The Star – Louise Brown

“But a surprising new bottom-line look at early learning suggests how much you learn in kindergarten — and whether you had a seasoned teacher — can help determine how rich and educated you will be as a grown-up, and even whether you will be married before age 30.”(more)

The Denver Post – Colleen O’Conner

“Colorado is one of 19 finalists in the second phase of the federal “Race to the Top” competition, and independent observers say the state has a good chance of being among the 10 to 15 winners, who will be announced in September.”(more)

The Guardian – Roger Brown

“A close study of major developed HE systems shows that market competition for students and research funds makes universities more efficient and responsive, and possibly more innovative. The downside is that unless strong countervailing measures are taken, too much competition reinforces the existing status hierarchy, reduces institutional diversity (as all seek to be “world-class, research-led” etc), diverts resources into prestige building and branding, damages wider participation, balkanises institutions and, paradoxically, threatens quality. Far from increasing the value society gains from its investment in higher education, excessive competition actually reduces it, with the US as the classic case.”(more)

The Guardian – Geoffrey Alderman

“At all these privately funded academies the bottom line is very clear: no students, no salaries. These institutions exist only because they offer services for which students – including British students – are willing to pay: typically small group teaching; state-of-the-art learning resources; career-focused programmes of study; enviable records of placing students in employment once they graduate. They offer all this while maintaining high academic standards – if they did not, their reputations with employers would quickly collapse.”(more)

The New York Times – David Leonhardt

“How much do your kindergarten teacher and classmates affect the rest of your life?”(more)

The Associated Press (The Star Ledger) – Staff Writer

“Students in one New Jersey school district will have to work harder to pass. The Mount Olive school board voted Monday to eliminate the “D” grade for middle and high school students.”(more)

Inside Higher Ed – Elizabeth Redden

“It’s not uncommon for colleges to discontinue academic programs overseas for financial reasons. But Centenary College, in New Jersey, is shutting down an M.B.A. program in Asia to contain a plagiarism epidemic. About 400 students are currently enrolled in the program at locations in Beijing, Shanghai and Taiwan.”(more)

China Daily – Erik Nilsson and Todd Balazovic

“Rural school headmasters, used to smacking to discipline children and whitewashing the truth during inspections, learn of better ways to manage their charges, at a just-concluded program in Beijing.”(more)

San Jose Mercury News – Sharon Noguchi

“On Aug. 2, the state Board of Education will consider this major shift in how California’s public schools teach reading when it votes on a controversial set of national Common Core Standards. If proponents prevail, California will join the majority of states in adopting the first nationwide standards for public education. The goal in adding informational texts to the English-language standards is to prepare students for real-world reading, to use other courses such as science to teach reading, and to improve literacy and comprehension.”(more)

The Associated Press (Anchorage Daily News) – Staff Writer

“The Department of Education and Early Development is working on proposed regulations that schools and students would need to meet to receive money from a future scholarship fund.”(more)