John Maeda’s TED talk
RISD President John Maeda reveals the parent-teacher conference that marked him for life, how he came to see the computer as a spiritual space for thinking and what he learned from sitting in a sandbox for several hours a day. Read more…
Colleges scale back financial aid, need-blind admissions suffer
Wesleyan has ended its blanket need-blind admissions policy, saying it can no longer afford to admit every qualified student. Like Brown University, Wesleyan promises financial aid to any student who needs it. For a small number of applicants, that means they will not gain entrance to the college this year because they do not have enough money attend.
Wesleyan President Michael Roth says the decision is meant to avoid saddling students with unreasonable student loans.
“We could be ‘need-blind’ and spend less money on scholarships,” he wrote in a recent blog post. “Schools can also remain ‘need-blind’ by increasing loan levels or expected parental contribution. We have done this in the past. We will not do it now.”
According to the Hartford Courant, Wesleyan’s policy change will affect 15-20 applicants this year. The paper notes that Middlebury and Williams colleges have also scaled back their need-blind admissions policies, and Grinnell College plans to re-visit its financial aid policy.
At Brown University, the promise to meet the financial needs of all admitted students remains, but there is room to wonder how long it can last. In an interview with RIPR’s Scott Mackay, Brown’s new president, Christina Paxson, admitts that fundraising is a significant challenge.
Drugs instead of better schools?
A New York Times article published this week suggests a growing practice of prescribing attention deficit hyperactivity disorder drugs to low-income children who struggle in school.
The drugs, like Adderoll and Risperdal, can increase focus and improve a child’s behavior, but they are also addictive stimulants that can have negative side effects, including psychotic episodes.
Still, some doctors and parents believe it’s worth the risk, according to the article, because the consequences of poor academic performance are so great.
Does anyone have experience with anything like this?
It’s no secret that diagnoses of A.D.H.D have been rising and that many more children are medicated today than in the past. But the idea of prescribing drugs to students who may not really have A.D.H.D. just because it’s cheaper than addressing their behavior problems seems questionable.
Any thoughts?
Last days of the Board of Governors
The Board of Governors for Higher Education has just three full meetings left before it ceases to exist, at least in its current form.
The state is dissolving both the Board of Governors and the Board of Regents for Elementary and Secondary Education. Instead, a single board will oversee the state’s public schools and colleges and universities starting on January 1st, 2013. (No word yet, by the way, on when Governor Lincoln Chafee will announce his appointees for the new board)
Items the Board of Governors may address in its final days include:
- Budget requests for the fiscal year beginning on July 1, 2013. Governor Lincoln Chafee has asked all departments to submit budgets with a 7 percent decrease in spending. Higher Education officials say they are concerned about how they will make good on a promise to freeze tuition rates while facing a funding cut.
- Presidential Contracts. URI’s David Dooley has said he is planning to remain at the helm of the state’s flagship university but wants to resolve faculty contracts before finalizing his own. CCRI president Ray Di Pasquale does double duty as the head of both the community college system and the state’s Office of Higher Education. It’s not clear whether he will continue this dual role after the upcoming consolidation with the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.
- Collective bargaining contracts for professors at URI. This contract has been a source of controversy due to a proposed increase in faculty salaries. The university says compensation must remain competitive to attract top quality profs. Also, the pay hike is supposed to be partly offset by an increase in employee health contributions. Critics, including Governor Lincoln Chafee, have questioned the increase, noting that personnel costs are the main driver in tuition bills.
The next Board of Governors meeting is scheduled for October 29th.
School leaders say 90 percent of the faculty at Spaziano Elementary School in Providence support their plan to turn the public school into a charter school.
Spaziano has filed an early “prospectus” detailing its plans to the Providence School Department. District officials have asked all Providence schools to consider becoming charters, and so far two schools have shown an interest in taking them up on the proposal.
