The Consequences of Speaking Out

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What We're Reading: New Thinking on Financial Aid

Welcome to another new miniseries of the Education Optimists. Once in awhile we get a chance to sit and read-- it's rare, but when it happens it's crazy fun. Here's a taste of what we've liked lately. For those pondering the reform of financial aid programs, I want to draw your attention to two papers--one very new, and one a year old. In Postmortem for the Current Era: Change in American Higher Education, 1980-2010 , Penn State historian Roger Geiger cogently tackles the many dismal trends of the last several decades. Among my most favorite of his observations is the following: "The four vectors of the current era—-the financial aid revolution, selectivity sweepstakes, vocationalism, and research intensification—all bear an underlying signature by invoking private, as opposed to public or social, interests. They do not necessarily contradict public interests. On the contrary, to significant degrees, financial aid has allowed students with limited means to pursu...
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Race to the Top Analysis: Spreading The Wealth

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EPILOGUE (8/24/2010) : Well, my predictions below didn't quite pan out. FL and RI came in strong, but IL and SC flopped (but by mere points , of course). I was almost right that with two large states funded -- Florida and New York -- it would limit the number of winners. But the predicted nine became ten with the surprise inclusion of Hawaii (75 mil) among the winners, along with DC (also only 75 mil). For more on the winners, see here . --- Education Week (and its Politics K-12 blog), the Hechinger Report, the New America Foundation's Ed Money Watch , and the Massachusetts Business Alliance for Education have provided some excellent Race to the Top Phase 2 analysis. Based on Phase 1 scores, reviews of Phase 2 applications, and other considerations, I believe Florida , Illinois , Rhode Island and South Carolina are locks for Phase 2 funding. [ UPDATE (8/4/2010) : One thing that should be concerning to Georgia is an extremely low level of district buy-in ( 14% ) to its app...
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What Are You Doing This Summer?

Want to work with a talented group of students and faculty, helping find ways to make Wisconsin public higher education more affordable? Then please consider joining the Wisconsin Scholars Longitudinal Study as an undergraduate or graduate intern this summer! The WSLS is seeking students who will commit to at least 10 hours/week of work for summer and fall 2011. The ideal candidates are responsible, trustworthy, and detail-oriented. Those studying sociology, psychology, economics, or political science are especially needed. Potential tasks include: (1) piloting a study of undergraduates using text-messaging, (2) interviewing students, (3) transcribing and coding interviews, and (4) Using STATA to clean, code, and analyze survey data. Interns will be included in regular biweekly staff meetings and social events. We offer class credit and/or pay based on experience. If you are interested, please email Alison Bowman at ambowman@wisc.edu by May 13. Include a resume and short descrip...
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