and File Educators (CORE) slate won in a virtual sweep against Stewart's United Progressive Caucus team that has been in power for 37 of the last 40 years, with Lewis trouncing Stewart by a 3-2 margin.

The change in CTU leadership -- Lewis takes the reins July 1 -- could put Mayor Daley in a

Education news - Boston Globe - MCAS results - latest education news - Boston.com

GLOBE EDUCATION NEWS

He never lost sight of his dreams

Steven Rinaldi set ambitious goals when he began at East Boston High School: Graduate among the top of his class in four years and attend a top college. (By James Vaznis, Globe Staff)

Salem plans Horace Mann charter high school

Salem is preparing to seek state approval to open its own charter school even as organizers of the Road to Success Charter High School ready a revised plan for a charter school serving Lynn and Salem. (By John Laidler, Globe Correspondent)

Metco students, parents upset by school cutbacks

School officials in Lincoln and Sudbury voted last week to merge two of their three Metco programs, a cost-saving measure that has angered Boston students and parents who say they were excluded from the process and are worried about the future of the program. (By James O’Brien, Globe Correspondent)

Volunteers say fund-raising blitz for Arlington public schools a one-shot deal

They raised more than $492,000 since April to lessen the blow of budget cuts on Arlington’s public schools, but volunteers behind the Bridge the Gap campaign said last week there will not be a repeat performance next year.(By Brock Parker, Globe Correspondent)

Newton North graduates final class before building’s demolition

The graduation ceremony for the last class of seniors to make their way through the 1970s-vintage Newton North High School on Lowell Avenue took place elsewhere, at the Conte Forum on the Boston College campus. But the aging building wasn’t far from anyone’s thoughts. (By Sarah Thomas, Globe Correspondent)

LATEST EDUCATION NEWS WIRE UPDATES

Lobbyists aid for-profit college student group (AP, 6/13/10)
Investigators recover plane wreckage from school (AP, 6/13/10)
Along Gulf coast highway, anxiety spreads with oil (AP, 6/13/10)
Calif. gov candidates come from different worlds (AP, 6/12/10)
One-time flagship Philly Catholic school closing (AP, 6/12/10)

LATEST K-12 EDUCATION NEWS

Conn. teachers honored with presidential award (AP, 6/13/10)
Educator honored for teaching language, confidence(Boston Globe, 6/11/10)
1,000 NYC students walk out to save free rides (AP, 6/11/10)
First lady recalls family's influence (AP, 6/11/10)
Amherst teacher honored as state's teacher of year(AP, 6/11/10)

This Week In Education: AM News: Don't Call It A Stimulus

AM News: Don't Call It A Stimulus

by Alexander Russo

D.C. school chancellor Michelle Rhee says New York must learn from her groundbreaking union deal: Despite some real improvements achieved over the past few years, New York continues to operate under a contract that is much more focused on arcane rules, seniority and job protections than about how to promote better learning outcomes for kids. United Federation of Teachers President Michael Mulgrew and Schools Chancellor Joel Klein must change this... Don't call it a stimulus package: Obama wants another $50 billion CS Monitor: The Obama administration argues that 300,000 teachers could be laid off without $50 billion in federal help. But it is shying away from calling it a stimulus package... In bold move, Colorado alters teacher tenure rules AP: Colorado is changing the rules for how teachers earn and keep the sweeping job protections known as tenure, linking student performance to job security despite outcry from teacher unions that have steadfastly defended the system for decades... Education" href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/14/education/14engineering.html" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(34, 68, 187); ">Many Schools Teach Engineering in Early Grades NYT: To compete in a global economy, some school districts are offering engineering lessons to students in kindergarten...

Photo: First Lady At DC High School Commencement

by Alexander Russo

First Lady Michelle Obama during the Anacostia Senior High School commencement ceremony

First Lady Michelle Obama sits with class valedictorian Jordan Smiley during the Anacostia Senior High School commencement ceremony at the Daughters of the American Revolution Constitutional Hall in Washington, D.C. June 11, 2010. (Official White House Photo by Samantha Appleton) (The President of the United States of America believes in you.")

EdSec: Four Days Of "Closed Press Meetings"

by Alexander Russo

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After a Monday afternoon meeting with the State Legislators Conference, the Education Secretary doesn't have much on his public media calendar until Friday. But -- in a new development -- his calendar lists four straight days of "closed press meetings." Not sure what that means -- the Department has for the last year or so declined to provide information about the Secretary's non-media calendar but perhaps this is a start. Maybe in another year or two we'll get some actual

There’s No Teen Sex Epidemic. Really. � Student Activism

There’s No Teen Sex Epidemic. Really.

