A new scholarship aims to help create positive change in the community.
Melbourne australia, October 23, 2024 (Newswire.com)
– A $100,000 gift to RMIT from soft facility services company GJK Facility Services will help disadvantaged students overcome the barriers they face to higher education.
The generous gift will fund the GJK Facility Services Scholarship, worth up to $10,000 a year for three years.
The scholarship is aimed at students who face challenges in accessing higher education, particularly those identifying as women, from rural or financially disadvantaged backgrounds, or pursuing science, technology, engineering or mathematics disciplines.
The hope is that the funding will help recipients achieve their educational and career aspirations and, ultimately, bring about positive change in the community.
GJK, which provides services to RMIT, has supported another scholarship program at the University since 2018, for environmental science students who have demonstrated academic merit, leadership skills and a passion for sustainability and energy management.
Both scholarships are part of the company’s longstanding commitment to investing in initiatives and programs that benefit the wider community. GJK has its own social impact program, GJK Giving Back, and in 2022, the firm’s Founder and Managing Director, George Stamas, received the Order of Australia for his contributions to the community and business.
Elias Stamas, CEO of GJK Facility Services, said the decision to support RMIT students through the new GJK Facility Services Scholarship was grounded in a shared commitment to academic excellence, innovation, and inclusive learning environments.
He added that the collaboration with RMIT exemplified the potential for organisations to positively influence society. “By investing in education and supporting scholarships, GJK Facility Services is not only fulfilling its mission of giving back but also aligns with RMIT’s strategy to contribute to the communities it serves,” he said.
Together, we are creating a pathway for talented individuals to overcome obstacles, pursue higher education, and ultimately drive positive change.
Professor Kay Latham is Dean of STEMM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics and Medicine) Diversity and Inclusion at RMIT.
She said: “For women and under-represented people in STEMM, access to a scholarship can make all the difference, in some cases as to whether pursuing a higher education qualification is even feasible or not.
“A scholarship such as GJK’s will provide a welcome financial ‘buffer’, but through this also the gift of time and greater freedom – freedom to embrace university life more fully, lessening the need to combine study with external part-time work, and helping to support other responsibilities.
“Not to mention the amazing confidence boost of having your talent and potential recognised and encouraged – no small thing for anyone!”
OurBus helps students travel to the Northern Virginia/Washington D.C. area without personal cars or expensive airline tickets.
NEW YORK, October 23, 2024 (Newswire.com)
– Rally OurBus, the revolutionary Mass Mobility as a Service company, is offering two brand new stop locations on the route between Virginia Tech campus in Blacksburg, the James Madison University campus in Harrisonburg, and the Washington, D.C. area. The new locations will make travel for students at these universities more convenient than ever.
The express service allows students without access to cars to travel home easily, at a fraction of the cost of airline tickets and approximately as quickly, considering the time needed to travel to and pass through airports. The OurBus route from Blacksburg to Washington is faster than train travel or other, less direct bus routes.
In addition to stopping at Tysons, the bus will make a second stop in Gainesville, VA, at the University Blvd Park & Ride. “Gainesville has been one of our top destinations from Virginia Tech, and we’re seeing positive reaction from students to this new service,” said Rally OurBus co-founder Axel Hellman.
In Blacksburg, the bus stop location has been relocated to the Multimodal Transit Center on Virginia Tech’s campus. This facility, opened by Blacksburg Transit this year, will allow travelers to connect seamlessly between OurBus and the local transit network, making last-mile connections easier than ever. The previous bus stop location at Lane Stadium did not offer any local transit connections.
Rally OurBus said the route is already proving popular with the two universities, which have a combined enrollment of more than 50,000 students. “Trips for Labor Day weekend sold out, and we’re already seeing demand for future weekends,” said Hellman.
Rally OurBus uses top-quality motor coaches with restrooms, comfortable seating and modern amenities like complimentary Wi-Fi. Riders can purchase tickets online, receive mobile boarding passes, and they and their families can track the arrival time of the bus in real time. While this particular route is most popular with university students, anyone is welcome to ride.
The Rally bus rideshare concept creates a unique strategy that disrupts legacy business models. The company does not own buses but instead networks together thousands of small private bus operators via its technology platform, creating a marketplace that outperforms the competition while also creating business for bus operators.
For more information about the new service, visit the Rally Ourbus website here.
About Rally OurBus Rally is a bus rideshare company with a platform that creates on-demand bus trips across many U.S. cities, Canada, and other countries. Riders generate a trip or choose from one of the many crowdsourced trips. Whether for a concert, a sporting event or a festival, Rally unites passionate people, making the journey part of the event-day experience.
OurBus uses AI to create regularly scheduled intercity services. They have 150 stops in the Northeast United States, with stops in Canada, and plan to expand internationally. The company competes with legacy incumbent bus companies on these routes by applying technology and business innovations to regional transportation.
Rally OurBus is disrupting the bus industry, bringing new business to local bus companies, and promoting a greener, safer form of travel. Its Mass Mobility as a Service combines technology and business model innovations in the bus industry. Rally OurBus is disrupting the mode of transportation that moves more people than any other. Its new intercity routes for regional transport and crowdfunding address surge demand travel by converting private car users to shared bus riders.
Almost every day at the public elementary school she attended in Montgomery County, Maryland, Stephanie heard comments about her weight. Kids in her fifth grade class called her “fatty” instead of her name, she recalled; others whispered, “Do you want a cupcake?” as she walked by. One classmate spread a rumor that she had diabetes. Stephanie was so incensed by his teasing that she hit him and got suspended, she said.
But nothing the kids did upset her as much as the conduct of her teachers.
For years teachers ignored her in class, even when she was the only one raising her hand, said Stephanie, whose surname is being withheld to protect her privacy. “I was like, ‘Do you not like me or something?” she recalled.
She felt invisible. “They would sit me in the back. I couldn’t see the board,” she said. When Stephanie spoke up once in middle school, a teacher told her, “I can’t put you anywhere else because you’re going to block other students.” She burned with embarrassment when her classmates laughed.
Nearly 20 percent of children in the U.S. — almost 15 million kids — were considered obese as of the 2020 school year, a number that has likely increased since the pandemic (new data is expected next year). The medical conditions associated with obesity, such as asthma, diabetes and sleep apnea, are well known. Children with obesity are also more likely to have depression, anxiety and low self-esteem.
Researchers have suggested different reasons for this “obesity achievement gap,” including biological causes (such as reduced cortical thickness in the brain in children with obesity, which is linked to compromised executive functioning, and higher levels of the hormone cortisol, linked to poorer academic performance). Researchers have also examined indirect causes of poor performance, such as that kids with obesity might miss school more often because of medical appointments or bullying.
But a relatively new area of research has shifted attention to educator bias. Studies have found that teachers often perceive children with obesity as emotional, unmotivated, less competent and non-compliant. That can lead to teachers giving these students fewer opportunities to participate in class, less positive feedback and lower grades.
Weight bias is part of American culture, said Rebecca Puhl,deputy director of the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Health at the University of Connecticut, who has studied childhood obesity and bias. “Teachers are not immune to those attitudes,” she said. While many school districts have tried in the last 20 years to reduce childhood obesity through more nutritious meals and increased exercise, Puhl and other experts say schools also need to train teachers and students to recognize and confront the weight bias they say is hampering the education of an increasing number of children.
Some advocates argue that childhood obesity, which has steadily risen over the last 40 years, should be seen as an “academic risk factor” because of its lasting effects on educational and economic mobility. “There’s certainly been a big push for racial and ethnic diversity, for gender identity diversity, that’s so important,” said Puhl. “But weight is often left off the radar, it’s often not getting addressed.”
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Stephanie, now 18, has struggled with obesity her whole life. Within her family, being overweight never felt like a problem. But school was different.
Beginning in kindergarten, her classmates told her she looked like a Teletubby, she said. Even teachers made comments related to her weight. “If someone brought pastries for a birthday, they would ask, ‘Are you sure you want to eat that? Why don’t you try carrots and hummus?’” Stephanie recalled. Once Stephanie listened as an educator told her mother to put her on a diet. She stopped eating lunch at school after that. “When I was home, I ran to food because it was like the only place I would feel comfortable eating,” she said.
There were a handful of occasions teachers noticed her for something besides her weight. Stephanie smiled as she recalled a time when an English teacher praised an essay she wrote; when she won second place prize in a coding camp; when she was named ‘cadet of the year’ in JROTC during remote school during the pandemic. In elementary school, she received the President’s Award for Educational Achievement, designed to reward students who work hard, often in the face of obstacles to learning.
