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Post by sardines on May 25, 2008 18:34:45 GMT -5
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Post by sardines on May 25, 2008 18:38:40 GMT -5
Sorry, looks like the link didn't work for some reason...Here's the title of the article..
Colleges recruit low-income students Drive for diversity: Schools try targeting mailings to poorer areas
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Post by gatormom on May 25, 2008 19:06:54 GMT -5
You have to copy the link to get it to work. Here is the article.
Colleges recruit low-income students
Drive for diversity: Schools try targeting mailings to poorer areas
By Jodi S. Cohen Tribune May 24, 2008
College recruiters trying to reach the most promising applicants can purchase customized mailing lists based on where students live, their grades and test scores, even their ethnicity and religion.
One category, however, has been off-limits since the early 1980s: family income. The College Board, which collects the data when students take the SAT and other exams, stopped the practice after some colleges misused the information to find wealthy students who could pay full tuition.
But now, as some of the nation's most elite colleges are trying to bring more economic diversity to their overwhelmingly affluent student bodies, admissions officers who want to lure low-income students to campus are pushing to get that data.
The move comes as colleges are expanding financial aid packages, taking recruiting trips to areas of the country they had long ignored, and working with scholarship organizations that match talented low-income students with elite colleges.
"The whole desire to recruit low-income students is now so prevalent and so widespread," said Ted O'Neill, director of admissions at the University of Chicago, where only about 11 percent of students receive federal Pell Grants, awarded to students from families with annual incomes below $40,000.
"We would love to be able to get directed information into the hands of the right kids, those students most in need of financial aid information," O'Neill said.
Responding to lobbying by O'Neill and others, the College Board is piloting a program this year with about 30 colleges and universities that will enable them to buy students' names and information based on whether they live in lower-income communities.
"We are swearing to use it for good, not for evil," said Bruch Poch, dean of admissions at Pomona College. "The myth of unaffordability has become a nightmare, and we can't directly speak to kids or their families unless we can really target them."
The College Board is taking precautions to try to ensure that the information isn't misused and that students' privacy isn't violated.
The schools still will not be able to request a search that would reveal which students have family incomes below or above a certain level. Instead, college admissions officers could request the names of students who live in low-income communities, determined by their high school and nine-digit ZIP code.
Admissions officers could then further filter the results based on test scores, grades and academic interests.
"I think this is as far as [the College Board] will go," said Amherst College dean of admissions Tom Parker, who has led the effort to get income data from the College Board. "This has taken a certain amount of agitation, but I'm glad they are coming around."
Amherst, as well as Williams and Wellesley colleges, tested the system last year. Parker said 1,000 more low-income students received direct mail from Amherst because of the program.
A College Board spokeswoman declined to identify the colleges participating in the expanded pilot program. "It is a little early to talk about it," Sandra Riley said. Her company sells names to about 1,000 colleges and universities, which pay 31 cents per name.
The emphasis on recruiting low-income students began about five years ago, after the U.S. Supreme Court limited the ways that colleges and universities could consider a student's race in admissions decisions.
Still, even with the efforts to recruit needy students, only about 13 percent of undergraduates at the country's 75 wealthiest private colleges received Pell Grants in the 2006-07 academic year, according to a survey by the Chronicle of Higher Education.
Already, U. of C. buys information about students with top PSAT and SAT scores, and then aims financial aid information at those who live within certain ZIP codes or attend specific high schools.
But O'Neill said that under the new system, he could lower the test score cutoff when buying the names of students living in low-income areas, who tend to score lower on standardized tests. U. of C. is not part of the pilot program, he said.
"We would love the opportunity to look at more low-income students and see what their stories are," he said. "But we don't want to drop the score level for everyone, because then we would just be encouraging lots and lots of people who would have a lower likelihood of being admitted."
When recruiting high school students from modest backgrounds, Amherst sends financial aid information in its first mailings. Students are then invited to "diversity open houses" in the fall. They learn that needy students can graduate without any debt.
Harvard University admissions dean Bill Fitzsimmons said his office employs 10 students who call and e-mail students who would be most likely to receive significant financial aid.
Last year Harvard announced it will limit costs to about 10 percent of a family's income for those making up to $180,000 a year. Students from families with incomes of $60,000 or less do not have to contribute anything.
Ben Esparza, a U. of C. sophomore raised by a single mother, said families with modest incomes may believe that pricey, selective schools are beyond their reach.
He said sending more financial aid information could help families, but he also was concerned that getting bombarded with mail could put off some students.
"There obviously is some good logic behind it," said Esparza, who works in U. of C.'s admissions office to help recruit students from diverse backgrounds. "It can be helpful but sometimes it can feel like an invasion of your privacy."
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Post by asmodeus on May 25, 2008 22:04:46 GMT -5
And I'm saying that is not the case, or at least very difficult to objectively prove. No matter how you look at school performance -- whether it is ACT scores, % of students graduating, etc., one can argue that the results are more dependent on factors outside the classroom than inside.