The plan for Spaziano includes partnering with the Highlander Charter School in Providence and the International Charter School in Pawtucket. Among other supports, Highlander will help the staff at Spaziano make better use of data to refine their lesson plans. The school is pledging to increase test scores by 5 points by 2014.
Spaziano enrolls a high percentage of Hispanic students and multi-lingual students. For that reason, the school is proposing to become a laboratory school for innovative practices with non-native English speakers. That’s where the International Charter School will help out.
The second school interested in becoming a charter school is Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Elementary School, located on Providence’s East Side. The school plans to work with The Learning Community Charter School in the hope of reproducing its success at increasing test scores and parent involvement, and combating absenteeism.
Both schools will have to have their plans approved by the state board of education and a majority of current parents and teachers.
Few Providence schools choose charterization
Two Providence elementary schools will apply to become charter schools. The first schools entering a new district initiative are Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary School and Spaziano Elementary School.
Martin Luther King school leaders say they plan to work the The Learning Community Charter School in Central Falls. Spaziano will partner with the Highlander Charter School in Providence.
More details to come!
Brown sets inauguration schedule
Brown will honor its new president, Christina H. Paxson, with an official inauguration ceremony on October 27th. The proceedings will be on the main college green at 2 p.m.
The evening prior to the inauguration, Brown is offering a free night of performances at Veterans Memorial Auditorium. The university says the event will be hosted by actress and Brown alum Kate Burton, and it will include performances by artists from both the Brown and Rhode Island communities.
‘Genius’ heads to RISD
MacArthur genius grant recipient and author Junot Diaz is slated to speak at RISD on November 5th. The talk will be open to the public.
Diaz, who teaches writing at MIT, also won a Pulitzer Prize for his novel The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao.
The book was assigned reading over the summer for all incoming RISD students. School officials say it will be part of this year’s curriculum in both fine arts and liberal arts courses.
High stakes testing, budgets and geography
The Board of Regents for Elementary and Secondary Education meets this week to consider a budget request for the coming fiscal year.
The Department of Education is preparing two scenarios: one for level-funding and one for a seven percent decrease.
This is one of just two meetings and two work sessions remaining before the board is dissolved in favor of a single Board of Education. The new board will oversee both elementary and secondary schools and Rhode Island’s three institutions of higher education.
While testing is not on the agenda for Thursday, the board is likely to get an earful from critics of a controversial change in graduation policy. This year’s junior class will have to reach a minimum score on state math and reading tests to graduate. Many people are not happy about the requirement, and they plan to make their feelings known, according to The Providence Journal.
State education officials defend the graduation policy, saying students who do not reach the minimum score will have a chance to re-take the test and may still be allowed to graduate if they can demonstrate mastery of the required content. Based on last year’s testing, some 44 percent of students would fall into this category.
Governor Lincoln Chafee’s office says he is concerned about the new graduation rules, but it is not clear whether he had a chance to broach the issue with Education Commissioner Deborah Gist. She is now recuperating from surgery on a benign brain tumor and is not expected to return for at least two months. The Governor’s office says he either has met or plans to meet with education officials about the graduation policy.
Also on the agenda for Thursday, an addition to state standards for civics and social studies. The change would add geography to existing standards.
RISD grad is one of the ‘Girls’
Actress Jemima Kirke, who plays free-spirited but aloof Jessa Johansson on HBO’s breakout show “Girls,” ought to know her way around Providence. She’s a recent graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design.
Kirke earned a BFA in painting from RISD in 2008. She’s also the daughter of drummer Simon Kirk, of Bad Company fame.
Girls creator Lena Dunham reportedly met Kirke while the two were students at St. Ann’s School in New York City. Dunham has painterly ties herself – she’s the daughter of the painter Carroll Dunham.
In other celebrity news, RISD alum Seth MacFarlane is slated to host the 2013 Oscar Awards. MacFarlane is the creator of the animated series “Family Guy” and “American Dad,” among other film, television and music projects.
The Education Blog 