Stephanie, 18, holds an old photo of her taken in the sixth grade. Credit: Moriah Ratner for The Hechinger Report
It wasn’t enough to make her feel like she had educators on her side. “In school, they want you to confide in teachers, they made us believe that we can go to teachers for anything,” she said. “If you have no friends or if there’s no one to trust — you can always find a teacher who you can feel safe with, you can always trust them. So, I would try, but they always pushed me away.”
One interaction in particular shattered her confidence. Toward the end of seventh grade, Stephanie stayed to ask a question after class. Her teacher asked if she was a new student. “‘How did you not notice I was in your class and the entire year I turned in work?” Stephanie wondered. “That’s when I started to feel like I’m a shadow.” From that point on she stopped caring about getting good grades.
Liliana López, a spokesperson for Montgomery County Public Schools, said that teachers are not “expressly trained on weight bias,” but they “elevate all the identities individuals hold as valuable and we work with staff to identify ways they can create spaces full of affirmation, validation and significance for those identities.” Celeste Fernandez, spokesperson for the National Education Association, the nation’s largest teachers’ union, said her organization does not offer specific training or information on weight bias.
Researchers are increasingly identifying links between poor outcomes for students with obesity and teacher’s attitudes toward kids. In 2015, Erica Kenney, an associate professor of public health nutrition at Harvard University, helped lead a team that analyzed data from a representative sample of children from across the nation. The researchers examined, among other things, whether the kids’ weight gain influenced teachers’ perceptions of their abilities and their standardized test scores.
Gaining weight didn’t change a child’s test scores, the researchers found, but, based on surveys, it was significantly linked to teachers having lower perceptions of students’ ability, for both girls and boys. In other words, kids who gained weight faced a small but significant“academic penalty” from their teachers, Kenney said.
A separate study, involving 130 teachers, found that educators were more likely to give lower grades to essays if they believed a child who was obese had written them. For the study, Kristin Finn, a professor in the school of education at Canisius University, in Buffalo, New York, took four essays written at a sixth grade level and paired them with stock photographs of students who looked similar but some had been digitally altered to appear overweight. The overweight students received moderately lower scores.
As an elementary schooler, Stephanie heard comments about her weight almost every day. Credit: Moriah Ratner for The Hechinger Report
Finn found that the teachers were more likely to view the students with obesity as academically inferior, “messy” and more likely to need tutoring. In surveys, teachers also predicted that students with obesity weren’t good in other subjects such as math and social studies.
“To be able to make a judgment about somebody’s mathematical abilities based on a short essay seemed pretty remarkable,” said Finn. Yet, teachers maintained that they were personally unbiased in their evaluations. “They all think that they’re treating these children fairly,” she said.
Teachers’ perceptions of children’s academic potential matters: Their recommendations can affect not only students’ grades, but also their access to higher level courses, competitive programs, specialized camps and post-secondary opportunities including college.
Girls are at particular risk of being stigmatized for being obese, research has found. In one study, nearly a third of women who were overweight said they had had a teacher who was biased against them because of their weight. Students who face other barriers including poverty are also more likely to be penalized for being overweight, what is called a “double disadvantage.”
Covid, which hit during the spring of Stephanie’s eighth grade year, was a welcome interruption. She loved learning in the privacy of her home and not being “judged for my body,” she said.
When schools reopened in the fall of 10th grade, Stephanie couldn’t bear the thought of returning. She had gained weight during remote learning, some 100 pounds. Citing her asthma and her father’s diabetes, she applied for a waiver that would permit her to attend classes virtually. But “the real reason was because I was ashamed of what I look like,” she said.
She received the waiver and continued her high school studies at home.
After a 2022 diagnosis of Polycystic Ovary Syndrome, which had made her body resistant to insulin, Stephanie decided to undergo bariatric surgery. Following the operation, Stephanie lost more than half her body weight. When she returned to her high school to take exams, people were suddenly nice to her, she said. It frustrated her, she said: “I’m the same person.”
Negative perceptions of people with obesity start early. In one study, children as young as 3 who were shown drawings of people of varying weights perceived the obese people as “mean” more often than “nice.” In another study, when 5- and 6-year-olds were shown images of children of different body sizes, most said they did not want to invite the heavier children to their birthday party.
Experts argue that administrators and teachers must become more sensitive to and knowledgeable about the challenges facing children with obesity. Yolandra Hancock, a pediatrician who specializes in patients with obesity and a former teacher, said she frequently intervenes with educators on behalf of her patients with obesity. One 7-year-old boy was often late to class because he found it difficult to climb the three flights of stairs to get there.
“The assistant principal actually told him if he wasn’t so fat, he would be able to get up the stairs faster,” Hancock said. She explained that the student wasn’t walking slowly because of “laziness” but because obesity can cause a bowing of the leg bones, making it hard to navigate steps. Giving the student more time between classes or arranging for his classes to be on the same floor would have been simple fixes, she said.
In another case, an elementary school student with obesity was getting into trouble for requesting frequent bathroom breaks, a result of his large abdomen putting pressure on his bladder, similar to what happens during pregnancy. “He came close to having an accident,” Hancock said. “His teachers wouldn’t allow him to go to the restroom and would call his mother to complain that he wasn’t focusing.” She wrote to the school requesting that he be allowed to go to the restroom whenever he needed. “If you don’t allow them to do what it is that their body needs,” Hancock said, “you’re creating more barriers to them being able to learn.”
Research has found that teachers can play an important “buffering role” in reducing bullying for children with obesity. In one study, children who believed educators would step in to prevent future bullying did better in school than those who didn’t share this conviction.
But often teachers don’t intervene, said Puhl, the University of Connecticut researcher, because they believe that if students “want the teasing to stop, they need to lose weight.” Yet “body weight is not a simple issue of eating less and exercising more,” she added, but is instead a highly complex condition influenced by genetics, hormones, culture, environment and economics.Bullying and mistreatment don’t motivate people to lose weight, Puhl said, but often contribute to binge eating, reduced physical activity and weight gain.
One way to help, would be for schools to include body weight in their anti-bullying policies, Puhl said. At present, most schools’ anti-bullying policies protect children on the basis of race, ethnicity, gender identity, disability and religious beliefs, “but very few mention body weight.” That lack is really shocking, she added, “because body weight is one of the most prevalent reasons that kids are bullied today.”
This spring, Stephanie went back to school to attend her graduation ceremony and receive her diploma. She still struggles with body image but is determined to put her negative experiences behind her and start fresh in college this fall, she says.
She plans to study psychology. “I want to understand people better, because I didn’t feel heard and there were a lot of things I didn’t speak about,” she said. “I just want to help people.”
This story about childhood obesity awareness was produced by The Hechinger Report, a nonprofit, independent news organization focused on inequality and innovation in education. Sign up for the Hechinger newsletter.
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Social-emotional learning (SEL) has become a primary focus in many school’s strategic plans. Fortunately, there is a long list of literature, articles and research that outline the importance of SEL and the positive impact that it can have on student development. Knowing this, teachers try to fit these lessons into their morning meetings, projects, special classes, birthday celebrations, snack times and lunch hours. They are attempting to adapt to both learn about and create space for SEL, but SEL requires more time and consistency, with a heavy emphasis on time.
As an early childhood counselor and educator, I work with children in their beginning years of development and the families that care for them. Knowing that SEL is valuable and requires dedicated time, my school has taken the approach of allowing me and my colleagues to stay with the same caseload of children for five years, which is a rare opportunity for counselors and educators to have in this field. During this time, it takes students about two years to understand my role as a “feelings teacher.” They go from asking me, “Who are you, and what are you doing here?” to telling me about their feelings the moment I step into their classroom. By the time they are in kindergarten, they are fully accustomed to my presence. Some of them introduce me to caregivers I have yet to meet, while others greet me with a hug as they enter the building on their own or hand in hand with friends. They have grown physically, but also emotionally as they are able to notice and deal with their emotions more readily.
As I’ve built these foundational skills with my students, my school has also given me enough time to build an expectation that students discuss their identities as a valuable component within the SEL curriculum. My teachers and administrators understand that this is imperative to the work that I do in creating systemic change and in building relationships with my students where they can feel comfortable discussing identity in an authentic, holistic and vulnerable way. The time I have been given to incorporate identity into SEL has allowed me to explore, experiment, and, most importantly, give my students new tools to navigate the world and their identities and grow and mature in their learning.
Bringing Identity to the Forefront
In her book “Unearthing Joy,” author Gholdy Muhammad speaks on the importance and impact of taking the time to get to know your students deeply. Specifically, Muhammad says, “It is important to get to know children in authentic, loving, and meaningful ways so that you learn who they are, who they’re not, and who they are destined to become on this earth.” I have learned that it is important to center identity as I learn more about my students. Acknowledging and affirming their identities creates opportunities to teach SEL on a deeper and more impactful level.
