TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) ? If expanding the guest list to include Michelle Obama at graduation for high school students in the Kansas capital city means fewer seats for friends and family, some students and their parents would prefer the first lady not attend.

Representatives from the country's two biggest teachers' unions are gathering in Brighton and Birmingham for this weekend's annual conferences, which are expected to hear calls for action over pay and pensions. The National Union of Teachers (NUT) will meet in Brighton while members of NASUWT will gather in Birmingham. Following last month's NUT action which closed schools in England and Wales, there are expected to be more calls for strikes. NUT general secretary Christine Blower warned that "teacher morale is at a dangerously low ebb" while NASUWT general secretary Chris Keates said the government had waged a "relentless assault on public education and the teaching profession".

By Sharon Bernstein ORLAND, California (Reuters) - Newly released recordings of 911 emergency calls revealed the helplessness of stunned residents in the California town of Orland who witnessed the aftermath of last week's fiery crash between a FedEx truck and a tour bus that killed 10 people. The California Highway Patrol made the recordings public on Thursday as investigators returned to the scene of the accident, painstakingly driving a pristine white tour bus back and forth over the charred and bubbled surface of Interstate 5 in an effort to reconstruct the April 10 collision. I'm running over to see what it is." Five high school students and five adults, including the two drivers, died when the FedEx tractor trailer swerved across the highway median and slammed head-on into a motor coach filled with about 50 Los Angeles-area teenagers on their way to visit Humboldt State University in Arcata, California. A blast unleashed by the impact was so loud that it was heard throughout nearby Orland, an agricultural community about 90 miles north of Sacramento.

ORLAND, Calif. (AP) ? With shrieks in the background, a shocked passenger struggled to recount to an emergency dispatcher how a FedEx tractor-trailer smashed into a tour bus carrying high school students. In other 911 calls released Thursday, other witnesses described explosions after the fiery wreck that left 10 people dead.

Teachers will back a major escalation of their strike action over Education Secretary Michael Gove's school reforms by threatening further nationwide walkouts from schools in the summer term.

Teachers will back a major escalation of their strike action over Education Secretary Michael Gove's school reforms by threatening further nationwide walkouts from schools in the summer term.

Pupils in state schools are having to ditch arts subjects at GCSE because they can no longer afford the cost of studying for them, a second report on the impact of poverty in the classroom has said.

Teachers are having to bring in food to give their pupils breakfast every day because they are too hungry and exhausted to learn as a result of increased poverty, according to a report out today.

The controversy over an alleged takeover of Birmingham schools by Islamic hardliners pinpoints the needs for more local scrutiny of schools, Labour's Shadow Education Secretary Tristram Hunt will say on Saturday.

Teachers will back a major escalation of their strike action over Education Secretary Michael Gove's school reforms by threatening further nationwide walkouts from schools in the summer term.

“Everyone should have an opportunity to participate in higher education.”

With those words, Michael K. Young, President of the University of Washington, opens a new video from his institution’s AccessComputing Project, IT Accessibility: What Campus Leaders Have to Say. Developed with support from the National Science Foundation, this video presents university presidents, chief information officers, and other higher education leaders who stress the importance to higher education of accessibility for persons with disabilities, and of having campus technology environments that support it.

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“When we were doing our studies for the National Academies, the typical first response of university presidents or CFOs or provosts was to say: ‘I understand things are changing very rapidly, but I'll ask my CIO to take care of it. The CIO usually can.’ We would then ask: ‘Suppose you wake up in the morning and come in to your office and nothing works anymore. You can't access e-mail. All of your course systems have collapsed. Who fixes the problem?’ They begin to scratch their heads, and pretty soon it's like the five phases of grief. They start off with denial and anger, move through bargaining and depression, and finally reach acceptance.” — James J. Duderstadt, Change and the Research University

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EDUCAUSE Top 10 IT Issues, 2012

The EDUCAUSE annual publication of top IT issues has long resonated as a yearly snapshot of the most pressing issues for IT leaders in higher education. At the top of list for 2012:

1. Updating IT professionals’ skills and roles to accommodate emerging technologies and changing IT management and service delivery models
2. Supporting the trends toward IT consumerization and bring-your-own device
3. Developing an institution-wide cloud strategy

Below are the EDUCAUSE Review article summarizing the IT Issues Panel's findings for 2012 and accompanying resources.

