Beth’s Briefings (5-27-15)

Here are news and opinion stories educators, advocates, policy wonks and makers are talking about today:

 

The U.S. Department of Education has formally cleared Navient Corp., the student loan giant formerly part of Sallie Mae, of wrongdoing after an investigation into whether the company cheated troops on their federal student loans. (Huffington Post)

 

America’s most powerful former law professor is getting a re-education in the Constitution, and on present course President Obama might flunk out. Witness Tuesday’s federal appeals-court rebuke of his 2014 immigration order, including language that suggests the Administration will also lose on the legal and policy merits. (The Wall Street Journal)

 

Analyzing the education system in the United States reveals some sobering statistics. According to the US News & World Report, about 20% of college freshmen nationwide entering four-year colleges are placed into remedial English and Mathematics courses. That number nearly triples to approximately 60% when looking at community colleges. (Washington Times) 

 

Student enrollment in the Los Angeles Unified School District dropped 20 percent in the last eight years, a loss of more than 100,000 students, according to figures released Tuesday. (Southern California Public Radio)

 

Imagine meeting your English professor by the trunk of her car for office hours, where she doles out information like a taco vendor in a food truck. Or getting an e-mail error message when you write your former biology professor asking for a recommendation because she is no longer employed at the same college. Or attending an afternoon lecture in which your anthropology professor seems a little distracted because he doesn’t have enough money for bus fare. This is an increasingly widespread reality of college education. (The Atlantic)

 

Justin Lauria-Banta graduated in December from the University of Wisconsin at LaCrosse with a perfect 4.0 grade-point average and a major in economics. In an ordinary economy, the 24-year-old could expect a number of promising job options. (Politico)

 

The longtime educator known for placing a strong emphasis on student test scores who became New York’s new education chief Tuesday received a warm welcome from groups that typically take opposing sides in education debates, though critics of standardized tests called her appointment a mistake. (Chalkbeat NY)