Although I work in a predominantly white institution, I work to focus on uplifting each child’s experience in the world while simultaneously acknowledging the role of prejudice, racism and oppression in our schools. My experiences over the years, when I have had the time to work with and collaborate with a diverse group of teachers, have taught me that teaching SEL without discussing these topics is often the easier and quicker route to take, but it also creates more opportunities for harm. Instead of settling for this, I challenge myself and my colleagues to lean into discomfort and expand our understanding of SEL. In doing so, I find joy in the incremental and marginal change we have created within our school because it creates an opportunity for continued growth.
As I enter first grade with my students, I notice that as much as I have learned about them, they have learned about me. They expect to hear my jokes and know that as a Black woman, my hair will look different almost every time they see me. We have developed a consistent and trusting relationship where they are holistically seen and valued, and it shows in their engagement with SEL lessons and their ability to problem-solve and express themselves.
One day, during our fourth year together, I was preparing to read the book “What Do You Do With a Problem?” for my SEL lesson, and I began by asking, “What problems do you see in your world?” Students began speaking about gun violence, robberies and people being treated unfairly. When one student spoke, another would add to their idea and tell the story from their perspective. Students also spoke about their families in India, experiencing harm and the effects of racism in America.
One child expressed grave concern that “Black and white people would always fight.” This became a focus of the conversation for a while until one of my students noted that the injustices Asian Americans experience are rarely discussed. He challenged me directly, telling me that we don’t talk about these things enough. Instead of reacting negatively or quickly moving on as we ran well over time, I listened, made time and space for the student to discuss his experience, and respectfully validated him as this conversation continued. I was unprepared for this conversation and looked to my teacher colleagues for help; they stayed present for the conversation, which went on for 45 minutes. We never even read the book.
The True Power of SEL
As I left that conversation, I felt many emotions. Mainly, I was proud of them for being capable of a conversation that was so dynamic and important. Using their self-advocacy skills, they were able to speak up and challenge me, centering experiences that matter the most to them and their families. In learning their personalities over the years, I created a safe space where they knew their voices would be heard, valued and amplified. I could get to know my students for who they are as individuals, and they understood that not only did I know them, but I also had a relationship with their teachers, which created a village of care they could lean on when needed.
Giving SEL the time and space it deserves allows children to become more self-aware and connected to their peers and adults in the school setting. This feeling of safety allows for learning environments that encourage challenging and expansive conversations and community building that values and respects the identity of all students. Doing this while also building consistent and real relationships with students creates the foundation for a uniquely safe educational environment. It creates opportunities for students to learn to be better citizens to one another. When our students are regulated, able to think critically, and encouraged to speak up about the things that are important to them, educators can better navigate students’ concerns while honoring the identities and feelings that come along with them.
SEL is and should always be a part of our work as educators. However, to have a positive and lasting effect on our students’ lives and relationships, we must create environments where more purposeful and intentional time is dedicated to SEL and understanding the role of identity.
Students who left college say finances are a top barrier to re-enrollment.
The cost of higher education continues to pose a threat to student retention and success, with over half of learners with some college but no degree unable to re-enroll due to financial constraints.
New data from ed-tech group StraighterLine and UPCEA, the online and professional education association, found over half of stopped-out students (58 percent) disagree that their current financial situation will allow them to afford tuition and related experiences for their education; but among those previously enrolled in a degree program, the motivating factor to re-enroll would be to improve their salary (53 percent).
“The contrast reveals a critical issue: while many individuals seek higher education to boost their incomes, they are often unable to afford it due to skyrocketing tuition costs,” according to the report.
Survey respondents indicated they are academically and mentally prepped to handle college, but financial constraints keep them from going back to school. Students who left their institution were less likely to consider higher education trustworthy and important to their future goals.
Methodology
The survey was fielded from June 7 to 11, 2024, and the survey analysis includes 1,018 former students.
The background: Across the U.S., 36.8 million Americans have started some postsecondary education but did not earn a credential or degree, growing by 2.3 million students from January 2021 to July 2022 alone, according to data from the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center.
As institutions scrounge for students to enroll and counter the looming demographic cliff, targeting stopped-out students is an opportunity to enroll highly motivated learners. For institutions focused on retention, the “some college but no degree” population paints a picture of challenges and barriers to student success.
During the 2022–23 academic year, students over all who re-enrolled were most likely to pursue an associate degree (52 percent), but those who had started a bachelor’s degree program were most likely to return to their four-year degree (57 percent).
Buck stops here: The survey asked students to consider their college readiness factors, including academic preparation, mental resilience, flexibility, learning environment, financial readiness and time management skills.
Eighty-eight percent of respondents agree they are proficient in essential academic skills (reading, writing, mathematics and critical thinking) and 86 percent agree that they are competent in using tech for research, coursework and other learning activities. Similarly, 81 percent say they are adaptable and can persevere when faced with obstacles, and 71 percent say they can cope with stress and challenges.
Stopped-out learners are also invested in their education, with 63 percent agreeing they would devote the time and effort needed to complete their program of study. The primary motivating factor for re-enrollment would be to improve their salary (53 percent). Forty-four percent want to complete as a personal goal, and 38 percent want a career change.
However, over half (58 percent) disagree that their current financial situation will allow them to afford tuition and related experiences for their education; only 22 percent agree.
Improving trust: Fewer than half of stopped-out students (42 percent) agree with the statement that colleges and universities are trustworthy, and just under one-quarter of those who were enrolled in a degree program believe earning a degree isn’t necessary anymore.
Those who did think colleges were trustworthy or communicative were more likely to re-enroll, showing how institutional efforts to build trust and support students while enrolled can impact their future decision-making.
But only about half of current students believe their administrators are trustworthy. A May Student Voice survey by Inside Higher Ed and Generation Lab found 52 percent of students say they have at least some trust in their president or executive-level officials to ensure students have a positive campus experience.
Colleges and universities should tailor their approach to address the interests and needs of prospective students to build trust and make learners feel seen and heard, according to the white paper. “With this understandable lack of trust and potential perception of a lack of value, it is essential that institutions are thoughtful in their attempt to build relationships.”
Administrators should also highlight postgraduation support services offered by the institution, such as career counseling, internships and professional development that can help graduates reach their goals. A September report from Tyton Partners found only one-third of stopped-out students were aware of career advising at their college.
Getting back to class: Over all, students who started a certificate program are slightly more likely to be ready to re-enroll, compared to their peers who were in a degree program, but both had a normal distribution, with most falling in the “somewhat ready” category.
The survey results demonstrate that students who were mentally prepared to handle challenges (including having a conducive learning environment, coping with stress, willingness to devote time and effort, and open to adaptation), who held positive opinions of higher education institutions and who saw the value of a degree or certificate were most likely to re-enroll.
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Dive Brief:
Undergraduate enrollment rose this fall for the second year in a row, up 3% compared to similar early data from fall 2023, according to preliminary figures released Wednesday by the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center.
Enrollment jumped 1.9% in bachelor’s degree programs and 4.3% in those for associate degrees. While all credential types saw gains, the number of undergraduate certificate seekers increased the most, at 7.3%.
However, enrollment among first-year students shrank 5%, the first dip since the decline seen at the start of the pandemic. Declining enrollment among 18-year-olds — a proxy for students who attend college directly after high school — accounted for most of that drop, the clearinghouse said.
Dive Insight:
Fall 2023 marked the first time undergraduate enrollment had increased since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the clearinghouse.
This semester, enrollment largely fared well despite numerous headwinds, including the U.S. Supreme Court’s June decision to ban race-conscious admissions and the botched rollout of the Free Application for Federal Student Aid for the 2024-25 academic year. Yet the declines in first-year students warn of potential cracks in the K-12 student pipeline.
“It is startling to see such a substantial drop in freshmen, the first decline since the start of the pandemic in 2020 when they plunged nearly 10%,” Doug Shapiro, the research center’s executive director, said in a statement.
Overall, undergraduate growth is being driven by students who had previously begun their first year of college, researchers said. The clearinghouse includes in that group both dual-enrolled high school students and students who left college without completing a degree or certificate.
This past spring, the clearinghouse found an increase in reenrollment among students who previously left college without completing a credential. Researchers also recently found that persistence rates among first-time students had reached a decade high.
“Both of those trends appear to be continuing this fall,” Shapiro said during a call with reporters on Tuesday.
Of the 42 states with sufficient data for analysis, only New Hampshire, West Virginia and Missouri experienced a downtick in students. And undergraduate enrollment grew at all types of institutions, though some made out better than others.
At public baccalaureate colleges that primarily grant associate’s degrees, the number of students rose 5.2%. For-profit four-year colleges experienced a 4.9% increase, and enrollment at public two-year colleges jumped 4.7%.