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This free hour-long session, “Rolling Out a BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) Program,” will offer ideas, sample policy statements and guidelines, and lessons learned for campuses interested in implementing a BYOD strategy for mobile devices on campus.

Those unable to attend may wish to visit the archives after the event or browse related resources.

Interact on Twitter at #EDULive.

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As someone who has a vested interest in higher education IT, you are part of a dynamic and close-knit community where we share new ideas, network with peers, and work toward the common good of the profession.

EDUCAUSE provides opportunities to be an active member by volunteering in a variety of roles, either short- or long-term, throughout the year. These opportunities include:

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Gartner predicts that by the end of 2012, agile development methods will be used on 80 percent of all software development projects. Project Management Institute’s research shows that agile project management tripled from December 2008 to May 2011, and can help decrease product defects, improve team productivity, and increase business value.

Read the latest article release on agile project management from the Project Management Institute.

To help you apply project management processes at your organization, EDUCAUSE members have access to a selection of professional development resources:

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New York City received a lot of attention recently with a bold promise made to some of its youngest residents: Mayor Bill de Blasio ran on a campaign to fund full-day public preschool for all New York City children through a modest increased income tax on residents making more than $500,000 a year. Although Mayor de Blasio’s tax proposal was not approved by the state legislature or supported by New York’s Governor Andrew Cuomo, the legislature did approve statewide funding for pre-K that included a $300 million increase for New York City’s preschool program. This means that for the first time fully funded full-day quality preschool will be available for all four-year-olds in the city. New York City is moving forward for children -- and it isn’t the only major city and school district making strides towards providing high-quality public preschool programs to as many children as possible. Several large districts that have been doing this for a while are already seeing strong results.

In Massachusetts, the Boston Public Schools system (BPS) offers a full day of prekindergarten to any four-year-old in the district regardless of income, although funding limitations prevent the district from serving all eligible children. BPS ensures the quality of its prekindergarten program through high-quality teachers, professional development delivered through individualized coaching sessions, and evidence-based curricula for early language and literacy and mathematics. Prekindergarten teachers have the same requirements as K-12 teachers in BPS and are paid accordingly. And it’s working. A study conducted by researchers at Harvard’s Graduate School of Education examined the impact of one year of attendance in the BPS preschool program on children’s school readiness and found substantial positive effects on children’s literacy, language, mathematics, emotional development, and executive functioning.

Tulsa is another city making great strides. Oklahoma has offered universal preschool to four-year-olds since 1998, and in the 2011-2012 school year three-quarters of all four-year-olds in the state were enrolled in the preschool program. High-quality year-round programs are also available to some at-risk Tulsa children from birth through age three through the Community Action Project (CAP) of Tulsa County, which combines public and private funds to provide comprehensive services for the youngest and most vulnerable children. Oklahoma’s preschool teachers are required to have a bachelor’s degree with a certificate in early childhood and are also paid equally to K-12 teachers. Preschool is funded through the state’s school finance formula, although districts can subcontract with other providers of early care and education by putting public school teachers in community-based settings and Head Start programs. Researchers from Georgetown University have conducted multiple evaluations of the four-year-old preschool program in Tulsa over the last decade and found evidence of both short and long term gains, with the most persistent gains in math for the neediest children who are eligible for free and reduced price lunch. A long term economic projection of the future adult earnings effects of Tulsa’s program estimates benefit-to-cost ratios of 3- or 4-to-1.

New Jersey has offered high-quality state-funded preschool to three- and four-year-old children in 31 high poverty communities since 1999 in response to a series of state Supreme Court rulings starting with Abbott v. Burke that found poorer New Jersey public school students were receiving “inadequate” education funding. In the 2011-2012 school year more than 43,000 children were served through these preschools, and a partnership between the Department of Education and the Department of Human Services has established a wrap-around program of daily before and after school and summer programs to complement the full school-day year-round preschool program. These programs, often called Abbott preschools after the original court decision, are delivered through a mixed public-private delivery system overseen by public schools. Head Start programs and other community providers serve roughly two-thirds of the children. Researchers at Rutgers University’s National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER) have conducted a longitudinal analysis of the impacts of the Abbott preschool program on the cohort of children served in 2004-2005, and the fifth grade follow up shows participation has had a sustained significant effect on students’ achievement in language arts and literacy, math, and science and reduced grade retention and special education placement rates.

