GED Test To Be Computerized

GED Test To Be Computerized

Using computers to test students - administrators thought about it, they considered it, they made preemptive what-ifs about it, they argued for it and they argued against it. Now, administrators are actually doing it. The American Council on Education and Pearson, two major education companies, have recently announced their plans to create a computer-based General Education Development (G.E.D.) test, according to an article in the New York Times. The G.E.D. has always been a traditional, paper-and-pencil test, typically administered in high schools. But, the new, computerized test will replace the old version in 2014. The new version will be ... Read More About GED Test To Be Computerized

Initiatives To Increase College Graduation Rates

Initiatives To Increase College Graduation Rates

Until recently, America has led the world in producing college graduates. President Barack Obama has vowed that America will retake the lead by 2020, winning the support and funding of many organizations. Higher-education groups have targeted many different groups and demographics, always trying to promote education to increase America’s overall number of college graduates. These groups have promoted the importance of this initiative to community colleges, public universities, African American students, college dropouts and other demographics. Now, education groups and the Obama administration are targeting Hispanic students to increa ... Read More About Initiatives To Increase College Graduation Rates

Judging School Performance

Judging School Performance

By now, everyone has heard something negative about America’s public schools. They are falling behind foreign countries’; they don’t prepare kids for college or future employment; it’s the teachers’ fault; it’s the bureaucrats’ fault, reads the news. Simply put, many schools in America need help, and now the government is making it official as it could soon label three-fourths of public schools ‘failing’ under the federal No Child Left Behind Act, according to an article in the  Washington Post. The Obama administration recently announced that it would revamp former president George ... Read More About Judging School Performance

College Tuition Hikes Easing

College Tuition Hikes Easing

With $50,000 colleges and beyond, it only appears as if the cost of college is absolutely skyrocketing. However, new research actually suggests that the total net cost of college (tuition minus scholarships/aid) is decreasing slightly, according to an article in the Washington Post. In the previous few years, colleges have hiked tuition at record rates. But now, colleges are announcing much smaller tuition increases for the 2011-2012 school year.   Tuition costs increased rapidly during the Great Recession, but costs are now starting to level out. Tuition costs are decreasing partly because colleges previously received a lot of criticis ... Read More About College Tuition Hikes Easing

Homework That Works

Homework That Works

“How is this ever going to help me,” asks every student at some point in his/her life, buried under mountains of busy work, properly hidden by the euphuism of “homework.” Now, teachers are going to need a better answer to this common question, one much better than “it’s (homework) due tomorrow morning.” Alfie Kohn, the author of 12 books about education and human behavior and blogger for the Huffington Post, recently guest published an article in the Washington Post, claiming that homework is counterproductive and needs to be reevaluated. Kohn noted that even the best teachers assign counterproducti ... Read More About Homework That Works