● Florida Attorney General Opens Investigations Into 5 For-Profit Colleges (Chronicle of Higher Education)
Florida's attorney general is investigating five for-profit colleges for possible misrepresentations about financial aid, deceptive recruiting tactics, and other practices, an official confirmed on Tuesday. ¶ According to listings on the attorney general's Web site, investigators are seeking information from
Argosy University, which is owned by the Education Management Corporation; Corinthian Colleges' Everest College; Kaplan University; the MedVance Institute; and the
University of Phoenix….
● Community colleges not preparing California's future workforce, study says (LA Times)
Seventy percent of students seeking degrees at California's community colleges did not manage to attain them or transfer to four-year universities within six years, according to a new study that suggests that many two-year colleges are failing to prepare the state's future workforce.
Conducted by the Institute for Higher Education Leadership & Policy at Cal State Sacramento, the report, released Tuesday, found that most students who failed to obtain a degree or transfer in six years eventually dropped out; only 15% were still enrolled….
● Golden State's Transfer Guarantee (Inside Higher Ed)
Last month, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed the Student Transfer Achievement Reform Act, guaranteeing community college students who earn certain associate degrees meant for transfer acceptance into a California State University baccalaureate program with junior status. And though the intent of the legislation is to simplify what many students report is a scattershot transfer process, the work California community colleges and CSU must do to achieve this goal by next fall is complicated and will test their resolve in the wake of the state’s recent budget crisis….
● Proctor or Gamble (Inside Higher Ed)
When students take exams on the computer at home, there is no classmate a seat over to copy from. Then again, Google knows more than any fellow test-taker. ¶ So the results of a new meta-study on cheating, published in this fall’s edition of the Journal of Distance Learning Administration, might come as no surprise: Online courses that rely heavily on unproctored, multiple-choice exams are at greater risk of being cheated on than similar face-to-face courses, the study concluded. And while there are mechanisms available to forfend dishonesty in online exams, they can be costly and inconvenient, and may not be widely used….
● 'The Lost Soul of Higher Education' (Inside Higher Ed)
[Interview of
Ellen Schrecker:]
. . .
Q: "Much of [the current threat to academic freedom]," you write, "comes from the federal government." In what ways has this changed -- or stayed the same -- in the first two years of the Obama administration?
A: In the immediate aftermath of 9/11, the Bush administration understandably panicked and instituted heightened security measures that made it much harder for the academic community to carry out its research, teaching, and related activities. ... The Obama administration has promised to roll back many of these restrictions. And it did, somewhat belatedly, admit some previously excluded individuals to the U.S. In other areas, however, it is unclear how much progress has been made.
An equally, if not more, serious threat came from the attempt of the Bush administration’s Secretary of Education,
Margaret Spellings, to reshape higher education by instituting more assessment and accountability. While it would certainly be useful to discover what our students have learned, that project should be in the hands of faculty members who understand the educational process.
Unfortunately, Spellings and her business-oriented associates relied on a narrow set of largely economic and quantifiable criteria that threatened to impose a one-size-fits-all model on the nation’s highly diverse system of higher education. Though Congress rejected many of Spellings’ “reforms,” the Obama administration may not. The current Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan, is as fixated on accountability as his predecessor. And, like her, he is looking at the numbers instead of figuring out how to assess the broader knowledge that higher education provides. Neither official, it should be noted, has seriously tried to find out what current faculty members feel is important….
MR. TODD’S WILD RIDE: First, Rackauckas fires Spitzer over a seemingly innocent phone call to Williams’ troubled PAPG office, whose second in command happens to be Rack’s fiancé. WTF? Then, responding to public pressure inspired by never-ending murmurings of trouble at Williams’ office, Supervisor Bates calls for a review of the PAPG. Owing again to public pressure, the Supes noisily opt for an outsider—a local attorney with experience in the relevant law—to conduct the review. But then it turns out that the report will be confidential! What good is that? Then, just days after the attorney announcement, we’re told that the County has decided to change its direction: now, the attorney is sent packing and the review will be conducted by “county staff.” So much for an independent review! Next comes the announcement from Rackauckas that, in a few days, there’ll be an announcement!—A big reveal, apparently, of the Spitzer outrages that led to his firing. Sounds like a diversion! Sure enough, today, the circus tent opens, reporters are led inside, and—Spitzer’s atrocity turn out to be his, um, making somebody cry.
