A recent piece in E School News analyzed Obama’s latest plan thoroughly:

The Obama administration is offering a $900 million carrot to the nation’s school systems to tackle what many view as an abysmal dropout rate that threatens America’s ability to compete in the new global economy. But it’s the “stick” portion of the administration’s plan that has rankled many educators.

Districts would get the money only if they agree to one of four plans to dramatically change or even shut down their worst performing schools. One of these plans involves firing the principal and at least half of the staff members at a struggling school—a turnaround plan that captured national attention when it was tried by the Central Falls, R.I., school system last week.

How bad are dropout rates?

The White House says 1.2 million students drop out of school each year, and only about 70 percent of entering high school freshmen go on to graduate. The problem affects blacks and Latinos at particularly high rates. About 2,000 high schools turn out half of all dropouts, and the administration says it will work with states to identify those schools with graduation rates below 60 percent.

With Obama’s 2011 budget proposal including $900 million for School Turnaround Grants, I hope the money is put to good use. Where would you recommend the money is invested?

–

Thomas College has a new policy on education (via New York Times):

Students who can’t find work in their fields within six months of graduation can come back to take classes free, or have the college pay their student loans for a year.

But..wait. There’s more:

The University of Louisiana, Lafayette, is eliminating its philosophy major, while Michigan State University is doing away with American studies and classics, after years of declining enrollments in those majors.

What’s going on and why the change in attitude? Let’s look at the stats:

Consider the change captured in the annual survey by the University of California, Los Angeles, of more than 400,000 incoming freshmen. In 1971, 37 percent responded that it was essential or very important to be “very well-off financially,” while 73 percent said the same about “developing a meaningful philosophy of life.” In 2009, the values were nearly reversed: 78 percent identified wealth as a goal, while 48 percent were after a meaningful philosophy.

Discussion: What methods, from either the perspective of a student or teacher, can you use to receive an education outside of “just” a major?

–

Do you know someone with great insights to share with young teachers, or do you want your material considered for a discussion topic?

Please email us at hello@certificationmap.com.

Online textbook rental websites, such as Chegg and Bookrenter.com have rented textbooks to students for the past few years; however, as the New York Times recently reported, industry giants such as Cengage Learning and McGraw-Hill have announced that they will now offer a rental option for textbooks. Bookrenter, founded in 2006, claims to be the first online book rental store. With a user-friendly interface reminiscent of more mainstream booksellers, Bookrenter pledges in its mission statement to “reinvent the traditional bookstore by providing a convenient, cost effective alternative to retail book sales.” It would seem that we are now witnessing this transformation in the textbook industry 3 years later. Cengage rentals already offer textbooks at prices as low as 40% the price of a standard retail purchase.

Textbook rentals are now even making the jump to physical bookstores. Barnes and Noble is testing out a textbook rental program at hundreds of college campus bookstores. Hundreds more college bookstores have announced similar rental programs. While textbook manufacturers would rather sell books at standard retail prices, rental programs could significantly boost revenue lost through resold textbooks. When a student purchases a textbook, and subsequently chooses to sell the book used, the textbook’s publisher only profits off of the initial purchase. Used textbooks can circulate for years, without publishers ever seeing any more profits than the initial purchase. However, with rentals, textbook publishers and authors can repeatedly profit through rentals of the same copy of a textbook. The government has even become involved, with millions of dollars pledged towards textbook rental programs through the Higher Education Opportunity Act. Indeed, the recent move to rentals should soon find students happy with lower book costs, and publishers happier with steady profits.