02.27.08

changes at TSU

Posted in News at 12:24 am by Paloma Cruz

TSU’s president calls for entrance standard
All applicants now accepted but a large majority fail to graduate

– Houston Chronicle2

Texas Southern University’s new president wants to end the school’s long-standing practice of accepting all applicants, no matter their academic background, saying the policy contributes to its alarmingly low graduation rate.

President John Rudley said the change is necessary to remake the state’s largest historically black university, which has been on the ropes recently because of management missteps, sliding enrollment and bad press.

[snip]

Footnotes
2 = article may expire in a few weeks

ivy league tuition is free, for some

Posted in News at 12:14 am by Paloma Cruz

Stanford waives tuition if income under $100,000
– Reuters

Amid calls by some U.S. lawmakers for wealthy universities to lower tuition costs, officials at Stanford University said on Wednesday they would no longer charge tuition to students from families earning less than $100,000 a year.

For students whose families earn less than $60,000 a year, Stanford University will not charge for either tuition or room and board, officials at the prestigious university near San Francisco said.

[snip]

02.19.08

college applications increase

Posted in News at 10:48 pm by Paloma Cruz

College application waiting game gets longer
More trying for elite schools, and that delays the final decision

– Houston Chronicle2

[snip]

Applications to Houston-area schools and others nationwide are up
dramatically, which creates more competition and ups the stress level,
admissions officers and counselors said.

Colleges, like Houston’s Rice University, where applications this
year have increased 11 percent from a year ago, already are warning
students that more of them likely will land on waiting lists because
admissions officials are not sure how many of the applicants they admit
will actually enroll.

[snip]

Footnotes
2 = article may expire in a few weeks

25 Dallas teachers will be fired in schools’ shakeup

Posted in General, News at 12:33 am by Paloma Cruz

25 Dallas teachers will be fired in schools’ shakeup
7 underperforming campuses forced into state-mandated improvement measures

– Houston Chronicle2

Two elementary schools and five high schools in the Dallas school system face state-mandated improvements after being classified as academically unacceptable for two years in a row, a school official said on Monday.

Also, 25 teachers at those seven schools will be fired because of their students’ poor performances on the state’s standardized tests, the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills, Dallas ISD spokesman Jon Dahlander said.

[snip]

Footnotes
2 = article may expire in a few weeks

02.10.08

learn it for free

Posted in Resources at 6:23 pm by Paloma Cruz

Online Education Database has compiled a very impressive list of “100 Free Podcasts from the Best Colleges in the World.” It’s a great list.

02.07.08

peer pressure decides if girls like math

Posted in News at 11:02 pm by Paloma Cruz

Girls Look To Friends For Interest In Math
Study Tracked Courses Of More Than 6,000 Students

– Click2Houston.com

Girls look to their close friends more than boys do when they make important scholastic decisions, a new study says.

[snip]

What they discovered was that girls depend heavily on their friends to make educational choices — such as whether to take math and what math classes to take.

[snip]

All teens — girls and boys — with close friends and other peers who excelled academically took more higher-level math than other teens, according to the study. But the connection between these relationships and the math classes was stronger for girls than for boys.

[snip]