Good day, CharterFolk.
As usual, there is much inspiring progress being made in CharterLand to highlight this week:
Smart oversight in Rhode Island is contributing to the state’s charter schools making encouraging progress.
Charter schools in Milwaukee are showing the resolve needed to overcome ridiculous school district opposition.
And schools in Las Vegas are offering better options to kids and families as the traditional system continues to struggle.
To name but three.
But let me dedicate the bulk of this post to other matters that provide a backdrop against which the charter school world’s encouraging progress is being made.
The first is new polling showing that only small percentages of people think a four-year degree still worth it.
Notably, less than half of four-year degree holders report college to be worth it.
Interesting, yes. But is it reflective of what young people are actually choosing to do?
Higher Ed Dive reports that undergraduate enrollment is actually continuing to grow.
Yes, community colleges and trade schools saw the largest surge, but four-year programs saw increases as well.
Wouldn’t you think that, if two thirds of registered voters truly believed that college isn’t worth it, the drop off would be far higher?
The fact is that, though adults have screwed up the economics of higher education over the past 60 years, young people still have to live their lives. And many recognize that they have no choice but to keep investing in themselves, even if that investment is much more costly than it needs to be.
Marc Porter Magee, in his roundup this week, deconstructed the polling, reminded people that many four-year degrees still have high ROIs, and directed readers to a new tool to identify the schools whose ROIs are highest.
It’s similar to the message I shared this summer about charter schools needing to help their students make more informed choices post-graduation.
In his post, Marc also talks about the importance of ACT/SAT requirements for helping low-income students secure admission to college.
Some places seem to be heeding Marc’s advice.
Others aren’t.
A place that went test-optional earlier this decade is UC San Diego.
In the past couple of weeks, a story coming out of the school has captured the national zeitgeist:
Our best and brightest are not able to add and subtract.
It’s a story important, depressing and fascinating enough to merit a reading of the full report.
In it, we find all sorts of detail pertinent to our work: the sunsetting of ACT and SAT application requirements; the push to include students from low-income backgrounds; the degree to which low-income students are struggling; and the decision to admit more students from California, which shows how much the problem is actually an indictment of the entire state’s K–12 education system.
And what’s the state’s solution?
Rearranging deck chairs.
What has gained less attention coming out of UC San Diego in recent weeks, is the publication of a book co-written by one of its professors …
… looking closely at how China’s Gaokao testing system anchors all of education in China.
For those of you wanting a thumbnail, this interview with the authors and other researchers gives a good entry point.
China continues to implement a reform of its public education system that has nothing to do with deck chairs.
One thing it is not considering?
Making admissions to its best colleges and universities “Gaokao-optional.”