Public and private nonprofit four-year institutions saw more limited undergraduate growth, at 2.2% and 1.4%, respectively.
Undergraduate enrollment of men and women grew at similar rates: 2.1% and 2.3%, respectively.
Hispanic, Black, Asian and multiracial populations all saw undergraduate enrollment increases of at least 4% year over year. White undergraduate students were the only racial or ethnic group showing a decline, dropping by 0.6%.
The preliminary data set includes about 52% of Title IV, degree-granting colleges that report to the clearinghouse. Together, the institutions enroll just under 9 million students. The clearinghouse’s final enrollment report is expected in January.
Colleges have long been bracing for an expected dropoff in high school graduates due to declining birth rates. Now, first-year enrollment has in fact dropped across all racial and ethnic groups, the clearinghouse said.
First-year enrollment declined the most among White students, a decrease of 11.4%, followed by a 6.6% drop for multiracial students and 6.1% for Black students. The number of Asian and Hispanic first-year students fell by 2.8% and 1.4%, respectively, reductions the clearinghouse described as “relatively muted.”
This is the first time the clearinghouse has enrollment disaggregated data for 18-year-olds, according to Shapiro.
Coming out of the pandemic, students had a hard time returning to in-person classes, and they found themselves struggling to tread water academically as declining test scores made many in the country worry that students were drowning.
For school districts desperate to find a life vest for students, one response was to rely on tutoring services. These services — particularly high-dose tutoring, an evidence-backed form of small group, intensive tutoring — had been identified as a way to fight against declining student performance. But at first, in the rush to jump-start tutoring programs, schools plunked federal relief dollars down on less-researched tutoring models and created a cash-grab for companies in the tutoring space. Since then, educators have reputedly gotten more sophisticated when evaluating tutoring programs, focusing their attention on evidence-backed options like high-dose services.
Yet, it’s also unclear that the ample spending of federal funds on tutors has effectively countered learning declines. Plus, schools have had to turn to alternative funding sources to pay for tutors as relief funding fizzles out. Some programs, for instance, have started creatively using federal work placement dollars to grow their tutoring forces, even conscripting college students in the hopes that it would both bolster the outcomes for K-12 students and create the next generation of teachers from today’s college cohort at the same time.
Some hoped that presidential involvement would help. During the 2022 State of the Union address, President Joe Biden called for hundreds of thousands of new tutors, coaches and mentors for programs around the country. And seemingly, this use of the bully pulpit was a success. Now, two years later, an analysis from Johns Hopkins and the RAND Corporation suggests that schools and organizations around the country have surpassed that goal a year early. The Biden plea asked for an additional 250,000 tutors by the summer of 2025. In all, around 323,000 new tutors, mentors or coaches have already joined.
At an event for the White House this month — only weeks before an election where education has seemed a relatively quiet campaign issue — the administration pitched it as a coup for their “laser-focus” on student success. Student support organizations also took it as an encouraging sign for students. “The surpassing of President Biden’s call is a clear indicator of the strength of the American spirit and our collective dedication to the future of our youth,” said Michael D. Smith, CEO of AmeriCorps, one of the organizations involved, in a written statement.
Those volunteers will provide extra muscle for districts trying to support students. But given slumping test scores and vanishing federal relief dollars, is a surge in volunteers enough to stabilize learning?
A Small Victory?
The administration was able to steer a lot of volunteers to tutoring organizations, says Antonio Gutierrez, co-founder of Saga Education, a nonprofit organization focused on high-dose tutoring. It’s a big part of meeting the urgent need of schools post-pandemic and it’s encouraging, he adds.
But what have been the outcomes?
The Johns Hopkins report notes that 12,700 schools increased high-intensity tutoring, suggesting that the administration’s plea helped. Thousands of schools also reported an increase in other support for students. What’s more, 34 percent of principals surveyed reported that more students had access to tutoring in 2023-2024 than in the previous year. Relatedly, 24 percent reported that more students had access to mentors.
But how much of a dent does that actually make in the country? It’s hard to say, according to Gutierrez. But there has been recent evidence concerning “high-impact” tutoring in general, which he thinks might speak to how useful this approach could be for supporting students.
For instance: Preliminary findings from the University of Chicago “Personalized Learning Initiative,” meant to stimulate attempts to expand tutoring in the country, found that high-dose tutoring is effective. According to the study, which inspected a couple thousand K-12 students in Chicago and Fulton County, these tutoring programs inspired gains in math learning. The study was meant to assess how effective tutoring programs are when schools design them on their own, in Gutierrez’s summary. Gutierrez’s organization, Saga Education, has tried to support schools in those efforts by spelling out the best practices districts should follow. The study also found that making sure tutoring occurs during the school day, rather than “on demand” after school or on weekends, was important for getting large increases in student performance.
But there are reasons to slightly tamper that enthusiasm. A meta-analysis from Brown University’s Annenberg Institute looked at 265 randomized controlled trials and found that as tutoring programs get larger, they get notably less effective. While they still helped lift student learning, the benefits of tutoring appeared smaller in large-scale programs, according to this study. To Gutierrez, who notes that the study still noted a positive effect, that’s not really surprising. In other words, because schools are experimenting with these programs themselves, how well any particular program boosts student achievement will vary.
For the movement to make personalized learning a permanent feature of American education, there have been other developments as well.
The most flashy has been AI. This year, the Los Angeles School District, the second largest in the country, launched a high-profile $6 million chatbot called “Ed,” a talking sun that was supposed to boost personalized instruction. But the company behind that chatbot collapsed this summer, raising concerns about what would happen to the student data it collected. Some have suggested the project had been simply too ambitious, and the company has become a cautionary tale.
That’s a good example of what not to do with these programs, according to observers like Gutierrez. But more promising, he says, are efforts like Khanmigo, the personalized instruction tool from Sal Khan, and other chat-based tutoring programs. Those sorts of chatbots should be developed because they could add value, Gutierrez says.
They likely won’t replace human tutors, Gutierrez says. Because of how students learn, tutoring is highly reliant on the relationship between tutor and student, he adds. That’s how tutors can nudge students in the right direction, pushing them to learn. Still, these tech products hold the promise of translating into any language and also fine-tuning to a district’s needs, though there are questions about engagement from students with these tools, he says. But so long as districts don’t depend entirely on these technologies for personalized instruction, it’s probably useful to explore how human and bot tutors can work together to assist students, Gutierrez says.
Ultimately, the drove of tutors from the Biden-Harris administration push was a step in the right direction, but there’s a lot more work ahead, Gutierrez admits.
Angela Fleck says this was the typical scene last year in the sixth grade social studies classes she teaches at Glover Middle School in Spokane, Washington: Nearly every student had a smartphone, and many of them would regularly sneak glances at the devices, which they kept tucked behind a book or just under their desks.
“They’re pretty sneaky, so you wouldn’t always know that that was the reason,” says Fleck. “But over time, I’d realize no matter how engaging my lesson was, when it was time to turn and do the group activity or the assignment — something that wasn’t totally me directing the class — there would be a large number of students that had no idea what we were doing.”
What students were doing with their phones, she says, was most often using Snapchat or other social media or texting with students in other classrooms, which she described as creating drama: “And then it would just spread rapid-fire, whatever the situation was, and it would sometimes result in altercations — meeting up at a certain place, and they’d arrange it all day on the phone.”
This year, though, the vibe has changed. Spokane Public Schools issued a new districtwide policy that bans the use of smartphones or smartwatches in classrooms during instructional time. So now students in elementary and middle schools have to keep devices off and put away during the school day, though high school students can use their smartphones or watches between classes and at lunch.
Now, she says, she feels like she has most students’ attention during classes since she no longer has to compete with buzzing devices. “In general, students are ready to learn,” she says. “As a teacher, I need to make sure that I have an engaging lesson that will keep their attention and help them to learn and help them to continue to want to be engaged.” And she says there are fewer fights at the school, too.
The district is one of many across the country that have instituted new smartphone bans this year, in the name of increasing student engagement and counteracting the negative effects that social media has on youth mental health. And at least four states — Indiana, Louisiana, South Carolina and Florida — have enacted statewide bans limiting school smartphone access.
For this week’s EdSurge Podcast, we set out to get a sense of how the bans are going. To do that, we talked with Fleck, as well as a high school teacher in Indiana, where a new statewide law bans smartphones and other wireless devices in schools during instructional time.
Fleck is a fan of the ban, and says she hopes the school never goes back to the old approach. But she admits that she misses some aspects of having phones available to integrate in a lesson when needed.
