I remember how it was -- JR
A Conservative State May Offer Students a traditional Alternative to the ACT and SAT
This year, Townhall reported how the United States Supreme Court struck down affirmative action admissions at Harvard University and the University of North Carolina. This change to college admissions sent shockwaves across the country
Now, one state is proposing a new kind of exam to offer as an alternative to the SAT and ACT, which would change up the college admissions process at public universities throughout the state.
This week, the New York Times reported that Florida is expected to approve a classical exam as a competitor to the SAT and ACT to “shake up the education establishment.”
Reportedly, the Classic Learning Test is an alternative to the SAT and ACT for some religious colleges and includes an “emphasis on the Western canon, with a big dose of Christian thought.”
This week, Florida’s public university system is expected to approve the test for its admissions, which would include Florida State University and the University of Florida.
“We are always seeking ways to improve,” Ray Rodrigues, the chancellor of the State University System of Florida, told the outlet.
Jeremy Tate, the founder of Classic Learning Initiatives, developed the exam. It includes three sections on verbal reasoning, grammar and writing, and quantitative reasoning.
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Schools are cutting advisers and tutors as COVID aid money dries up. Students are still struggling
Davion Williams wants to go to college. A counselor at his Detroit charter school last year helped him visualize that goal, but he knows he’ll need more help to navigate the application process.
So he was discouraged to learn the high school where he just began his sophomore year had laid off its college transition adviser – a staff member who provided extra help coordinating financial aid applications, transcript requests, campus visits and more.
The advisers had been hired at 19 schools with federal pandemic relief money. In June, when Detroit’s budget was finalized, their jobs were among nearly 300 that were eliminated.
Millions of kids are missing weeks of school as attendance tanks across the US
An unprecedented infusion of aid money the U.S. government provided to schools during the pandemic has begun to dwindle. Like Williams’ school, some districts already are winding down programming like expanded summer school and after-school tutoring. Some teachers and support staff brought on to help kids through the crisis are being let go.
The relief money, totaling roughly $190 billion, was meant to help schools address needs arising from COVID-19, including making up for learning loss during the pandemic. But the latest national data shows large swaths of American students remain behind academically compared with where they would have been if not for the pandemic.
Montgomery County schools, the largest district in Maryland, is reducing or eliminating tutoring, summer school, and other programs that were covered by federal pandemic aid. Facing a budget gap, the district opted for those cuts instead of increasing class sizes, said Robert Reilly, associate superintendent of finance. The district will focus instead on providing math and reading support in the classroom, he said.
But among parents, there’s a sense that there remains “a lot of work to be done” to help students catch up, said Laura Mitchell, a vice president of a districtwide parent-teacher council.
Mitchell, whose granddaughter attends high school in the district, said tutoring has been a blessing for struggling students. The district’s cuts will scale back tutoring by more than half this year.
“If we take that away, who’s going to help those who are falling behind?” she said.
Districts have through September 2024 to earmark the last of the money provided by Congress in three COVID relief packages. Some schools have already started pulling back programming to soften the blow, and the next budget year is likely to be even more painful, with the arrival of what some describe as a “funding cliff.”
In a June survey of hundreds of school system leaders by AASA, The School Superintendents Association, half said they would need to decrease staffing of specialists, such as tutors and reading coaches, for the new school year. Half also said they were cutting summer-learning programs.
https://apnews.com/article/school-covid-money-counselors-tutoring-cb387a3f2d738db3f392f4e4fbfb8958
*****************************************************Students at a regional Australian university told to 'reflect deeply' on career choice if they oppose more rights for blacks
A university professor is under fire for telling allied health students who don't support the Indigenous Voice to Parliament to consider a different career.
Charles Darwin University Associate Professor Bea Staley sent a pro-Voice email to speech therapy students suggesting they should rethink a career in allied health if they plan to vote No at the October 14 referendum.
'As you know, CDU has also taken the stance of a Yes vote,' Professor Stanley wrote.
'The speech pathology courses at CDU have been created with notions of equity and social justice at their core. We will be voting Yes.
'If you feel you are unable to vote Yes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples' rights, you might want to reflect deeply on whether a career in allied health in Australia is really for you.'
Associate Professor Staley described the referendum as 'Australia's Brexit moment'.
'If we as Australians seek to move towards reconciliation with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, we must vote Yes,' she continued.
'A Yes vote will not make up for the atrocities of colonisation, but it is certainly a step in the right direction for a more humane and just Australian society.'
Federal NT Senator and prominent No campaigner Jacinta Price described the email as 'effectively bullying'.
She claimed concerned students had previously contacted her office regarding CDU's stance on the Voice.
'They no longer feel like they have the freedom to discuss – certainly this issue – and that they are being ostracised because the school, the University, took the position to support the Voice,' Senator Price told Sky News on Thursday night.
'This is a leadership failure, and I would call on the chancellor to correct this to ensure this sort of pressure isn't applied to students by their lecturers.'
'Universities are supposed to be spaces where debate is encouraged, where universities don't take a position on a political issue.
Sky News host Rita Panahi later described Professor Staley's email as insane.
Charles Darwin University vice-chancellor Professor Scott Bowman said the lecturer would be 'counselled' and stressed that anyone who votes No still make excellent healthcare workers.
'We respect everyone's right to hold their own views regarding the referendum,' he said.
'CDU has actively provided a platform for discussion and the exchange of well-informed ideas and points of view. 'We know that people who vote no will still make excellent healthcare workers.'
CDU is yet to comment on whether the matter will be investigated further but has reiterated its support for the Voice.
Professor Stanley supervises PhD students in her areas of expertise and has several active research projects.
'Bea's teaching and research interests relate to language development, literacy, diversity and difference,' her university bio states.
'Bea studies children and youth in the context of their families and communities.'
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My other blogs: Main ones below
http://dissectleft.blogspot.com (DISSECTING LEFTISM)
http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)
http://pcwatch.blogspot.com (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)
http://australian-politics.blogspot.com/ (AUSTRALIAN POLITICS)
http://snorphty.blogspot.com/ (TONGUE-TIED)
http://jonjayray.com/blogall.html More blogs
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