by Angus Johnston

Every once in a while I post about the latest high-profile bad scholarship on youth and students. There’s all sorts of crap social science writing out there, but in this particular field what makes a splash is research that reinforces prejudices about young people — that they’re narcissists, that they’re overly entitled, that they drink too much, that they’re having too much sex too soon.
That last one is a biggie. Ask any middle-aged person about young people’s sexuality, and chances are they’ll bend your ear about how young people are having sex earlier, more casually, and more recklessly than ever before. You’ll hear all about “the hook-up culture,” and rainbow parties, and so on and on.
But there’s no evidence of any such shift, and in fact all the data we have points in the other direction.
Here’s a great write-up of what we know about heterosexual teen sexual activity. Compared to twenty years ago, teen girls aged 15-19 are 20% more likely to report being virgins, and boys the same age are more than 25% more likely. Three-quarters of girls who have had sex say they were in a serious relationship when they lost their virginity.
This is all self-reported, of course, but it’s backed up by hard data. Teen pregnancy rates have plummeted since the mid-1990s, after holding steady for the previous two decades. Today’s teenagers are just half as likely to get

Rise & Shine: In tight budget year, new scrutiny on staff retreats | GothamSchools

Rise & Shine: In tight budget year, new scrutiny on staff retreats

by Philissa Cramer

The city is planning to spend nearly $1 million on computerized school clocks. (Post)
More than 300 school system employees make more than $150,000, up 25 percent since last year. (Post)
Faculty from Progress High School went on an expensive, taxpayer-funded retreat. (Daily News)
So did faculty from another school in the same building, and teachers aren’t happy about it. (Daily News)
The city is not collecting rent from private schools that use Randall’s Island’s new public ballfields. (Times)
The city is trying to escape some special education requirements to save money. (NY1)
More than 1,000 students from 23 schools took part in Friday’s anti-Metrocard-cuts walkout. (Post, NY1)
A columnist says this year’s summer school numbers suggests social promotion in the past. (Post)
Most city valedictorians are women who do not speak English at home. (GothamSchools, Daily News)
Many public pre-K programs accepted only a tiny percentage of applicants. (Post, Daily News)
Hundreds of middle school students took part in a citywide science fair this weekend. (Daily News)
In-Tech Academy is under investigation for making students to clean toilets as punishment. (Daily News)
D.C. schools chief Michelle Rhee says NYC can learn from D.C.’s new teachers contract. (Daily News)
Chicago teachers elected a new union chief who opposes the mayor’s policies. (Chicago Sun-Times)
California is weighing a bill to require kindergartners to turn 5 before enrolling. (San Francisco Chronicle)
More and more schools are teaching engineering to students as young as in kindergarten. (Times)
The Post praises Democrats for Education Reform for undermining teachers unions.

Political Bookworm - Ideology vs. education

Ideology vs. education

Massimo Pigliucci goes to war against public ignorance – sometimes willful – in matters of science in his new book "Nonsense on Stilts: How to Tell Science from Bunk,” recently released by the University of Chicago Press. He analyzes how the belief in bunk science occurs, looking into how scientists work and spread their knowledge and how the culture absorbs it. Here, Pigliucci, a professor of philosophy at the City University of New York, turns his sights on a related issue: the way ideology worms its way into public education and elbows aside serious scholarship. His case in point: Texas.

By Massimo Pigliucci

After years of attempting to dilute the teaching of science, the Texas Board of Education has at least temporarily succeeded in rewriting history itself to its liking. According to the newly approved standards in social studies, the United States of America is not a democracy anymore, it’s a constitutional republic (it is actually both), and the somewhat tarnished term “capitalism” (see recent Wall Street shenanigans) has been replaced by the more optimistic and certainly more patriotic sounding “free enterprise system.”

Other changes that Texas students will be exposed to include less emphasis on the civil rights movement and more on the Confederacy, and of course the “truth” that the United Nations is a questionable

Administration targets working-adult degree programs | The Barr Code

Administration targets working-adult degree programs

6:00 am June 14, 2010, by Bob Barr

Whether a president actually claims the mantel of being the “Education President,” as did George W. Bush, or simply declares education a “top priority,” every recent occupant of the White House has felt the need to tout their education credentials. In his very first speech to a joint session of the Congress in early 2009, President Barack Obama promised that within a decade the U.S. will “have the highest proportion of college graduates in the world.”

Strange it is, then, that this administration is moving to dramatically curtail the ability of a major segment of the country’s post-secondary schools to meet the needs of many students often underserved by traditional colleges and universities; namely, working adults and minorities.

In the crosshairs of a new Department of Education proposed regulation are America’s proprietary private colleges and universities.

The variety of degrees offered by proprietary schools, and the number and size of such schools, have grown dramatically in recent years; largely because they fill an important niche in higher education – offering flexible hours and course programs that meet the needs of working adults. As noted recently by Mark Schneider, visiting scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, four-year, for-profit schools represent the fastest-growing segment of higher education in the country.

Considering the avowed desire by the president to significantly increase the number of citizens graduating from college, and seeing the success proprietary colleges have enjoyed in helping fulfill that goal, one might conclude that the Obama Administration would be working to ensure

Monday, June 14, 2010