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Post by gatormom on May 26, 2008 6:26:51 GMT -5
And I'm saying that is not the case, or at least very difficult to objectively prove. No matter how you look at school performance -- whether it is ACT scores, % of students graduating, etc., one can argue that the results are more dependent on factors outside the classroom than inside. 2007 ACT NV 24.2 WV 22.6 New Trier 27.1 Graduation rate NV 100% WV 99.9% NT 99.8% I did look at school report cards for the D204 high schools and New Trier. Waubonsie has more minorities than Neuqua but also more economically disadvantaged than Neuqua. So, what do you think is creating the horrific academic achievement gap of 1.6. By the way, D204 is failing miserably in NCLB with students with disabilities, New Trier is doing much better. Wonder if how much money we spend on our schools makes a "better school." ETA: Honestly, unless you consider our Grammy-award winning music programs, sports programs, and the rest of the extra-curriculars, NV and WV are pretty close to each other in academic achievement. So, maybe we are kidding ourselves and our schools are not so great. Look at New Trier after all, now that is a great school. Maybe that is why so many people need the best high school type lists, they kind of validate those "my school is better than yours" beliefs.
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Post by wvhsparent on May 26, 2008 7:29:26 GMT -5
And I'm saying that is not the case, or at least very difficult to objectively prove. No matter how you look at school performance -- whether it is ACT scores, % of students graduating, etc., one can argue that the results are more dependent on factors outside the classroom than inside. Cut the P.C. Crap.....what are you trying to say? One of our high schools is not good enough for you?
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Post by wvhsparent on May 26, 2008 7:31:48 GMT -5
And I'm saying that is not the case, or at least very difficult to objectively prove. No matter how you look at school performance -- whether it is ACT scores, % of students graduating, etc., one can argue that the results are more dependent on factors outside the classroom than inside. 2007 ACT NV 24.2 WV 22.6 New Trier 27.1 Graduation rate NV 100% WV 99.9% NT 99.8% I did look at school report cards for the D204 high schools and New Trier. Waubonsie has more minorities than Neuqua but also more economically disadvantaged than Neuqua. So, what do you think is creating the horrific academic achievement gap of 1.6. By the way, D204 is failing miserably in NCLB with students with disabilities, New Trier is doing much better. Wonder if how much money we spend on our schools makes a "better school." ETA: Honestly, unless you consider our Grammy-award winning music programs, sports programs, and the rest of the extra-curriculars, NV and WV are pretty close to each other in academic achievement. So, maybe we are kidding ourselves and our schools are not so great. Look at New Trier after all, now that is a great school. Maybe that is why so many people need the best high school type lists, they kind of validate those "my school is better than yours" beliefs. IMHO due to all the other "factors" they needed to overcome, WVHS is the better school to only be 1.6 points lower on the overall ACT.
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Post by asmodeus on May 26, 2008 18:46:54 GMT -5
Can it be argued that we have more students who excel at these activities because we have more students in each school? In other words, when Metea opens can it be estimated that the teams will be diluted by having three teams instead of two drawing from the same pool of players?
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Post by asmodeus on May 26, 2008 18:56:49 GMT -5
I'm trying to say that given the same community demographics, all schools are roughly the same. Show me two districts with the same % of two-parent families, the same income levels, the same number of students per school, etc., and I can predict that academic performance will be very similar. To argue otherwise would be to say that one district attracts better teachers relative to its demographics than other districts. Why would this be the case...better pay? I don't think D204 pays significantly more than average.
Not at all...don't be so defensive.
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Post by wvhsparent on May 26, 2008 22:22:25 GMT -5
I'm trying to say that given the same community demographics, all schools are roughly the same. Show me two districts with the same % of two-parent families, the same income levels, the same number of students per school, etc., and I can predict that academic performance will be very similar. To argue otherwise would be to say that one district attracts better teachers relative to its demographics than other districts. Why would this be the case...better pay? I don't think D204 pays significantly more than average. Not at all...don't be so defensive. Sorry I tend to get very defensive when feel a slight being done to WVHS, and that was how I took it.....Sorry if I took it wrong. OK now that makes more sense. We have been saying all along that both our schools a very good...a 1.6 gap in ACT scores is IMHO inconsequential.
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Post by asmodeus on May 26, 2008 23:16:43 GMT -5
I actually believe that WV is performing well but NV is underperforming.
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Post by title1parent on May 28, 2008 6:14:16 GMT -5
Newsweek corrects high school rankingsMay 28, 2008 Sun staff Newsweek has issued a new list of the nation's 1,300 best public high schools, and all four Naperville high schools are now on it. On the list, Neuqua Valley High School was ranked 910, Naperville North High School was ranked 927, Naperville Central High School was ranked 1,011 and Waubonsie Valley High School was ranked 1,107. The list is based on a formula that divides the number of students taking Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate tests by the number of graduating seniors. Newsweek originally released this annual list of 1,300 top U.S. high schools May 19. Waubonsie ranked 1,079 on that list. Following the release, numerous schools that weren't listed, including the three other Naperville schools, requested that the rankings be recalculated. Newsweek obliged, and is now offering a corrected version at www.newsweek.com/id/39380/?q=2008/rank/1/.
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