Archive for the ‘Admissions’ Category

Henry County sent out this release on its performance on the 2012 SAT:

The SAT scores for Henry County Schools’ 2012 high school graduates have been released by the College Board. Several schools saw improvements in subject areas and composite scores. While scores nationally either fell or remained the same in scoring areas, the district followed the same trend as the state and increased its scores in all measured areas and the composite score.

Henry County Schools’ scores are slightly behind the state averages; however, the district’s composite score rose by 12 points, or 5 points more than the state’s composite score.

Scores for the test are measured in the areas of critical reading, math, and writing. Those three scores are combined to give each student a composite score. The highest composite score a student can receive is 2400, or 800 per subject area.

Six of the district’s high school senior classes increased their composite scores with five of those …

Continue reading Henry County reports rise in SAT scores this year »

From DOE:

The SAT scores of Georgia’s 2012 senior class increased seven points as the nation’s scores decreased two points, according to the College Board’s 2012 SAT report.

Increases were seen even as the rate of students taking the test increased by one percentage point to 81 percent, compared to the national average test-taking rate of only 31 percent. Georgia has the seventh highest participation rate in the nation. States with higher participation rates typically see lower average scores on the SAT and often see dips when the number of students taking the exam increases.

This year Georgia also saw the largest and most diverse group of graduating seniors in state history. Of the state’s 2012 college-bound seniors who took the SAT, 47 percent were minority students, up from 46 percent in 2011 and 39 percent in 2007.

Georgia’s students scored 1,452 on the SAT, a seven point increase from 2011. The national average was 1,498, a two point decrease from 2011.

“I’m extremely …

Continue reading Georgia SAT scores rise as national scores falter a bit »

Robert Maranto is the 21st Century Chair in Leadership at the Department of Education Reform at the University of Arkansas. He has taught at ten colleges and universities, and produced 11 books, including “The Politically Correct University.”

He has written essays for us before and we are delighted to share another one from him:

By Robert Maranto

For the hundreds of college towns across America, like mine, it’s back to school time. Confused first year students and their parents snarl traffic and ask directions at every street corner. Our local economy depends on that spending.

For 18 million students, higher education offers a bit of everything, with dozens of majors, programs, certifications, clubs, institutes, study abroad opportunities, counselors, clinics, sports teams, Olympic swimming pools, rock climbing walls, bike paths, restaurants, and deans and deputy deans of every variety. Our local economy depends on that employment.

Unfortunately, the one thing higher …

Continue reading Higher education is missing a critical element: A higher purpose »

In a culture where everyone wins a trophy, where A’s outnumber C’s on report cards and where a child’s self-esteem is as polished as the family silver, it’s not surprising that young people feel good about themselves.

Do they feel too good?

Yes, says Arthur Levine, co-author of the new book, “Generation on a Tightrope: A Portrait of Today’s College Student,” a snapshot of the values, lives and aspirations of students enrolled in college between 2005 through current students.

“This is a generation of kids never permitted to skin their knees. If everyone won an award and you never really had to deal with adversity, why wouldn’t you think you were great?” asks Levine, president of the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation and president emeritus of Teachers College, Columbia University.

That coddling, evidenced by parents still intervening for their kids with messy college roommates or demanding professors, is extending adolescence and delaying adulthood for the tightrope …

Continue reading College students today: A study in contradictions »

State and national ACT scores were released today. At the national level, scores on the college admission exam were flat, while Georgia, where more teens are taking the ACT, saw a slight increase.  (SAT scores will follow in a few weeks.)

A record 52 percent of the the 2012  U.S. high school graduating class took the ACT.  More than a fourth (28 percent) did not meet any of the four ACT College Readiness Benchmarks in the testing areas of English, mathematics, reading and science; 15 percent met only one of the benchmarks, while 17 percent met two. Only 25 percent of tested 2012 grads met all four ACT benchmarks, unchanged from last year.

“Far too many high school graduates are still falling short academically,” said ACT Chief Executive Officer Jon Whitmore in a statement.  “We need to do more to ensure that our young people improve. The advanced global economy requires American students to perform at their highest level to compete in the future job market and maintain the …

Continue reading Georgia registers small increase on 2012 ACT scores »

At least two impressive careers have been hurt by last week’s news that Emory misreported student data to national ranking groups.

