Brown University Offers Free Tuition to Lower Income Students

-See "Brown ends tuition for lower income students," NYT, 2/25/08, at A13

-36k tuition and 47k with room and board, but now free if parents earn less than 60k, follows Harvard, Yale, Dartmouth, Stanford

UFT to Start Ad Campaign Against NYCDOE Standarized Testing Programs

-See "Teachers channeling anger over testing plan, NYDN, 2/25/08, at 25

-anger over measuring teachers by children test scores and investments in test prep programs

NYC Public Schools to Try Pilot Program Extending School Through Summer or 6 pm

See "Schools may try longer sessions," NYDN, 2/23/08, at p. 5

-10-15 elementary or middle schools will be in pilot program as of Sept 08

Stanford to Offer Free Tuition for Students from Families Earning Less than 100k

-See "Stanford set to raise aid for students in middle," NYT, 2/21/08, at A14

-follows Harvad, Yale-free room and board if student's parents earn under 60k

America's Top Colleges Growing Richer with Endowments

See "Wealth Gap growing bigger among American colleges," NYT, 2/20/08, at B6

-Stanford, Harvard outpacing rivals (USC, Johns Hopkins, Columbia, Cornell, Penn, Yale, Duke, UCLA next)

NYS legislators pushing for text alert system for public school parents

See "Schools text-alert plan," NYP, 2/22/08, at p. 2

-response to college shooting incidents, to be used in city and larger districts

US District Judge Removes Desegregation Order from Brooklyn Middle School

-See "Desegregation Order Lifted from a School in Brooklyn," NYT, 2/23/08, at B2

-order had been in place since 1974 to encourage white middle class to stay; now order removed because minorities being turned away from now selective elite school Mark Twain IS

NYC City Council Calls for Bonus for Middle School Teachers

See "Quinn Calls for Middle-School Teacher Bonus", The Chief, 2/22/08, at 1

-calls for 10k bonus and new affordable housing partnership

Commercial Education Vendors Suffer as Student Loans Tighte

See "As Lending Tightens, Education Could Suffer," NYT, 2/19/08, at C1

-commercial colleges offering practical education to lower income students suffer

Princeton to Encourage Prefreshman to Volunteer Abroad for One Year Before College

See "Princeton plans for an early year abroad," NYT, 2/19/08, at A19

-Princeton to encourage 10% of prefreshman to go abroad before college

NYC's Mayor's Management Report Indicates Uniform Progress in City Schools

See "Big Apple schools score straight A's", NYP, 2/15/08, at 2

-now available online on nyc.gov, Citywide Performance Reporting ("CPR")

Hartford CT students now being graded on 58 critieria in report cards

See "So is that like an A?", NYT, 2/14/08, at A34


-Hartford CT elementary students now being graded on academic, behavioral, and social skills

AFT President Ed McElroy to Retire as UFT President Randi Weingarten Becomes Likely Successor

See "Teachers' Union President to Step Down; New Yorker is Seen as Successor," NYT, 2/13/08, at A16

-Randi Weingarten likely to take over AFT in Washington in summer 2008

NYC Parents Await Crazy Friday elite private school acceptances for kindergarten

See "Tony kindergarten crop," NYDN, 2/16/08, at 16

-competition in Manhattan to enter private schools at $30,000 per year tuition

Mayor Bloomberg Supporting Early Acceleration of Pension Rights for City Teachers

See "Bloomy boosts early pensions for teachers," NYP, 2/16/08, at 2

-supports state Senate bill granting full pension benefits to teachers 55 years old with 25 years experience

NYCDOE Scales Back Cell Phone Award Plan for Student Performance in Schools

See "Cell-fone prize plan toned down," NYDN, 2/12/08, at 16

-discusses how plan will only be rolled out in 7 middle schools to award students with cell phones, text messages, and ring tones for good performance

More Students Applying to Universities in NYC

See "Kids flocking to Apple U's", NYP, 2/12/08, at 18


-NYU has 37k applicants 8.5% over last year

NYCDOE Faces Soaring NCLB Costs to Grade Mandatory Standardized Tests

See "$32M to grade 500,000 tests," NYDN, at 15

-discussing tripling of costs to NYCDOE to have certified teachers grade all 3-8 standardized tests as unfunded mandate

Harvard Proposes to Have Faculty Distribute Scholarship Free Online on Web

See "At Harvard, a proposal to publish free on web," NYT, 2/12/08, at F1

-explaining open access movement over signing exclusive agreements with scholarly journals with small readerships and costly subscription fees

NYCDOE Moves to Vacate 1974 Desegregation Ruling Affecting Brooklyn School

See "City moves to overturn 1974 ruling on race," NYT, 2/13/08, at B5

-DOE seeks to revise Mark Twain school's admission policy enforcing quotas which now favors white students with changing neighborhood over time-minority students had to score higher than white students to get admitted

SUNY evicting students from dorms who fail to maintain minimum GPA

See "Dorm rooms are revoked over grades," NYT, 2/13/08, at B1

-explaining enforcement of minimum 2.0 GPA rule for students to stay in dorms at SUNY Old Westbury

Congress Passes Bill Aimed at Controlling College Costs by Restricting Lenders and Raising Maximum Pell Grant

See "House passes bill aimed at college costs," NYT, 2/8/08, at A13

Almost 6000 Students Accepted to NYC's Elite High Schools

See "Elite HS offers out to students," NYDN, 2/9/08, at p. 7

NYU merger with Polytechnic postponed by ethics inquiry

See "Ethics inquiry postpones NYU merger with polytechnic," NYT, 2/8/08, at B2

NY Appellate Court Questions Wisdom of NYC Public School Ban on Cellphones

See "Court panel questions school ban on phones, " NYT, 2/7/08, at B6

Suburban Public Schools Improving Emergency Alert Systems

See "Good news: bad news arrives quickly," NYT, 2/10/08, at A3

Lynne Stewart's NYC Schoolteacher Daughter Arrested for Fraudulent Time Off Requests

See "Teacher Held in Forgery of Time-off Requests," NYT, 2/5/08,at B3

Shortage of Quality Schools in India

See "India's school shortage means glut of parental stress," NYT, 2/6/08, at A3

UFT claims NYCDOE school rankings biased by inclusion of special education services

Check out "Teachers see bias in school ranking," NYDN, 2/4/08, at 11

Wealthy Colleges' Growing Endowments Widen Gap in Higher Education

Check out "Soaring endowments widen a higher education gap", NYT, 2/4/08, at A14

NYC Elite Private Schools Protest New York Sun Rankings

See "Private schools cry 'unfair' over a grade", NYT, 2/4/08, at C4

Growth of Virtual Online Schools Sets Off Debate about Qualified Teachers

Check out "Online schooling grows, setting off a debate, "NYT, 2/1/08, at A1

NYC Department of Education imposes midyear school cuts

Check out "Cruelest school cuts," NYDN, 2/1/08, at 14

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