In the past, for instance, she allowed students to take pictures with their phones of the slides she was showing. And she would often designate a student as a researcher during lessons who could look up related material online and share with the group. Now she’s finding ways to adapt to keep those positive aspects of online access, she says, such as having student researchers use a computer in the classroom, or to make more use of the school-issued laptops for some lessons.
Adam Swinyard, the superintendent of Spokane Public Schools, acknowledges that there are trade-offs to the new ban when it comes to the use of tech in instruction.
“We absolutely have lost some power of the opportunity that those devices provide, whether that’s, ‘I can really quickly look something up,’ or ‘I can quickly participate in a class poll’ or ‘I can tune my music instrument,’” he told EdSurge. “But I think where we landed in our community, for our schools and for our kids, is what we gain in their level of engagement and ability to focus far outweighs what we’re losing in a device being a powerful pedagogical tool inside of the classroom. But I think it’s important to acknowledge.”
What they end up teaching students, he argues, is more important. The mantra for the district is that there is a “time and place” for smartphone use, says Swinyard, and that a classroom is not the right setting or occasion, just as he wouldn’t pull out his phone and write a text while he was being interviewed for this article, or sitting in an important meeting.
Some schools with new bans have faced pushback from students, especially where there has been a zero-tolerance for phones even during social time. At a Jasper High School in Plano, Texas, for instance, more than 250 people signed a petition calling on the principal to revise a new ban on smartphones, which forbids use of devices all day, even during lunch and in the halls between classes. “Before the restricted use of cellphones was prohibited, they were a social link, connecting students during lunch and hallway breaks,” the petition reads.
And some parents have complained about the new bans, out of concerns that they would not be able to reach their children in the event of an emergency, such as a school shooting. A new survey by the Pew Research Center found that about 7 in 10 Americans support cellphone bans during class, while only about a third favor an all-day ban.
So one takeaway is that how schools design their smartphone restrictions — and how they communicate the policies to students and parents — are important for how well they work in practice.
Hear more about the pros and cons of new smartphone bans on this week’s EdSurge Podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or on the player below.
The spooky season is upon us, and there’s nothing scarier for L&D pros than a training program that falls short. Fortunately, we’ve gathered a list of standout titles that can help you prevent all the things that go bump in the night, like employee disengagement, low ROI, resistance to change, and lack of real-world application. In no particular order, come fright this way to explore these ultimate guides from our eBook library.
7 eLearning eBooks To Help You Overcome L&D Challenges
Working with nearly 100 clients across industries gave the SweetRush team a unique perspective on the challenges and opportunities in L&D. Download this valuable resource with insights from L&D pros on AI, analytics, LX, and enabling change.
Explore how Artificial Intelligence is changing the landscape of Learning and Development in modern workplaces. Through practical insights, this eBook serves as a guide for L&D professionals seeking to leverage the AI advantage to create engaging and effective learning experiences.
For many organizations, learning is disconnected from development. This guide gives insights on how linking learning to areas like onboarding, coaching, engagement, performance, and careers can supercharge development and drive business outcomes.
Looking for innovative ways to multiply training revenue and expand your audience reach? Explore 5 tested and proven growth strategies with actionable steps to supercharge your business.
In this eBook, you’ll see how to build an onboarding experience that combines modern learning techniques and technologies with your company’s unique culture. It will help you create a process that gives new hires the tools they need to find their feet, build confidence, and perform highly, all while helping them feel like they truly belong.
Building gamification into your online and blended learning programs has been shown to improve learner motivation, engagement, and performance. Discover ideas on how to take advantage of some of the configuration-based gamification features Totara Learn offers and some general tips on adding gamified elements to your courses.
This is your one-stop resource for using role-plays for employee training. To make it really helpful, iSpring teamed up with Clark Aldrich, a top expert in educational simulations.
Are You Looking For More eLearning Reads?
Check out our eLearning eBook library for more virtual guides. There are over 400 titles to choose from, penned by industry thought leaders and L&D insiders.
We’re thrilled to share some exciting news: Khan Academy’s World History Project AP course is now mastery-enabled! This updated course doesn’t just offer an in-depth understanding of world history—it empowers students to build mastery through innovative tools designed to enhance their learning and confidence in the AP World History: Modern course. Whether you’re a teacher looking to boost classroom instruction or a student aiming to sharpen your AP knowledge, this course has something valuable for everyone.
Why this course is a game-changer for students and families
Our newly updated World History Project AP course allows students to check their understanding of AP-aligned material through new mastery-enabled exercises. These exercises help students build confidence in their knowledge of world history. They can review key historical developments and get opportunities to practice analyzing historical sources. As students progress through each lesson, they can track their understanding of key concepts and their grasp of historical thinking skills to complete quizzes and unit assessments. This continuous feedback loop ensures that students are well-prepared for their exams and can identify areas where they need further practice.
Additionally, the course allows students to supplement their learning by diving deeper into course-aligned topics and skills. For instance, a student studying the Industrial Revolution can practice applying historical thinking skills such as causation and change over time, which is crucial for success in AP World History: Modern. This supports the development of higher-order integrative thinking and analysis in a friendly, low-stakes format. It also reinforces learning, builds confidence, and helps students see the relevance of historical events in today’s world.
How educators can save time and boost student engagement
For educators, the new World History Project AP exercises offer a powerful tool to quickly assess student understanding of the content throughout the course. Featuring a mix of stimulus-based and non-stimulus-based questions, these exercises provide a low-stakes yet authentic way for students to demonstrate their learning of key topics and themes. This makes it easier to monitor student progress and adjust instruction to address gaps in understanding. Each exercise is aligned with the Course and Exam Description (CED) for AP World History: Modern, encouraging students to use essential historical thinking skills such as causation, contextualization, comparison, and change over time. Incorporating these exercises into your teaching can give your students meaningful practice that builds their historical knowledge base, critical thinking skills, and confidence.
Unlock your students’ full potential in AP World History
Khan Academy’s mastery-enabled World History Project AP course is a valuable resource for students and educators, offering a structured, engaging way to build confidence in the content and skills necessary for success in AP World History: Modern. We invite you to explore this course and integrate it into your teaching to help your students achieve their academic goals in a fun, approachable way.
One of the nation’s leading providers of online education degrees supports Georgetown University group’s report recommending disclosure of earnings premium and debt-to-earnings statistics and calls for five-year freeze in graduate program tuition.
INDIANAPOLIS, October 22, 2024 (Newswire.com)
– A new report from a respected Georgetown University research group finds that the cost of attaining graduate degrees – a virtual necessity for teachers’ career advancement – can actually make pursuing degrees financially risky. American College of Education, one of the country’s top providers of accredited online graduate degrees, endorses the report’s call for greater transparency on loan debt and return on investment and calls on graduate programs nationwide to significantly reduce tuition costs.
American College of Education (ACE), founded in 2005, offers more than 60 accredited doctoral, specialist, master’s and bachelor’s degrees and graduate-level certificate programs. ACE is ranked third in the United States for the number of master’s degrees in education conferred. ACE is known for its affordability, with no tuition increases since 2016 and with 86% of its students graduating with no debt.
The affordability of graduate education is the subject of the Georgetown report, “Graduate Degrees: Risky and Unequal Paths to the Top”. It documents how the cost of attaining a graduate degree has more than tripled over the past 20 years, and the median debt principal incurred by students has risen more than 50%, from $34,000 to $50,000. The study also shows that while students with graduate degrees in education earn 30% more overall than those with only a bachelor’s degree, rising tuition costs and loan repayments are eroding the earnings advantage.
“Some graduate programs leave completers with debt that they cannot reasonably repay from their earnings. When borrowers can’t repay their loans, taxpayers often pick up the remainder of the tab,” said the authors, researchers at the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce.
This is particularly problematic in the field of education, where teachers generally need advanced degrees to achieve higher pay, better jobs or, in three states, simply to stay in the profession. American colleges award about 150,000 master’s degrees in education a year, and about 5.6 million education jobs will require a graduate degree by 2031, the authors said.
To protect students and maintain the value of a graduate degree, the researchers recommend new regulations that would require graduate programs to disclose their return on investment and the debt burden they create. Specifically, the Georgetown researchers propose an “in-field earnings premium test,” comparing the earnings of workers with graduate degrees to those without them, and a “debt-to-earnings test,” examining degree recipients’ federal loan payments in relation to their earnings.
Graduate programs would be required to notify prospective students of their performance on those tests and would need to meet performance standards for their students to be eligible for federal loan programs.
ACE endorses the report’s recommendations. The in-field earnings premium test would ensure education professionals and employers achieve significant ROI on their investment in a graduate degree. The debt-to-earnings test would help educators reduce or even avoid the crushing burden of student loans.
