Mr. King's Webquest Page (Module 10)

Feel free to take a look at my new Webquest page I created. Let me know what you think!

"How Do I Get Into College" Desktop Movie for EDCI 505

Check out my new Wiki for EDCI 505

Below is a link to my Wiki page I did for EDCI 505. I covered Social Networking as well as Text Readers. Let me know what you think!

http://mrkingscourt.pbworks.com/w/page/Steve-King's-Wiki-Page

Report: College Dropouts Cost Taxpayers Billions

Dropping out of college after a year can mean lost time, burdensome debt and an uncertain future for students.

Now there's an estimate of what it costs taxpayers. And it runs in the billions.

States appropriated almost $6.2 billion for four-year colleges and universities between 2003 and 2008 to help pay for the education of students who did not return for year two, a report released Monday says.

In addition, the federal government spent $1.5 billion and states spent $1.4 billion on grants for students who didn't start their sophomore years, according to "Finishing the First Lap: The Cost of First-Year Student Attrition in America's Four-Year Colleges and Universities."

The dollar figures, based on government data and gathered by the nonprofit American Institutes for Research, are meant to put an economic exclamation point on the argument that college completion rates need improvement.

But the findings also could give ammunition to critics who say too many students are attending four-year schools — and that pushing them to finish wastes even more taxpayer money.

The Obama administration, private foundations and others are driving a shift from focusing mostly on making college more accessible to getting more students through with a diploma or certificate.

Mark Schneider, a vice president at the American Institutes for Research and former commissioner of the Education Department's National Center for Education Statistics, said the report's goal is to spotlight the costs of losing students after year one, the most common exit door in college.

"We're all about college completion right now, and I agree 100 percent with the college completion agenda and we need a better-educated adult population and workforce," Schneider said.

The cost of educating students who drop out after one year account for between 2 to 8 percent of states' total higher education appropriations, Schneider said. He said the report emphasizes state spending because states provide most higher education money and hold the most regulatory sway over institutions and can drive change.

Ohio, for example, has moved toward using course and degree completion rates in determining how much money goes to its public colleges and universities instead of solely using enrollment figures.

"We recognize an institution is not going to be perfect on graduation and completion rates," said Eric Fingerhut, chancellor of the Ohio Board of Regents. "But at the same time, we know they can do better than they're doing. And if you place the financial rewards around completion, then you will motivate that."

The AIR report draws from Department of Education data, which Schneider concedes does not provide a full picture.

The figures track whether new full-time students at 1,521 public and private colleges and universities return for year two at the same institution. It doesn't include part-timers, transfers or students who come back later and graduate.

The actual cost to taxpayers may run two to three times higher given those factors and others, including the societal cost of income lost during dropouts' year in college, said Richard Vedder, an Ohio University economics professor. And tying state appropriations to student performance could just cause colleges to lower their standards, he said.

Robert Lerman, an American University economics professor who, like Vedder, questions promoting college for all, said the report fleshes out the reality of high dropout rates. But he said it could just as easily be used to argue that less-prepared, less-motivated students are better off not going to college.

"Getting them to go a second year might waste even more money," Lerman said. "Who knows?"

Online: http://collegemeasures.org/

Copyright 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Report: Poor science education impairs U.S. economy

By Dan Vergano, USA TODAY

Stagnant scientific education imperils U.S. economic leadership, says a report by leading business and science figures.

Released Thursday at a congressional briefing attended by senators and congressmen of both parties, the report updates a 2005 science education report that led to moves to double federal research funding.

Nevertheless, the "Rising Above the Gathering Storm" review finds little improvement in U.S. elementary and secondary technical education since then.

"Our nation's outlook has worsened," concludes the report panel headed by formerLockheed Martin chief Norman Augustine. The report "paints a daunting outlook for America if it were to continue on the perilous path it has been following":

•U.S. mathematics and science K-12 education ranks 48th worldwide.

•49% of U.S. adults don't know how long it takes for the Earth to circle the sun.

•China has replaced the United States as the world's top high-technology exporter.

Although U.S. school achievement scores have stagnated, harming the economy as employers look elsewhere for competent workers, the report says that other nations have made gains.

If U.S. students matched Finland's, for example, analysis suggests the U.S. economy would grow 9%-16%.

"The real point is that we have to have a well-educated workforce to create opportunities for young people," says Charles Vest, head of the National Academy of Engineering, a report sponsor. "Otherwise, we don't have a chance."

"The current economic crisis makes the link between education and employment very clear," says Steven Newton of the National Center for Science Education in Oakland.

In 2007, however, an analysis led by B. Lindsay Lowell of Georgetown University found U.S. science education worries overstated. It saw three times more science and engineering college graduates than job openings each year. Other reports have found top science and engineering students migrating to better-paying jobs in finance, law and medicine, since the 1990s.

Mr. King's Visual Learning Project (Module 5)

Im going to be honest this was perhaps one of the most challenging projects of the course thus far. It was very very tedious, and time consuming but once I got the hang of it I began to appreciate and understand its use and how it can be effective in the classroom.

Below you will see an example of mine. I created a map toward college for high school juniors and seniors. The idea of this was to properly prepare students for college before the last minute. It is also something that the students can keep as a reference guide for themselves in case a teacher/counselor is not around to help them.

Take a look and let me know what you think!!

Mr. King's Algebra II Syllabus (Module 3)

In Module 3 we learned ways of creating newsletters and other techniques to ensure the information we are relaying to our students, parents etc are clear and even creative. Below I created what I thought would be a good example of a syllabus for an Algebra II class.

What do you think?

Mr. King's Pageflakes Page (Module 2)

In Module 2 we explored ways of designing Pageflakes as a way to communicate with students. This a great tool especially in today's generation who are more attracted to computer based instruction more than the traditional "book" way of learning. 

Below is a link to the Pageflake I created as a sample for this course. Let me know what you think!!

Thanks 

Mr. King

CLICK HERE TO VIEW MR. KING'S PAGEFLAKE