On Thursday, the White House granted the waiver requests of 10 states, including Massachusetts, to opt out from the requirements of the "No Child Left Behind" (NCLB) law. As passed, NCLB requires school districts to demonstrate through testing proficiency in reading and math skills for all grades by 2014. Many have called the NCLB law too unrealistic to implement, and a number of states have indic...
The term "Access" has acquired a bit of a Rodney Dangerfield complex since back in the day when I suggested: "If one word captures the range of compelling issues that the New England Board of Higher Education should focus its energy on at the start of the new century, the word is access."
The American Association of Community Colleges (AACC) wants you to know that access still deserves respect,...
The Maine Compact for Higher Education merged with the Maine Coalition for Excellence in Education to form "Educate Maine," a new organization whose mission is to champion college and career readiness and increased education attainment for Maine people. Educate Maine's executive director will be Tanna Clews, former director of the Coalition. Mike Dubyak, president of Wright Express, will chair Edu...
Members on the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) took advantage of a hearing Thursday on containing the cost of higher education to voice their thoughts on President Obama's plan to reward colleges who keep costs down with increased federal support. Several Republican members were concerned that the administration was effectively "picking winners and losers" by dete...
More than one in four U.S. households are asset poor, meaning they lack savings or other assets to cover basic expenses for three months if a layoff or other emergency leads to loss of income, according to the 2012 Assets & Opportunity Scorecard published by the Corporation for Enterprise Development (CFED).The Scorecard also shows 43% of households are "liquid asset poor," which excludes as...
New England's public and private two- and four years colleges continue to charge higher prices than the U.S. average, according to new data posted to the Financing Higher Education section of NEBHE's Trends & Indicators. To view the latest updates to our Higher Education Financing section, visit Trends & Indicators: Continually Updated Stats on New England’s Education and Economy...
This academic year marks the third consecutive year of record-high enrollments in the New England Regional Student Program (RSP), Tuition Break.The New England Board of Higher Education’s program provided 9,293 New England residents with an estimated total savings of $53 million on their 2011-12 out-of-state tuition bills. The average savings for a full-time RSP student was $6,900. Meanwhile...
Massachusetts state Rep. Vincent Pedone announced he'd leave the Legislature to become executive director of the Council of Presidents of the Massachusetts State University System. Pedone represented Worcester for nearly 20 years. He will succeed Frederick Clark, who left the council in November to become executive vice president of Bridgewater State University.****James McCarthy, provost and seni...
The Rennie Center for Education Research & Policy hired Chad d’Entremont as its new executive director. A former research and policy leader at Teachers College of Columbia University and Strategies for Children, d’Entremont managed Massachusetts’ successful application for a $50 million Race to the Top Early Learning Challenge award. At Rennie, he succeeds Jill Norton, who ov...
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) awarded approximately $372,000 in grants to support 13 New England community projects that address environmental and public health issues.Among examples:• Bridgeport Neighborhood Trust in Connecticut was awarded $25,000 for its “Bridgeport East Side Healthy Homes Initiative” to address environmentally related illnesses inc...
On Thursday, the White House granted the waiver requests of 10 states, including Massachusetts, to opt out from the requirements of the "No Child Left Behind" (NCLB) law. As passed, NCLB requires school districts to demonstrate through testing proficiency in reading and math skills for all grades by 2014. Many have called the NCLB law too unrealistic to implement, and a number of states have indic... 
This academic year marks the third consecutive year of record-high enrollments in the New England Regional Student Program (RSP), Tuition Break.The New England Board of Higher Education’s program provided 9,293 New England residents with an estimated total savings of $53 million on their 2011-12 out-of-state tuition bills. The average savings for a full-time RSP student was $6,900. Meanwhile... 
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) awarded approximately $372,000 in grants to support 13 New England community projects that address environmental and public health issues.Among examples:• Bridgeport Neighborhood Trust in Connecticut was awarded $25,000 for its “Bridgeport East Side Healthy Homes Initiative” to address environmentally related illnesses inc...