“ACE’s endorsement of the ‘in-field earnings premium test’ is crucial for education professionals seeking real returns on their graduate degree investments. Alongside the ‘debt to earnings test,’ these steps provide a much-needed pathway to reduce student loan burdens and make advanced education more accessible to educators,” said Geordie Hyland, president and CEO of American College of Education.
An independent study by economists at labor market analysis firm Lightcast found a return of $19.20 in increased future earnings for every dollar a student invests in their education at ACE. This amounts to an average annual rate of return of 120.7%.
ACE also urges graduate schools to support education professionals by significantly reducing tuition costs – without compromising quality – by eliminating non-value add costs and using technology when possible. ACE, which has frozen its tuition costs for the last eight years, calls on graduate schools to freeze tuition for at least the next five years while assessing costs of delivery.
“ACE calls for graduate schools to reduce tuition without compromising quality. Focusing on teaching and learning, leveraging technology, and eliminating non-essential costs will make education more affordable,” Hyland said. “Freezing tuition for five years is a smart, proactive move toward a sustainable and equitable model for higher education.”
ACE also improves affordability by choosing not to participate in federal Title IV financial aid programs, which reduces operational costs and reduces costs to students. The college also has a team dedicated to evaluating credit for prior learning (CPL) and extensive professional development content partnerships, which help students decrease the duration and cost of their program.
Hyland will discuss ACE’s model of success in an upcoming The Future of Education podcast.
ACE has an 85% graduation rate, with 11,000 students and 44,000 alumni, and is ranked third in the United States for the most master’s degrees in education. 92% of ACE’s students agree or strongly agree that they are satisfied with their ACE experience. More information on student outcomes is available at the ACE “Student Right to Know” at https://ace.edu/about/student-right-to-know/.
About American College of Education American College of Education (ACE) is an accredited, fully online college specializing in high-quality, affordable programs in education, business, leadership, healthcare and nursing. Headquartered in Indianapolis, ACE offers more than 60 innovative and engaging programs for adult students to pursue a doctorate, specialist, master’s or bachelor’s degree, along with graduate-level certificate programs.
Getting schooled on both sides of the real estate transaction is a must in today’s new real estate era and the motivation behind new professional development from The CE Shop
DENVER, October 22, 2024 (Newswire.com)
– Sharpen all the buyer and seller representation skills agents need in less than six hours, with this new all-in-one duo package from The CE Shop — Mastering Real Estate Representation — broken into quick, 15-20-minute lessons.
Fully aligned with the latest National Association of REALTORS® (NAR) changes, this package of 18 bite-sized lessons is built for agents on-the-go who need rapid success in today’s evolving market. Designed for real estate professionals who want to excel in a competitive market, this comprehensive package offers a deep dive into the most critical aspects of representing clients on both sides of the transaction. In today’s fast-paced real estate market, being an expert on just one side of the transaction won’t cut it.
The CE Shop has stayed closely aligned to the regulatory changes and knows that busy agents only have time to invest mere minutes, so lessons are not only focused — they’re easily consumable.
After completing these lessons, you’ll be ready to represent any client with expertise, confidence, and a comprehensive understanding of both buyer and seller dynamics, all while staying compliant with the latest NAR guidelines. Agents who know both buyer and seller dynamics are better equipped to serve clients, close more deals, and stand out in a crowded market. Represent clients fairly and win on both sides of the transaction with ease.
Build skills fast and live up to client expectations, all while outpacing the competition and preparing for 2025 and beyond.
Sign up for the new “Mastering Real Estate Representation” package here.
About The CE Shop The CE Shop is the leading provider of professional real estate education with both online and live-online options in real estate, mortgage, home inspection, and appraisal courses available throughout the United States. The CE Shop produces quality education for professionals across the nation, whether they are veterans in their industry or are looking to launch a new career. We believe that the right education can truly make a difference. Visit TheCEShop.com to learn more.
Through innovative programs and initiatives, Deborah Copeland and her team are transforming the employment landscape for people with disabilities.
OKLAHOMA CITY, October 22, 2024 (Newswire.com)
– Through employment initiatives and training programs, Deborah Copeland and her team at Dale Rogers Training Center are leading Oklahoma toward a disability-inclusive workforce.
Throughout her career in the nonprofit space, Deborah Copeland, M.Ed., has witnessed major shifts in opportunities for adults living with disabilities. The most recent, Employment First—meaning employment should be the first and preferred option for people living with disabilities—is designed to provide the support people living with disabilities need to join the workforce with the same opportunities as their peers. As an Employment First state since 2015, Oklahoma has been making strides, but there is still progress to be made. Leading the way is Dale Rogers Training Center (DRTC), where 64% of employees identify as having a disability.
“Our mission is to promote a more disability-inclusive workforce across Oklahoma,” says Copeland, executive director and CEO of DRTC. “In every workplace, in every corner of the community, people living with disabilities deserve full access to employment opportunities.”
Founded in 1953, DRTC offers paid vocational training and in-house programs tailored to people’s needs and strengths. For example, the Employment Services Program matches individuals to job openings based on their employment goals and provides on-the-job training until an employee is effectively prepared for the role. Through SourceAmerica®, DRTC maintains federal employment contracts in the custodial and food service industries. In 2023 alone, people with disabilities earned $6.2 million through DRTC’s programs.
“Investing in disability inclusion is not only beneficial for people with disabilities but the community as a whole,” says Copeland. “In Oklahoma, about 30% of people who do not participate in the workforce have a disability. These are people with great values and great motivation who don’t have access to employment, so we need to make sure every workplace is accessible.”
Empowerment in Action
According to 2023 data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 8.4% of people living with a disability are self-employed versus just 5.9% of those with no disability. The Hub Business Incubator Program, an initiative at DRTC currently in early development, will provide support and training for people living with a disability who want to become entrepreneurs. Candidates will have the opportunity to develop their business plan and network with professionals during a 10-day workshop. They will be provided with an analysis on how viable their business, product, or service may be, and long-term support and mentorship will help candidates be more successful.
In the coming years, DRTC is looking to create more employment opportunities for people living with disabilities and serve as a resource to the community, policymakers, and employers alike. Copeland and her team approach every decision with an eye on empowerment.
“I love the work we do,” says Copeland. “We have a saying at DRTC: ‘Employment makes you the hero of your own life.’ Every day, I see folks find employment, and they change their own lives. They may buy a car, get married, or contribute to their household income. Employment opens the door for people to write their own story.”
“Employment makes you the hero of your own life.” — Deborah Copeland, Executive Director and CEO
Want to help create a more inclusive workforce? Discover how Dale Rogers Training Center is making a difference in Oklahoma. Visit DRTC.org or call 405-946-4889 to learn more about our programs and initiatives.
Address: 2501 North Utah Avenue, Oklahoma City, OK 73107 Phone Number: 405-946-4889 Website: DRTC.org
ST. PAUL, Minn. & CHARLOTTE, N.C. – 3M (@3M) and Discovery Education (@DiscoveryEd) named Sirish Subash, a 9th grader at Gwinnett School of Mathematics, Science, and Technology in Snellville, Georgia, the winner of the 2024 3M Young Scientist Challenge, the nation’s premier middle school science competition. Sirish set himself apart with an AI handheld pesticide detector. As the grand prize winner, he received a $25,000 cash prize and the prestigious title of “America’s Top Young Scientist.”
Sirish spent the last four months competing against nine other finalists and secured his win during final Challenge events at 3M global headquarters in St. Paul, Minnesota, on Oct. 14 and 15. Finalists navigated a series of interactive challenges and were evaluated on their ingenuity and innovative thinking, application of STEM principles, demonstration of passion and research, presentation skills, and ability to inspire others.
“This year’s Young Scientist Challenge finalists have demonstrated an incredible ability to develop creative solutions to some of the world’s most pressing challenges,” said Torie Clarke, EVP & chief public affairs officer at 3M. “I am beyond impressed and inspired by their intelligence and their scientific minds. Congratulations to this year’s Top Young Scientist, Sirish Subash, and all the finalists for their phenomenal work.”
Sirish Subash’s project, Pestiscand, is a handheld device designed to detect pesticide residues on produce using a non-destructive method. It employs spectrophotometry, which involves measuring how light of various wavelengths is reflected off the surface of fruits and vegetables. A machine learning model then analyzes this data to determine the presence of pesticides. Pestiscand consists of a sensor, a power supply, a display screen, and a processor. During testing, the device achieved an accuracy rate of identifying pesticide residues on spinach and tomatoes of greater than 85%, meeting the project’s objectives for effectiveness and speed.
3M Young Scientist Challenge finalists are paired with a 3M scientist who mentors and works with them one-on-one over the summer to transform their idea from concept to prototype. This year’s winner was paired with Aditya Banerji, Senior Research Engineer of 3M’s Corporate Research Process Laboratory.