Other cities also are finding new ways to move forward. In 2011 San Antonio, Texas Mayor Julian Castro convened a task force of education and private sector leaders to identify the best way to improve the quality of education in the city. The task force concluded the most effective solution would be a high-quality, full-day four-year-old prekindergarten targeted at low-income and at-risk children. The San Antonio program was launched after city residents voted for a small one-eighth of a cent sales tax increase in November 2012 to fund it. It will serve 3,700 four-year-olds annually when fully implemented. The majority of these children will be served by model Education Centers, which include master teachers, professional development and training for teachers, aides, and community providers, and parent support, including training and education.

We know high-quality early childhood development and learning interventions can buffer the negative effects of poverty and provide a foundation for future success with lifelong benefits, particularly for the poorest and most vulnerable children. Studies have shown children enrolled in high-quality early childhood programs are more likely to graduate from high school, hold a job, and make more money and are less likely to commit a crime than their peers who do not participate. High-quality preschool is a critical piece of the early childhood continuum — and we need to celebrate and support the cities, states, and political leaders who are successfully providing this experience for all children. Congress needs to follow their good example now by enacting the Strong Start for American’s Children Act to enable millions of the nation’s children — not just thousands or tens or hundreds of thousands — to get quality early childhood education including home visiting through kindergarten and be better prepared for school and for life. This should be a litmus test for our vote this November. If leaders don’t stand up for children, they don’t stand for anything and they don’t stand for a strong American future which requires educated children.

Every year it seems that getting into college is more difficult. The past few years, the number of colleges that each student applies to has increased greatly. Although there are actually fewer students applying to college in general compared to 5 years ago, the number of applications has actually increased at the most selective colleges. […]

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Are BS/MD Programs Getting More Difficult to Get Into?

The post Are BS/MD Programs Getting More Difficult to Get Into? appeared first on College Admissions Counseling.

When students start preparing for college admissions tests, one of the first issues is what is the best test. The ACT or SAT? Does it really matter any more which test you take? The quick answer is NO, it doesn’t make any difference.  Virtually every college in the country will accept either the SAT or […]

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ACT or SAT. Does It Matter Anymore?

The post ACT or SAT. Does It Matter Anymore? appeared first on College Admissions Counseling.

Parents, this post is for you. I know you love your kids and want the best for them. You want everything for them that you didn’t have. Good for you. But, being too involved in the college admissions process, and with BS/MD programs in particular, hurts your student. It doesn’t help. I have worked with […]

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Parent Over Involvement Hurts Chances for Admissions

The post Parent Over Involvement Hurts Chances for Admissions appeared first on College Admissions Counseling.

While there are a number of factors used to determine who to admit to medical school, the two biggest are the GPA and the MCAT scores. So if a high GPA is good to have does that mean that going to a college with high grade inflation will make you more competitive for medical school? […]

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Does Grade Inflation Help Getting Into Medical School?

The post Does Grade Inflation Help Getting Into Medical School? appeared first on College Admissions Counseling.

You are getting ready to go visit colleges. You have already scheduled a tour and information session. But you just read my post that says you should talk to some actual students while you are visiting the college. What do you ask them? Here are some ideas to get you started: How difficult is it […]

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Questions to Ask College Students While Visiting the College

The post Questions to Ask College Students While Visiting the College appeared first on College Admissions Counseling.

Last time we talked about when to tour colleges and in the past I have talked about why touring a college is a good idea. But today’s post is a cautionary tale. Imagine that you are on a tour at Prestigious U. And you are told that students love each other and that no one […]

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Do College Tour Guides Really Tell You What a College is Like?

The post Do College Tour Guides Really Tell You What a College is Like? appeared first on College Admissions Counseling.