Hechinger Report | The ‘cash cow’ of U.S. universities: Professional certificates instead of degrees

Hechinger Report | The ‘cash cow’ of U.S. universities: Professional certificates instead of degrees:

The ‘cash cow’ of U.S. universities: Professional certificates instead of degrees

By Jon Marcus

Reggie Herndon returned to college because he wanted to change careers.

What he didn’t want was another degree.

Herndon, a University of Tennessee graduate from Lynchburg, Va., is on his way instead to finishing a nine-month professional certificate in counterintelligence from Mercyhurst University in Erie, Pa., which he hopes will bolster his odds of landing a job as an intelligence analyst with a defense contractor or government agency.

“I decided that I wanted to re-engineer myself,” said Herndon, 56, who handles marketing for an employment program run under contract to the Social Security Administration. “But I didn’t want to go back and do the whole graduate program, and come out with a tremendous amount of debt.”

Responding to demand from more and more students like Herndon, universities are jumping into the business of providing professional certificates that were once the domain of community colleges and 

Fact Sheet: Educational Exchanges for the 21st Century: 100,000 Strong In The Americas and Science Without Borders | The White House

Fact Sheet: Educational Exchanges for the 21st Century: 100,000 Strong In The Americas and Science Without Borders | The White House:

Fact Sheet: Educational Exchanges for the 21st Century: 100,000 Strong In The Americas and Science Without Borders