The second and third place winners from the Young Scientist Challenge each receive a $2,000 prize. These exceptional students are:
In second place, Minula Weerasekera from Beaverton, Oregon, a 9thgrader at Mountainside High School. Minula developed a solution for storing energy for longer through organic compounds and a sulfur-based terhiophene.
In third place, William Tan from Scarsdale, New York, an 8th grader at Scarsdale Middle School. William developed an AI Smart Artificial Reef that encourages coral, seashells, kelp and other marine life to grow in a safe and controlled environment.
The fourth through tenth place winners each receive a $1,000 prize and a $500 gift card. These finalists, in alphabetical order by last name, are:
Ankan Das from Sanford, Florida, a 9th grader at Oviedo High School in the Seminole County School District
Steven Goodman from Lake Mary, Florida, an 8th grader at Milwee Middle School in the Seminole County School District
Aakash Manaswi from Orlando, Florida, a 9th grader at Lake Highland Preparatory School
Prince Nallamothula from Frisco, Texas, a 9th grader at Centennial High School in the Frisco Independent School District
Ronita Shukla from Acton, Massachusetts, an 8th grader at RJ Grey Junior High School in the Acton Boxborough Regional School District
Rithvik Suren from Ellington, Connecticut, a 9th grader at Academy of Aerospace & Engineering in the CREC School District
Hanna Suzuki from Bedford, Massachusetts, a 9th grader at Bedford High School in the Bedford School District
“Discovery Education is incredibly proud to support student innovation over the past 17 years through the 3M Young Scientist Challenge,” said Amy Nakamoto, Executive Vice President of Corporate Partnerships at Discovery Education. “It is more important than ever that future generations are given the tools needed to tackle real-world problems. Each remarkable participant has embodied the curiosity that will fuel these discoveries, and we congratulate them all.”
In its 17th year, the 3M Young Scientist Challenge continues to inspire and challenge middle school students to think creatively and apply the power of STEM to discover real-world solutions. America’s Top Young Scientists have gone on to give TED Talks, file patents, found nonprofits, make the Forbes 30 Under 30 list, and exhibit at the White House Science Fair. These young innovators have also been named TIME Magazine’s Kid of the Year, featured in The New York Times Magazine, Forbes, and Business Insider, and have appeared on national television programs such as Good Morning America, The Kelly Clarkson Show, and more. In addition, a 3M Young Scientist Challenge Alumni Network was formed in fall 2022 and welcomed more than 100 former challenge finalists and winners for networking opportunities.
The award-winning competition supplements the 3M and Discovery Education program Young Scientist Lab, which provides free dynamic digital resources for students, teachers, and families to explore, transform, and innovate the world around them. All its resources are also available on Discovery Education Experience, the company’s award-winning K-12 learning platform.
To download images from the 2024 science competition, click here. To learn more about the 3M Young Scientist Challenge and meet this year’s winners and finalists, visit youngscientistlab.com.
About 3M 3M (NYSE: MMM) believes science helps create a brighter world for everyone. By unlocking the power of people, ideas and science to reimagine what’s possible, our global team uniquely addresses the opportunities and challenges of our customers, communities, and planet. Learn how we’re working to improve lives and make what’s next at 3M.com/news.
About Discovery Education Discovery Education is the worldwide edtech leader whose state-of-the-art digital platform supports learning wherever it takes place. Through its award-winning multimedia content, instructional supports, innovative classroom tools, and corporate partnerships, Discovery Education helps educators deliver equitable learning experiences engaging all students and supporting higher academic achievement on a global scale. Discovery Education serves approximately 4.5 million educators and 45 million students worldwide, and its resources are accessed in over 100 countries and territories. Inspired by the global media company Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. Discovery Education partners with districts, states, and trusted organizations to empower teachers with leading edtech solutions that support the success of all learners. Explore the future of education at www.discoveryeducation.com.
eSchool Media staff cover education technology in all its aspects–from legislation and litigation, to best practices, to lessons learned and new products. First published in March of 1998 as a monthly print and digital newspaper, eSchool Media provides the news and information necessary to help K-20 decision-makers successfully use technology and innovation to transform schools and colleges and achieve their educational goals.
School districts that help students receive mental health and healthcare treatment create safer, more inclusive learning environments. By making care accessible, reducing stigma, and fostering early intervention, students are empowered to thrive both emotionally and academically, ultimately benefiting families, schools and society at large.
KENNETT, Mo., October 22, 2024 (Newswire.com)
– Kennett School District 39 (Kennett), a rural school district in the Missouri Bootheel, received a grant through Project AWARE to hire a coordinator to connect students in need of mental health services. They immediately experienced positive results with CrossTx, a HIPAA-compliant referral management platform.
As Morgan Blankenship, ED. S., Project AWARE care coordinator for Kennett, explained, “One of our students, let’s call her ‘Lucy,’ faced significant behavior challenges and found it difficult to stay in class for even an hour without being sent to the office. Thanks to our new student referral system, she was able to start mental health services, which led to extraordinary strides. Now, Lucy is able to attend school all day and fully participate in classroom activities alongside her peers. This transformation is a testament to her hard work, the availability of our referral system, the dedication of our school staff, and the invaluable support from the behavioral health agency. It highlights the critical role of mental health resources in fostering student success. We are incredibly proud of her and excited to see Lucy’s continued growth.”
Schools often struggle to integrate behavioral health services into the educational environment. Although many schools recognize the importance of addressing mental health, few have comprehensive programs to integrate these services. On-site services, such as counseling or therapy, are often limited, leading to reliance on external providers. Kennett School District had similar challenges. Initially, the district faced difficulties with workflow, communication, and recordkeeping, which resulted in students missing vital services. Often, staff lacked clarity on whether students had received services or made progress.
The team at Kennett Schools reached out to the Missouri School-Based Health Alliance to find a solution. This resulted in a partnership with Healthy Blue to access funding for a cloud-based software and training solution implemented and delivered by CrossTx, a care coordination and referral management platform used by rural health clinics, health networks, and school districts around the country.
Kennett engaged with CrossTx to implement a closed-loop referral management collaborative care coordination program for the school district in what became known as Project AWARE.
Blankenship praised the solution to date. “CrossTx has proven to be an invaluable program for our district, effectively ensuring that no student falls through the cracks. Through this platform, I can easily send referrals to the agency, which allows for prompt appointment-scheduling and provides us with essential tracking information, such as attendance, no-shows, transportation needs, and agency notes.”
According to Chandra Donnell, Vice President of Client Success for CrossTx, the program has been a successful start. “As a society, there is still plenty of work to make our schools safer and more supportive of the mental health needs of our students. I am, however, excited to be a part of the transformational process that supports our teachers’ natural ability to notice behavioral changes and thereby advance early intervention before problems escalate. Many educational leaders work tirelessly to reduce the stigma of mental health and create supportive networks in their schools; our software uses these networks to increase access to services while tracking supportive data to highlight progress. Without the data and feedback, schools don’t fully understand the impact of their programs, an integral part to optimizing successful outcomes for students.”
The dedication of many individuals helped create Kennett School District’s positive results for students like Lucy. Their continued success is a model for American school districts determined to support their students’ health and wellbeing.
About Kennett School District 39
Kennett School District is in a rural area of the Missouri Bootheel. It has received grant funding to implement a care-coordinated, referral management program with local behavioral health practices.
About CrossTx Inc.
A cloud-based, HIPAA compliant platform supporting bi-directional and multi-directional referral management and care coordination specialized in school, community, and healthcare workflows.
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For the past two years, a lot of us have written course, program and university policies about generative artificial intelligence. Maybe you prohibited AI in your first-year composition course. Or perhaps your computer science program has a friendly disposition. And your campus information security and academic integrity offices might have their own guidelines.
Our argument is that the integration of AI technology into existing platforms has rendered these frameworks obsolete.
We all knew this landscape was going to change. Some of us have been writing and speaking about “the switch,” wherein Gemini and Copilot are embedded in all the versions of the Google and Microsoft suites. A world where when you open up any new document, you will be prompted with “What are we working on today?”
This world is here, sort of, but for the time being we are in a moment of jagged integration. A year ago, Ethan Mollick started referring to the current AI models as a “jagged frontier,” with models being better suited to some tasks while other capabilities remained out of reach. We are intentionally borrowing that language to refer to this moment of jagged integration where the switch has not been flipped, but integration surrounds us in ways it was difficult to anticipate and impossible to build traditional guidance for.
