Welcome to NEWSWIRE. This monthly e-newsletter has been designed to bring K-12 teacher education and early childhood program faculty in Arizona important news, facts, dates and information that can be shared with students and used to enhance any education environment. NCTE is proud to offer this newsletter as a resource, and values your feedback, input and suggestions. If you have any questions or comments, please contact us at ncte@domail.maricopa.edu.
Research by the U.S. Department of Education indicates that community college enrollments increased from approximately five million to more than six million between 1990 and 2004. The racial/ethnic composition and income level of students also changed over these 14 years, and there has been a recent rise in the proportion of low-income students. Because college officials must understand changes to the composition of a college’s student body if they are to maximize student success, this analysis examines the changing composition of the Achieving the Dream student cohorts, including the distribution of students by race/ethnicity, age, gender, attendance status, developmental education placement and Pell Grant receipt. Colleges are encouraged to undertake similar analyses of their own cohorts so they can better understand, and take steps to improve, student outcomes on their campuses.
Based on research showing that college students who are engaged are more likely to succeed in their educational goals, the 2007 Committing to Student Engagement report seeks to gauge the extent to which community college students are active participants in their education. The study recommends the five following strategies for increasing student engagement:
• Set and communicate high expectations
and clear goals • Focus on the front door • Elevate developmental education • Use engaging instructional approaches • Make engagement inescapable
Teacher Induction and Mentoring
Read a series of three ECS StateNotes on induction and mentoring programs for new and beginning teachers. The first provides an overview of both induction and mentoring programs in the states, defines these terms that are often used synonymously, and includes a listing of the different types of induction and mentoring programs each state has. The second focuses exclusively on mentoring, and the third looks just at induction. State Induction Programs and Mentoring for New and Beginning Teachers
If the United States is to reach its ambitious national education goals, it needs to focus as much attention on the starting line as it does on the finish line. While most reform debate centers on improving schools, increasing teaching quality and raising student achievement, success requires changes within America’s smallest school as well: the family. A new Educational Testing Service study outlines the family and home conditions affecting children’s cognitive development and school achievement, and how gaps beginning early persist throughout life. The report calls on leaders and policymakers to improve not only schools, but also home and family conditions, to help all students succeed.
Characteristics of Minority-Serving Institutions and Minority Undergraduates Enrolled in These Institutions, identifies six different subgroups of minority-serving institutions (MSIs) and analyzes them from the perspective of the institution and the student. First, the study compares all subgroups of MSIs to one another and to non-MSIs. Second, data from the 2003-04 National Postsecondary Student Aid Study is used to examine how minority students differ, in demographic and enrollment characteristics, by institution type. Major findings include:
• MSIs totaled 1,254 in 2004, accounting for just under one-third of all degree-granting Title IV institutions • MSIs enrolled nearly sixty percent of the 4.7 million minority undergraduates.
Hispanic-serving institutions and Black-serving (non-HBCUs) accounted for 27 percent and 16 percent of MSIs, respectively.
According to a new study, disadvantaged students who regularly attend top-notch after-school programs end up academically far ahead of peers who spend more out-of-school time in unsupervised activities. The study, by researchers at the University of California, Irvine, the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Policy Studies Associates, Inc. finds that regular participation in high-quality afterschool programs, with or without additional enrichment experiences, is linked to significant gains in standardized test scores and work habits as well as reductions in behavior problems among disadvantaged students. In contrast, low supervision coupled with intermittent participation in an unstructured program of extra-curricular activities posed developmental risks to both elementary school and middle school youth.
According to the 2007 National Survey of Student Engagement, students who frequently (defined in the survey as “often” or “very often") contact their parents, and whose parents frequently contact college officials on their behalf, are more satisfied with their college experience, and report higher levels of engagement and academic fulfillment than do their counterparts. However, students with hyper-involved parents had significantly lower grades than others.
The survey also found that:
• Students who meet with their adviser at least twice a year are more engaged and gain more from college than those who don’t. A majority of students said their advisers were either “good or excellent.”
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Ten percent of students overall never once met their adviser.
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First-year males report higher SAT and ACT scores, but spend less time than females preparing for classes and more time “relaxing and socializing.”
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Full-time students report spending 13 to 14 hours studying a week.
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Forty-six percent of students attend college within 100 miles of home.
Campus Spotlight Guidelines Showcase your K-12 teacher education or early childhood program activities and accomplishments in the Newswire by submitting the following to ncte@domail.maricopa.edu by the 10th of the month for the following month’s issue.
100-150 word ARTICLE about your program, activity, practice, policy, partnership, resource, etc.; include contact information and a web address if applicable
UPCOMING EVENT title, date, time, place, target audience, cost, sponsoring campus/program(s), partners, etc.
Disclaimer
The information on this Web site is intended to provide information currently affecting or related to the teaching community and community college teacher education programs. Links to other Web sites are provided merely for your convenience and do not constitute or imply endorsement by the National Center for Teacher Education (NCTE). Such external sites contain information created, published, maintained or otherwise posted by organizations independent of NCTE, and NCTE cannot guarantee the accuracy or completeness of information on such sites. NCTE shall not be liable for any damages, including, without limitation, direct, indirect, incidental, special, punitive or consequential damages, that result in any way from your use or reliance on information provided on this site.
