DC Shuttle: A Little RESPECT for Teachers?

A new $5 billion Education Department program aims to improve teacher training and career paths. The Recognizing Educational Success, Professional Excellence and Collaborative Teaching (RESPECT) project encourages states and districts to work with teachers and education colleges to reform teacher training, compensation and professional development. Education Secretary Arne Duncan introduced the pr...

University of Maine System Turns a Page for Chancellor

The University of Maine System Board of Trustees named James H. Page as the system's next chancellor.Page, a 59-year-old Maine native. is principal and CEO of the James W. Sewall Co., in Old Town, Maine, and an adjunct professor in UMaine’s Department of Philosophy. Sewall Co. provides consulting in the areas of energy, infrastructure and natural resources.Page holds a bachelor’s degre...

Hockfield to Leave MIT Presidency, Serve Until Successor Takes Office

MIT President Susan Hockfield announced she would leave the position she has held for more than seven years once a new president takes office.As the first woman president of MIT, Hockfield presided over significant strides in hiring and promotion of women scientists and engineers after a faculty report brought national attention to inequity in campus. Among students, the MIT Class of 2015 will be...

DC Shuttle: Ten States Including Mass. Get No Child Left Behind Waivers; Grad Record Exams Soar, Especially in India, China

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...

Remember Access? Dissed Concept Gets a Boost Amid Focus on Degree Completion

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,...

Comings and Goings Down East: Maine Compact for Higher Ed Merges with Coalition on K-12; Bowdoin Taps College Board’s Bartini as Aid Director

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...

DC Shuttle: Congress Looking at Obama’s Plans to Reward Colleges that Keep Down Costs

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...

National Think Tank Finds US Households Getting Poorer, Calls for College Savings Incentives

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...

NE College Prices Continue to Outpace Nation’s; Obama Unveils New Tuition Proposals

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...

DC Shuttle: Obama Outlines New Policies to Make Higher Ed Affordable

During a Friday morning speech at the University of Michigan, President Obama announced a set of initiatives to improve the quality and affordability of higher education. His proposals include tying federal financial aid to colleges’ efforts to contain costs; new competitive grant programs for states, colleges, and organizations to improve college outcomes; and making colleges’ financi...