by The White House

President Obama’s “100,000 Strong in the Americas” and Brazilian President Rousseff’s “Science without Borders” initiatives create opportunities for substantial new partnerships between Brazil and the United States to expand international study and research.  These exchanges strengthen U.S. and Brazilian institutional partnerships, develop a workforce prepared for 21st century opportunities, and contribute to long-term economic growth for both countries.
100,000 Strong in the Americas
President Obama's 100,000 Strong in the Americas goal is to increase higher education exchanges between the United States and Latin America and the Caribbean to 100,000 each year in each direction.  To meet the President’s goal, the U.S. government is working to expand educational linkages in the region through partnerships with foreign governments, universities and colleges, higher education associations, and the private sector.
Goals of the Program:  100,000 Strong in the Americas will foster region-wide prosperity through greater in¬ternational exchange of students who are our future leaders and innovators. Increased understanding in the Western Hemisphere and closer people-to-people ties will help us work together to address common challenges including citizen security, economic opportunity, social inclusion, and environmental sustainability.
University Partnerships:  New and existing partnerships between community colleges, public and private universities and colleges, states, and other consortia serve as a foundation for expanding academic and research exchanges.  EducationUSA, a network of more than 100 U.S. government-supported advising centers throughout the hemisphere, connects U.S. higher-education institutions with students and universities throughout the region.  The U.S. Commercial Service of the Department of Commerce is partnering with EducationUSA to organize an Education Mission to Brazil.  The mission will stop in Brasilia, Sao Paulo, and Rio de Janeiro from August 30 to September 6, 2012.  The purpose of the mission is to connect approximately 60 appropriately accredited U.S. education institutions with potential students and university/institution partners in Brazil.
Bilateral Government Partnership:  The United States cooperates with partner governments throughout Latin America and the Caribbean who offer scholarships to qualified students to study abroad by providing educational advising and placement strategies for those students in U.S. higher education institutions.  The United States also coordinates with partners to ensure timely access to information on educational opportunities and visas through EducationUSA advising centers, U.S. embassies, and U.S. consulates.
Public-Private Partnerships:  Private sector contributions to expand international study can broaden the reach of existing programs as well as support new initiatives that align with donor priorities.  The U.S. government, in partnership with governments in the region, offers several exchange programs – including Fulbright, Gilman, the Global Undergraduate Exchange, and others in which the private sector can contribute directly to the implementing partner to expand the number of exchange participants or support enhancement activities that make these programs a unique experience.
Diversity:  The diversity of the U.S. higher education system offers educational opportunities for all types of study and is one of the fundamental strengths behind 100,000 Strong in the Americas.  We also seek to diversify the range of students who participate in international exchanges to and from the United States.  Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Hispanic-Serving Institutions, Native American Tribal colleges, other Minority Serving Institutions, and community colleges in the United States offer opportunities that may meet international students' needs and interests.  We also work with Latin American and Caribbean governments, universities, and the private sector to provide international study opportunities for students from disadvantaged backgrounds throughout the region.
Science without Borders
President Rousseff’s Science without Borders initiative has the potential to make a major contribution toward reaching the United States’ 100,000 Strong goal.  The initiative aims to fund 101,000 Brazilian university students and scholars in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields to study and conduct research abroad over the next four years.  The Brazilian government will fund 75,000 Brazilian students; the private sector will fund an additional 26,000 scholarships.  At least half of the Brazilian students under this program are expected to study in the United States.  The United States received and placed the first cohort of Brazilian Science without Borders students in more than 100 U.S. universities in 42 states, and we look forward to receiving thousands more in the coming years.
University Partnerships:  Brazilian universities nominate candidates for the program and the Brazilian agencies responsible for the implementation of the program, Brazil’s Federal Agency for Support and Evaluation of Graduate Education (CAPES) and the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq), approve the students’ participation.  CAPES and CNPq, through partnerships with educational organizations and universities, negotiate placement, tuition, and fees for the students and researchers.  The participating host institutions make the final decision to accept a student in the Brazil Science without Borders Program.  The Brazilian government has partnered with the Institute of International Education (IIE) to administer the undergraduate scholarship segment of Science without Borders in the United States and with Academic and Professional Programs for the Americas (LASPAU) to place Brazilian students in Ph.D. programs in the United States.  Accredited U.S. institutions interested in hosting undergraduate and Ph.D. students should contact IIE and LASPAU.
Supporting Students:  The U.S. Government supports Science without Borders students by advising on successful strategies for navigating the American higher education community, encouraging diversity of placement throughout the United States, conducting outreach to engage both U.S. and Brazilian higher education and scientific communities, facilitating visa appointments and hosting orientation events.  The U.S. Government, in partnership with a consortium of Binational Centers in Brazil, launched english3 (“English-cubed”) in March 2012.  Specifically developed and tailored for Science without Borders applicants, the country-wide English immersion program will prepare students with essential skills for academic life in the United States.  The United States is also expanding professional development opportunities for English language teachers in Brazil.
Public-Private Partnerships: Science without Borders is funded by public and private sources. The United States of America and Brazil Fulbright Commission provide support by managing funds from the Brazilian Government, nonprofit and philanthropic organizations, and private sector partners.  U.S. private sector partners and foundations support the program financially by funding the program’s academic component or opening internship (academic training) opportunities, paid and unpaid, for Science without Borders scholars.  U.S. private sector organizations interested in supporting the program through funding scholarships or opening internship opportunities should contact IIE or LASPAU.

RheeFirst! » A DC teacher speaks out on test cheating, Rhee’s successor declines

RheeFirst! » A DC teacher speaks out on test cheating, Rhee’s successor declines:

A DC teacher speaks out on test cheating, Rhee’s successor declines

by admin

By Claudio Sanchez for National Public Radio. Read the entire interview here.
“NPR, CLAUDIO SANCHEZ: Frazier O’Leary has taught high school English for most of his 42 years in Washington, D.C. He says administrators and teachers may have altered test scores because they feared for their jobs.
O’LEARY: You know, the pressure was put on principals, the pressure was put on teachers that the test scores had to be raised. But it had nothing to do with educating students.
SANCHEZ: In Washington, D.C., test scores account for 50 percent of a teacher’s performance, more than in any other urban school district in the country. It’s the policy Michelle Rhee devised and Chancellor Henderson 

DISD trustees to consider joining 100-plus other state districts in signing resolution condemning standardized testing | Dallas ISD Blog | dallasnews.com

DISD trustees to consider joining 100-plus other state districts in signing resolution condemning standardized testing | Dallas ISD Blog | dallasnews.com:

