 Dear reader,
The slick television advertisements make it all seem so easy: enroll in our college and before long, you can graduate with a certificate leading to a well-paying job.
Problem is, students who receive these credentials from for-profit schools (which award nearly a third of all certificates) often take on major debt but end up earning less than the typical high school graduate, a Hechinger Report investigation found. NBC Nightly News, our partner on this story, aired a broadcast version last week.
On the day the story ran, the Massachusetts attorney general announced that Salter College, the school at the heart of our investigation, would be forced to cease operations in the state and pay $1.6 million in debt relief to students misled by the chain, part of the Premier Education Group.
This article is the latest example of our work to hold institutions accountable for how they serve vulnerable students. These stories have an impact. After we published an article last week on the journey of Danielle Metz from prison to dean’s list, she received a congratulatory note from former President Barack Obama.
Also this week at The Hechinger Report, we launched a new topic page on arts education, with a piece on the importance of culturally and socially relevant instruction. We love to hear from readers, so send your story suggestions our way.
Liz Willen, Editor
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 Main Idea |
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For-profit schools award nearly a third of all certificates, but the promised launch to the middle class often doesn’t pan out. At the vast majority of for-profits that focus on certificates, most students who take on debt to attend end up earning less than the typical high school graduate, according to federal data posted by the Department of Education and analyzed by The Hechinger Report. (Published in partnership with NBC News.)
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Reading List
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Rhode Island’s experiment with personalized learning reveals a still more complicated picture: of overworked, undervalued public school teachers who embrace reforms in order to get what they need. (Published in partnership with The New Yorker.)
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Prisoners were restricted to correspondence courses until a law passed in 2014 allowing in-person classes. That year, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation reports, the number of successfully completed college classes jumped to 13,301 from the previous year’s 5,725. (Published in partnership with USA Today.)
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New research used tax return data to determine the income, at age 33 to 35, of 2,850 children tracked by the Quebec Longitudinal Study of Kindergarten Children, an academic research project following kids from kindergarten through adulthood.
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Being culturally responsive means having students write and record the music they practice, not just playing it on stage at a holiday or end-of-year concert.
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Being culturally responsive means having students write and record the music they practice, not just playing it on stage at a holiday or end-of-year concert.
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Without the right academic and emotional support, they are much more likely than their peers to repeat a grade, get suspended or drop out. These issues are only amplified when students transition from high school to college. The attention, in the recent admissions scandal, on accommodations in standardized testing for students with learning disabilities did not help.
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Solutions
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This week’s solutions section came from SolutionsU powered by Solutions Journalism Network and their database of solutions journalism. Search for more solutions.
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Contact Nichole Dobo at [email protected] if you want to chat about story ideas or give feedback on any of The Hechinger Report’s newsletters. Did you know we produce four other newsletters with exclusive stories and analysis? Sign up for free today!
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We cover inequality and innovation in education with in-depth journalism that uses research, data and stories from classrooms and campuses to show the public how education can be improved and why it matters.
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