Posts Categorized: News

DC Shuttle: There’s a Ranking for That

College value ranking lists on the rise. The New York Times reported that rankings of colleges' value, based on cost compared to returns, are increasing. Children's hospitals graduate medical education payment program. The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee approved by voice vote legislation (S. 1557) that would reauthorize a program that provides federal money to suppo...

DC Shuttle: Amid Flurry of Ed Reports, Suggestion that College Net Prices Have Been Stable over Decade

College net prices stable, reports find. Last week, the College Board released reports on "Trends in College Pricing" and "Trends in Student Aid" which found that, even though the price of college has grown, the cost to students has remained stable for the past decade. The report shows that the net cost of tuition, fees, room and board for the average student at a private, nonprofit college is abo...

DC Shuttle: Report Links Poverty to Lack of College—No Surprise There

New data linking poverty and less pursuit of higher education. A report released by the National Student Clearinghouse provides new data showing that students from high schools serving large concentrations of low-income families are less likely to enroll or persist in college than their peers from schools with a more affluent population. CFPB report on student loans. The Consumer Financial Protec...

DC Shuttle: Gridlocked Congress Considers Schools Reauthorization, Private Gift to Keep Head Start Going

Calls for action on ESEA. Education Secretary Arne Duncan on Monday called for action on a long-overdue overhaul of the elementary and secondary school law, contending that Congress has "failed to carry out its basic core responsibilities on education." The last reauthorization of the law, known as No Child Left Behind, expired in 2007 and has been criticized by both parties as requiring unachieva...

Deadline Extended! STEM Problem-Based Learning Opportunity for Educators

In fall 2012, the New England Board of Higher Education (NEBHE) was awarded a three-year $900,000 grant from the National Science Foundation's Advanced Technological Education program for a project titled Advanced Manufacturing Problem Based Learning (AM PBL). The project aims to improve science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education in New England by developing interdisciplinary probl...

DC Shuttle: All Shut Down? Not Quite

Shutdown's limited initial effects of education. The U.S. Department of Education is on partial shutdown, with many employees furloughed, but school districts are functioning in full. The effects of the government shutdown would be harder felt in the education sector if the shutdown were to continue for a prolonged period. Pell grants and federal direct student loans will largely be unaffected by ...

DC Shuttle: Lawmakers Revisit Bank-College Deals

Legislators ask for information on relationship between schools and lenders. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Ranking Member of the House Finance Committee Maxine Waters (D-CA), and Ranking Member of the House Education and Workforce Committee George Miller (D-CA) demanded that eight U.S. banks produce information about agreements they may have with colleges to encourage students to use their product...

More Comings and Goings: Dartmouth Academic Named Vt Ed Chief; former Skidmore Prez Takes US Under Secy Post

Vermont Gov. Peter Shumlin named Rebecca Holcombe, current director of the Dartmouth Teacher Education Program in Hanover, N.H., to lead Vermont's Agency of Education, starting in January. Before going to Dartmouth. Holcombe was a principal at Fairlee School in Vermont and a social studies and science teacher at the Frances C. Richmond School in Hanover, N.H. The governor’s office took over ...

DC Shuttle: Washington Moves on Higher Ed Reauthorization, Common Core Assessments

Congress considers renewal of the Higher Education Act. Momentum is slowly building to reauthorize the Higher Education Act (HEA) with college costs and student debt under bipartisan scrutiny. The most recent reauthorization of the HEA passed in 2008 and expires in 2014. On Thursday, the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee held a hearing on reauthorization. It is the first of 12 hearin...

NE’s 2013 Legislative Sessions: Massachusetts

Passage of a budget for FY14 was complicated by action taken on a $1.9 billion transportation bill filed by Gov. Deval Patrick to fund transportation projects and increase funding for education. Lawmakers rejected Patrick’s $1.9 billion request for new taxes and sent back a bill with $500 million in new taxes including a 3-cent hike in the gas tax. Patrick subsequently vetoed the bill admoni...