American Morning Blog Discusses Findings from Alliance Report on College Remediation

In the video below, CNN education contributor Steve Perry joins American Morning's Kiran Chetry to discuss why so many American students are unprepared for college. According to Perry, “The problem is that these students were given the promise when they were given a diploma that said they were in fact prepared for the next level for whatever the rights and privileges that come with receiving a high school diploma. So it is a pretty big problem and it’s a multi-billion problem according to this report because what its saying is that children and families are having to pay more money to send their child to college then they should have to and that’s just not cool.”

To read more about the cost of college remediation, check out the report, released by the Alliance last month, referenced in this segment: Saving Now and Saving Later: How High School Reform Can Reduce the Nation’s Wasted Remediation Dollars.

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Stats That Stick: May 25, 2011

On average, bachelor’s degrees pay off. But a new study confirms that some undergraduate majors pay off a lot more than others. In fact, the difference in earnings potential between one major and another can be more than 300 percent. In fact, the lifetime advantage ranges from $1,090,000 for Engineering majors to $241,000 for Education majors.
-Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce

The median starting salary of students graduating in 2009 and 2010 was 10% lower than the salary received by those who entered the workforce in 2006 and 2007. College educated women continue to earn less than college educated men. –Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey

The nation’s overall education spending grew at a slower pace in 2009 than at any other time in more than a decade. Public school districts spent an average of $10,499 per student on elementary and secondary education in the 2009 fiscal year, up 2.3 percent from 2008. In contrast, spending rose by 6.1 percent and 5.8 percent in the two years before that. -New York Times

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On Brown Versus Board Anniversary, Providing Educational Equality for All Students Is an Economic Necessity for the Nation

Nearly sixty years after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Brown versus Board of Education that the doctrine of “separate but equal” has no place in the field of public education, the promise of an equal education remains unmet for too many of the nation’s students of color and Native students, according to a new brief from the Alliance for Excellent Education. Meeting the promise of Brown by graduating more of these students from high school would lead to dramatic economic growth nationwide, the brief finds.

“Brown versus Board of Education was about equity for every child; today’s report shows how Brown also pointed the way to economic success for the entire nation,” said Bob Wise, president of the Alliance for Excellent Education and former governor of West Virginia. “It’s time for the nation to unlock the immense potential in every student and keep the promise that the Supreme Court made nearly sixty years ago. The nation’s students deserve it and our nation’s economy cannot prosper without it.”

Click on the video below to hear African American, Latino, business, and education policy leaders offer perspectives on the Brown versus Board of Education decision and explain how the hope and promise of an equal education remains unmet for far too many of the nation’s students.

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College Remediation Comes with a Serious Price Tag

In today's video blog, I discuss the cost of college remediation or courses designed for post-secondary students on basic skills that they did not master in high school cost. According to a new brief from the Alliance, Saving Now and Saving Later: How High School Reform Can Reduce the Nation's Wasted Remediation Dollars, the United States lost an estimated $5.6 billion providing remediation. This figure represents the cost associated with students enrolled in two- or four-year institutions during the 2007–08 school year who had taken one or more remedial courses while in college. It includes $3.6 billion in direct remedial education costs and an additional $2 billion in lost lifetime wages because students enrolled in remedial courses are more likely to drop out of college, which in turn, significantly reduces their earning potential. To learn more, watch the video below:

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April Jobs Report: Unemployment Rises Dramatically for High School Dropouts

In today's video blog I discuss the April jobs report that was released last week by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The report provides unemployment rates by educational attainment level. It can be found here: http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.t04.htm. In today's economy, high school dropouts are three times more likely to be unemployed than college graduates.

If you have any comments or questions, please post them below in the comments section.

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U.S. Loses $5.6 Billion Providing College Remediation, According to New Alliance Brief

Remedial education—courses designed for postsecondary students on basic skills that they did not master in high school—cost the United States an estimated $5.6 billion, according to a new brief by the Alliance for Excellent Education. This figure represents the cost associated with students enrolled in two- or four-year institutions during the 2007–08 school year who had taken one or more remedial courses while in college. It includes $3.6 billion in direct remedial education costs and an additional $2 billion in lost lifetime wages because students enrolled in remedial courses are more likely to drop out of college, which in turn, significantly reduces their earning potential.

“Remediation is paying for the same education twice,” said Bob Wise, president of the Alliance for Excellent Education and former governor of West Virginia. “It is a wasteful use of public and private dollars and an unrealistic solution to closing the preparation gap between high school and college. Doing it right the first time by delivering a high-quality high school education improves the chances of long-term success for students and for communities.

“Saving Now and Saving Later: How High School Reform Can Reduce the Nation’s Wasted Remediation Dollars” finds that about one out of every three students entering postsecondary education will have to take at least one remedial course. In 2008, reports show that 44 percent of students under the age of twenty-five had been enrolled in one or more remedial courses at public two-year institutions and 27 percent at public four-year institutions. The brief points out that while remediation is a problem for all students, students of color are disproportionally affected.

The brief also provides state-by-state data on the cost of remediation. To access the full report visit: http://www.all4ed.org/files/SavingNowSavingLaterRemediation.pdf.

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Straight As: Covers New Alliance Report on Literacy, ESEA Reauthorization, Educational Challenges in the Arab World, and More

Here's a quick summary of the articles in the May 2 issue of Straight A's, the Alliance's biweekly newsletter.

Click on a title below to access the complete article or download a printer-friendly version of the entire newsletter at: http://www.all4ed.org/files/Volume11No9.pdf.

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Bob Wise's Video Blog: Cutting Deficits is Important but Cutting Dropouts is Vital

Today we are introducing a new feature on the blog - video blogs. This first one is by Bob Wise, president of the Alliance for Excellent Education and former governor of West Virginia. He discusses his recent visit to Southern West Virginia Community and Technical College to deliver a commencement speech and points out that many of the students attending school there had to take out loans in order to earn their degree. Gov. Wise urges Congress to take a lesson from these students and the nation's families, who often borrow money or do whatever else is necessary to ensure access to a quality education. He argues that cutting deficits is important, but cutting dropouts is vital.

If you have any reactions to or comments about Gov. Wise's video, please post them in the comments section below. You may also post any questions for Gov. Wise in the comments section. Read Entire Post

Morning Announcements: April 26, 2011

In an op-ed in The Daily Princetonian, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan uses the Alliance's study on education and the economy to call on more young people to lead the charge in education reform.

High school classes may be advanced in name only, according to the New York Times. Reporter Sam Dillon writes, “According to a recent Department of Education study, the percentage of high school graduates who signed up for rigorous-sounding classes nearly tripled over the past two decades.  But other studies point to a disconnect: Even though students are getting more credits in more advanced courses, they are not scoring any higher on standardized tests.” (See the graph to the left that accompanied the story).

The Mercury News asks “How much more can California lop off public education before they bolt for private schools?”

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Morning Announcements: April 20, 2011

The Palm Beach County school district says it'll need more time, money to switch to digital textbooks, the Palm Beach Post News reports.

Catherine Gewertz of Education Week covers a U.S. Department of Education hearing convened last week to inform the two assessment consortia, SMARTER Balanced Assessment Consortium and Partnership for the Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers, as they design tests for the new common standards in mathematics and English/language arts that have been adopted by all but six states, using $360 million in federal Race to the Top money.

The Free Times (Columbia, SC) and the Journal Times (Racine, WI) cover the Alliance’s report on the economic benefits of improving high school graduation rates.

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