Photo by Michael @ NW

The United States is currently facing a decline in the percentage of people who earn a college degree or credential. In order to keep pace with other nations, the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) has established a goal of 55 percent of Americans holding a college degree by 2025. Working with the College Board (which administers the SAT), the NCSL has produced a State Policy Guide to help reach this goal. The guide includes suggestions to align K-12 education with international standards, improve middle school and high school counseling, and focus on recruitment and retention of the best teachers. The College Board tracks the progress of states in meeting this goal. One of the best indicators of success is the percentage of high school seniors who take the SAT. The College Board recently published a report on College Bound Seniors 2011. The report identifies the following states as the leaders in the percentage of college-bound students:

No. 1: Massachusetts
College Board reports that 89 percent of high school seniors in Massachusetts took the SAT in 2011 and that 54 percent of young adults in the state hold an associate degree or higher. Through a program called the Vision Project, Massachusetts is actively working to increase the number of degree holders in the state. College Board president Gaston Caperton calls this state a model for how the rest of the nation can improve college readiness and participation.
Interested in learning how to become a teacher in Massachusetts? Check out our page on Massachusetts teacher certification.

No. 2: New York
In New York State, 89 percent of high school seniors took the 2011 SAT. This reflects efforts on the part of the New York State Office of Higher Education to eliminate gaps in K-12 student performance based on gender, race, ethnicity or economic status. The New York Science and Technology Entry Program (STEP) is also credited with helping 9,300 students enter college.
Interested in learning how to become a teacher in New York? Check out our page on New York teacher certification.

No. 3: Connecticut
According to College Board, 87 percent of Connecticut high school seniors took the SAT in 2011. This represents the largest and most diverse group of college-bound students in state history. Minority students accounted for 28 percent of the SAT takers; many of these students took advantage of College Board’s Fee Waiver Service and received assistance from their school district to help reduce the financial burden of higher education.
Interested in learning how to become a teacher in Connecticut? Check out our page on Connecticut teacher certification.

No 4: Georgia
College Board reports that 80% of Georgia’s high school seniors took the SAT in 2011. This figure along with a 2012 Education Week report that ranked the state as No. 7 in the nation in terms of education indicates that Georgia is committed to education. Georgia’s Department of Education College Readiness unit helps students prepare for college by providing support for teachers, counselors and administrators. Also, Georgia’s HOPE Scholarship program is available for graduating students with a B average or better.
Interested in learning how to become a teacher in Georgia? Check out our page on Georgia teacher certification.

No. 5: District of Columbia
According to College Board, 79 percent of high school seniors in the District of Columbia took the 2011 SAT. Part of the credit for this high percentage goes to programs like Upward Bound, which provides academic skills development and college counseling for low-income students and students whose parents don’t hold college degrees. Credit should also go to D.C. high school graduation requirements that include four years of mathematics and four years of college prep English.
Interested in learning how to become a teacher in the District of Columbia? Check out our page on District of Columbia teacher certification.

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Effective July 15, new rules in Georgia will require teachers seeking an increase in salary pegged to continuing education to complete their masters degrees or doctorates at an accredited college or university. Previously, teacher salaries in Georgia increased at an average of $6,000 per year for teachers with an advanced degree from any university, whether or not it was an accredited school. Now, only degrees from colleges accredited by the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) or the Teacher Education Accreditation Council (TEAC) will qualify teachers for those salary increase.

According to Kelly Henson, head of the Georgia Professional Standards Commission that oversees teacher certification, “The rules in Georgia prior to the policy change essentially allowed — with a few exceptions — an educator to get a degree in virtually any subject or field from virtually any institution and qualify for a compensation upgrade… We believe in the value of advanced degrees and we believe that educators should be compensated for the completion of meaningful, relevant and rigorous advanced degrees.”

The new rule is designed to increase the quality of education in Georgia, ensure that instructors have the proper teacher certification and prevent educators from pursuing a graduate degree at a college with an inadequate curriculum. In addition to this, teachers will also be required to complete their degree in a subject related to the one they teach.

This teacher certification overhaul in Georgia coincides with new federal regulations implemented by the Obama administration to prevent students from taking on too much debt to attend for-profit, non-accredited colleges. These “gainful employment” regulations are designed to ensure that students will enroll in a school that can actually increase their job prospects and prevents for-profit schools from accessing federal financial aid if too many of their graduates are unable to find jobs that pay enough to allow them to pay back their student loans.

As of now, Georgia ranks third in the country for their compensation of advanced degrees, but in terms of the quality of those degrees, they are at the bottom. Tim Callahan, spokesman for the Professional Association of Georgia Educators, says, “We don’t want people going to fly-by-night educational institutions to get degrees… I think teacher quality is a big issue, and that includes teacher education and professional education.” The state hopes that requiring their teachers to pursue degrees from accredited colleges or universities will improve the quality of their teaching certification and therefore improve the quality of education in Georgia.

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Interested in becoming a teacher in Georgia? Check out our page on Georgia teacher certification and salaries.

In a recent article on the iPad, Apple legend Steve Wozniak has said he intends to purchase three of them. He also mentioned that he thinks the iPad will be “great for students.”

“The iPad could lower the cost of acquiring computers for students. I think it’s going to be huge in the education market. Think about students going off to college.” Woz insisted. “They want an Apple product, but their parents don’t want to spend that much. Now they have the ideal thing. They can go to college and someone may have a whacked-out $6,000 laptop, but the guy with the iPad will get all the attention.”

The co-founder of Apple also suggested the iPad would appeal to those who find traditional computing over complicated and daunting.”My wife’s parents — they’re not ready for the complicated computer world. They have these old computers. But the iPad simplifies things. It’s like a restart. We all say we want things to be simpler.

Teachers: How do you see the iPad being used in your classroom, if at all?

Students: Do you want one? (Of course you do.)