DISD trustees to consider joining 100-plus other state districts in signing resolution condemning standardized testing

by Robert Wilonsky

Attention, Dallas ISD parents -- students too. You're not the only ones who hate standardized testing. Matter of fact, the loudest critic is none other than Texas Education Agency Commissioner Robert Scott, who, as you may recall, referred to teaching to the test as nothing less than a "a perversion of its original intent." The reason: Students spent most of their days these days either studying for or taking standardized tests. The district's even offering prep sessions for the STAAR test. And while some in the state Lege refuse to budge (hello, Florence Shapiro), districts statewide are beginning to speak up for themselves. As Valerie Strauss noted on her Washington Post ed blog recently, more than 100 districts across the state have passed a resolution condemning the state's "over-reliance on standardized, high stakes testing." On Thursday, the DISD board will consider whether or not to add its name to that 

Big Shifts at the Teachers Union: A Reader’s Guide - voiceofsandiego.org: Education

Big Shifts at the Teachers Union: A Reader’s Guide - voiceofsandiego.org: Education:

Big Shifts at the Teachers Union: A Reader’s Guide

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  San Diego Education Association

Posted: Thursday, April 5, 2012 5:02 pm |Updated: 6:47 pm, Thu Apr 5, 2012.

2 comments

• By Will Carless

It’s been a hectic couple of months over at the San Diego Education Association, the union that represents some 7,000 San Diego Unified teachers.

The union is right in the thick of the battle over the district’s troubled finances. With the district estimating that it faces an $80 million to $120 million deficit next year, school leaders are pleading with the SDEA to give up future pay raises, continue taking five unpaid days off and accept cuts to their benefits package.

So far, those pleas have been ignored. But there have been two big changes recently in the union’s leadership, and there are some early signs that the union may start to move away from what has been an increasingly hard-line, isolated philosophy in the last few years.

A lot has happened, quickly, so let’s take a look at the key issues:

Why the Union’s Role Is So Important

You might want to start by watching this

Teacher Fired over Trayvon Martin Fundraiser | Teaching Tolerance

Teacher Fired over Trayvon Martin Fundraiser | Teaching Tolerance:

Teacher Fired over Trayvon Martin Fundraiser

Submitted by Alice Pettway on April 6, 2012

• Keywords:
 
• Race and ethnicity

What do you do with a teacher who provides students with authentic learning opportunities? A teacher who invests her own resources to support students? A teacher who was voted Teacher of the Year two of the last three years?

If you’re Superintendent Jacqueline Cassell at the Pontiac Academy for Excellence Middle School in Pontiac, Mich., you fire her.

When Brooke Harris contacted us last week, her first concern was not her career—it was her students. She worried that she had let them down by not fighting harder for her job. She worried that their essays on Trayvon Martin would no longer be included in the school newspaper. She worried that the superintendent in charge of their education would continue to underestimate them.

We’re worried about Brooke’s students too. 

Last month Brooke Harris’ eighth-grade class asked her about the “kid who was killed over some skittles;” she 

In Defense of the Department of Education, Diplomacy and . . . Defense

In Defense of the Department of Education, Diplomacy and . . . Defense:

In Defense of the Department of Education, Diplomacy and . . . Defense

by Sam

Two unrelated articles in yesterday’s New York Times – one about the ostensible decline of influence in American geopolitics, and the other about the ostensible rise of autism in American schoolchildren – have led me to consider a radical proposal:
Let’s merge the Departments of Education, State and Defense.
Georgetown professor of foreign policy Charles Kupchan indirectly argued for such blasphemy when he noted the ways in which the landscape of modern diplomacy is shifting uneasily beneath our once-sturdy Western feet. Pointing to the nascent revolutions in the Middle East, the success of state capitalism in China and Russia, and the growth of left-wing populism in India and Brazil, Kupchan illustrates the ways in which “rising nations are fashioning their own versions of modernity and pushing back against the West’s ideological ambitions. As this century unfolds,” he argues, “multiple power centers, and the competing models they represent, will vie on a more level playing field. Effective global governance will require forging common ground amid an equalizing