The AJC is reporting that two former university top admissions officials resigned their current jobs in the wake of last week’s announcement by the Emory president that an internal review uncovered the misreporting of student SAT and ACT scores. (Emory deserves credit for conducting the probe and coming forward with the findings.)

It is still unclear why the wrong data was submitted as there is no evidence yet that the difference in the test scores reported — students admitted to Emory versus students choosing to enroll — was enough to boost ranking to a significant degree.

The grand poo-pah of college rankings — U.S. News & World Report — contends that the inflated data did not impact Emory’s current top 20 ranking. A magazine spokesman told the AJC that the university would have retained its ranking with the revised scores.

The score gap is not …

Continue reading Fallout from Emory scandal: Former deans resign current jobs. Still unclear why this mess happened. »

One of the working research papers being presented at the 107th Annual Meeting of the American Sociological Association in Denver this weekend deals with the disproportionate share of student debt that falls on students from families earning  between $40,000 and $59,000.

Here is the official release on the paper by Jason N. Houle of the University of Wisconsin-Madison:

Young adults from middle income families are more likely to rack up student loan debt — and in greater amounts — than students from both lower and higher income backgrounds, finds new research to be presented at the 107th Annual Meeting of the American Sociological Association.

“Many middle income families make too much money for their children to qualify for student aid packages,” said study author Jason N. Houle, a Robert Wood Johnson Health and Society Scholar at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. “While at the same time, they may not have the financial means to cover the high costs of college.”

Houle …

Continue reading Study: Students from middle-income families incur higher student loan debt »

Update Friday evening: AJC reporter Laura Diamond is working on a story for Sunday on Emory and the rankings misinformation. If you are a parent, student or graduate and would be willing to talk with her, please call her at 404-526-7257 or email her. Thanks.

Emory’s announcement today that employees inflated student data to push the university up in the college rankings will spur a renewed debate on the arms race to dominate the “best” lists.

Emory President Jim Wagner said today that Emory has intentionally misreported data about its students to groups that rank colleges for more than a decade.

Emory is not the first college to acknowledge that student academic profiles were tweaked to enhance standings. The New York Times earlier this year reported several schools had acknowledged gaming the system. Iona College in New York admitted lying about test scores, graduation rates, freshman retention, student-faculty ratio and acceptance rates.

The Times reported that “Baylor …

Continue reading The arms race for rankings: Emory says student test data inflated for more than a decade »

Interesting AJC Sunday story by AJC higher ed reporter Laura Diamond on the state’s crackdown on remedial classes in its public colleges.

(I can’t link as the story was a subscriber-only. You can read it by logging on to the paper’s iPad app. If you are a subscriber, you can read the article on our e-edition here.)

The story notes that the technical and university systems devote about $55 million of their budgets each year to remedial education. More than 70,000 public college students took remedial classes last year.

Few succeed, according to the story.

About 1 in 4 students who take a remedial class earn a four-year degree within six years. The rate drops to 15 percent for the under-prepared students who need remediation in reading, writing and math.

Diamond reports that 29 percent of the students requiring remediation are under the age of 21;  26 percent are age 36 or older.

Here is an excerpt of her Sunday piece:

“The numbers are dismal, no matter how you look at it, ” …

Continue reading State cracks down on how many remedial courses college students can take »

The for-profit colleges are taking billions in tax dollars with little to show for it, according to a report that will be issued today from a U.S. Senate committee.

Despite $32 billion in federal student aid to the colleges, most of the students never earn a degree, indicating that taxpayers are being saddled with a losing investment. However, the for-profits colleges don’t fail everyone, least of all their executives  — the CEOs of the colleges were paid an average of $7.3 million, according to the report.

The scathing report states that more than 80 percent of the for-profit college revenues comes from taxpayers. Because of its larger and larger claim on tax dollars, the for-profit college industry has come under greater scrutiny. Latest numbers show that the for-profits enroll 13 percent of the nation’s college students. Yet, those students represent nearly half of all the defaults on college loans.

And government loans are the oil that keeps the for-profit college industry …

Continue reading Scathing report on for-profit colleges and their $32 billion in tax dollars »