Nearly every policy we have seen, reviewed or heard about imagines a world where a student opens up a browser window, navigates to ChatGPT or Gemini, and initiates a chat. Our own suggested syllabus policies at California State University, Chico, policies we helped to draft, conceptualize this world with guidance like, “You will be informed as to when, where and how these tools are permitted to be used, along with guidance for attribution.” Even the University of Pennsylvania guidelines, which have been some of our favorites from the start, have language like “AI-generated contributions should be properly cited like any other reference material”—language that assumes the tools are something you intentionally use. That is how AI worked for about a year, but not in an age of jagged integration. Consider, for example, AI’s increasing integration in the following domains:
Research. When we open up some versions of Adobe, there is an embedded “AI assistant” in the upper right-hand corner, which is ready to help you understand and work with the document. Open a PDF citation and reference application, such as Papers, and you are now greeted with an AI assistant ready to help you understand and summarize your academic papers. A student who reads an article you uploaded, but who cannot remember a key point, uses the AI assistant to summarize or remind them where they read something. Has this person used AI when there was a ban in the class? Even when we are evaluating our colleagues in tenure and promotion files, do you need to promise not to hit the button when you are plowing through hundreds of pages of student evaluations of teaching? From an information-security perspective, we understand the problems with using sensitive data within these systems, but how do we avoid AI when it is built into the systems we are already using?
The top hit in many Google searches is now a Gemini summary. How should we tell students to avoid the AI-generated search results? Google at least has the courtesy to identify theirs (probably as a Gemini promotion), but we have no idea how these systems are supplying results or summaries unless search engines tell us. The commonality here and throughout this piece is that these technologies are integrated into the systems we and our students were already using.
Development. The new iPhone was purpose-built for the new Apple Intelligence, which will permeate every aspect of the Apple operating system and text input field and often work in ways that are not visible to the user. Apple Intelligence will help sort notes and ideas. According to CNET, “The idea is that Apple Intelligence is built into your iPhone, iPad and Mac to help you write, get things done and express yourself.” Many students use phones to complete coursework. If they use a compatible iPhone, they will be able to generate and edit text right on the device as part of the system software. What’s more, Apple has partnered with OpenAI to include ChatGPT as a free layer on top of the Apple Intelligence integrated into the operating system, with rumors about Google Gemini being added later. If a student uses Apple Intelligence to help organize ideas or rewrite their discussion post, have they used AI as part of their project?
One piece of technology gaining traction is Google’s NotebookLM. This is the only non-integrated technology we are discussing, but that is because it is designed to be the technology for writers, researchers and students. This is a remarkable platform that allows the user to upload a large volume of data, like a decade’s worth of notes or PDFs, and then the system generates summaries in multiple formats and answers questions. Author and developer Steven Johnson is up front that this system is a potential hangup in educational settings, but it’s not designed to produce full essays; instead, it generates what we would think of as study materials. Still, is the decision to engage with this platform to do organizational and conceptual work the same as copy-pasting from ChatGPT?
Production. Have you noticed the autocomplete features in Google Docs and Word have gotten better in the last 18 months? It is because they are powered by improved machine learning that is AI adjacent. Any content production we do includes autocomplete features. Google Docs has had this active since 2019. You can use Gemini in Google Docs in Workspace Labs right now. Do we need to include instructions for turning autocomplete off for students or people working with sensitive data?
When you log into Instagram or LinkedIn to publish an update, an AI assistant offers to help. If we are teaching students content production for marketing, public relations or professional skill development, do they need to disclose if the AI embedded in the content platforms helped them generate ideas?
Beyond Policy
We don’t mean to be flippant; these are incredibly difficult questions that undermine the policy foundations we were just starting to build. Instead of reframing policies, which will likely have to be rewritten again and again, we are urging institutions and faculty to take a different approach.
We propose replacing AI policies, especially syllabus policies, with a framework or a disposition. The most seamless approach would be to acknowledge that AI is omnipresent in our lives in knowledge production and that we are often engaging with these systems whether we want to or not. It would acknowledge that AI is both expected in the workforce and unavoidable. Faculty might also indicate that AI usage will be part of an ongoing dialogue with students and that we welcome new use cases and tools. There may be times when we encourage students to do work without using these tools, but this is a matter of conversation, not policy.
Alternatively, faculty may identify these integrations as a threat to student learning in some fields of study. In these cases, we need to use the syllabus as a place to articulate why students should work independently of AI and how we intend to set them up to do so. Again, framing this as an ongoing conversation about technology integration instead of a policy treats adult learners as adults while acknowledging the complexity of the situation.
There continues to be a mismatch between the pace of technological change and the relatively slow rate of university adaptation. Early policy creation followed the same frameworks and processes we have used for centuries—processes that have served us well. But what we are living through at the moment cannot be solved with Academic Senate resolutions or even the work of relatively agile institutions. There will be a time in the near future when jagged integration is smoothed into complete integration, where AI is at the core of every operating system and piece of software. Until that time, in the classroom, in peer evaluation and in institutional structure, we have to think about this technology differently and move beyond policy.
Zach Justus is director of faculty development and Nik Janos is a professor of sociology, both at California State University, Chico.
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When I left home at 17, I knew I wanted to go to college. I knew earning a degree would help me find a path to a more secure future. And I knew that I was interested in pursuing a career focused on social justice.
I also had no idea how I could afford college when I was already working multiple jobs just to earn enough money to make ends meet. I had never met my father, and I had a rocky relationship with my mother, so I was largely on my own. Fortunately, I was able to use financial aid to enroll at Prairie State College, a community college just outside of Chicago. It remains the best decision I have ever made.
I thrived at Prairie State, where I was surrounded by an incredible community of faculty, staff and other students who had my back at every turn. The support I received eventually allowed me to earn a scholarship and transfer to a four-year college to begin my pre-law journey.
I’m now a senior at Howard University, where it remains all too obvious that the four-year college experience is not designed for transfer students like me — a realization that leaves us feeling isolated and overlooked.
Like many transfer students, I felt stigmatized during the admissions process and alienated by other students; I didn’t get an orientation when I started, as first-year students do; and many of my previous credits didn’t transfer with me.
That even an HBCU — commonly known for community-building efforts — struggles to effectively support transfer students underscores the gravity of this issue.
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Solving such challenges will require four-year universities to reimagine how they support transfer students. Creating a sense of belonging for learners is critical. Research shows that students who feel as though they belong at their institution are more likely to remain and persist. Developing that connection can be challenging for transfer students, especially those coming from community colleges, as there are typically so few of us on a given campus.
Some 80 percent of community college students aspire to earn a bachelor’s degree, yet just one-third transfer to a four-year institution. In total, community college transfers account for just 5 percent of undergraduate students at elite colleges and universities.
The most obvious starting point for institutions looking to better support transfer students from community colleges is to admit more of us. This can be achieved by intensifying outreach efforts at local two-year colleges and more effectively promoting the message that transferring to a selective, four-year university is not only possible but encouraged. Some schools are already making an effort to admit more transfer students.
Community college transfer students can find themselves adrift in their new institutions due to a lack of proper guidance and support. We are typically not given the insider knowledge required to navigate the complexities of a four-year university. For example, I’ve been excluded from being a part of student-led organizations that I would have needed to join as a freshman — when I was still in community college. A history of belonging to these organizations is mandatory when being considered for larger and more prominent selective organizations, including sororities and fraternities.
The absence of a support system can transform what initially felt like an exciting step forward into a daunting and solitary journey. I am fortunate to have benefited from the support of the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation, which provides me with access to a network of fellow transfer students and alumni who have successfully navigated this path.
But many transfer students are not as lucky.
Colleges could help by connecting transfer students with one another — either through on-campus groups or external organizations — to ensure they have the support, community and resources they need to thrive.
Schools should make it clear that transfer students will be warmly welcomed and supported throughout their academic journey. By doing so, these schools can begin to foster a more inclusive environment, one that acknowledges and values the unique perspectives community college students bring.
Colleges should also work to dismantle obstacles that complicate the transfer process and serve as subtle deterrents to students. Every prohibitive application fee, convoluted form or arbitrary rule might as well be a sign that says, “Turn back now.”
For example, students lose an estimated 43 percent of their credits when they transfer, wiping out semesters of hard work, extending their time and increasing their costs to a degree. Institutions can proactively create clearer, more consistent transfer agreements with local community colleges, guaranteeing that credits will transfer.
The financial aid and application processes for transfer students, who are not typically provided financial award packages upon admission, must also take into account their unique needs and circumstances.
Here’s why this all matters: Data is clear that students who transfer from a community college are just as capable of succeeding as students who are first-time freshmen or transfer from four-year institutions.
We know we can do this. We just need opportunities and support.
Rebbie Davis is an English major, Philosophy minor who previously attended Prairie State College before transferring to Howard University. She is president of the Howard University Writers Guild and vice chair of HU’s Future Law Scholars’ board of directors.
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