Chile's President Michelle Bachelet said on Tuesday her government was preparing the second phase of an ambitious education reform, hours after Congress approved the first set of changes. "What we've put an end to here is a set of illegitimate bases put in place during the dictatorship, behind the nation's back, and today we've recovered Chile's historic tradition and the best practices in the world," said Education Minister Nicolas Eyzaguirre. The government will now look to bolster teacher pay and conditions, bring public schools, now managed and financed by townships, under national jurisdiction, and make university education free, Bachelet said. Months of massive student protests, demanding major changes to an education system that was privatized under then-dictator General Augusto Pinochet, helped shape the 2013 electoral campaign and propel Bachelet into power.

The Originals S02E11: "Brotherhood of the Damned" If history is written by the winners, it's up to artists to keep telling the stories of the forgotten. Specifically, not enough people are talking about the black vampire soldiers of World War I. Sure, we've heard all kinds of things about the War to End All Wars?archduke assassinations, heartwarming Christmas Eve soccer games?but the story of black vampires soldiers' contributions remain woefully underrepresented. Okay, fine, I'm sort of joking here, but it really is true that sometimes a teen supernatural drama does more to honor underreported history than most other art forms. Teen Wolf invoked the Japanese internment scandal of WWII in a more resonant and engaging way than any pop culture art in recent memory. And this week The Originals portrayed its own spin on the Harlem Hellfighters, an outrageously obscure (i.e., not taught in public schools) regiment of black soldiers who fought for a country that wouldn't even guarantee their rights and safety within its own borders. Yes, in both examples these true scenarios were intruded upon by fictional supernatural hunks, but still: Some stories need to be told regardless of the genre. Unlike most shows, The Originals does not shy away from this responsibility. By now we know that the primary side-effect of a werewolf bite isn't death, but flashbacks! In "Brotherhood of the Damned," Marcel's werewolf bite sent his memories back to the time he enlisted in the army during WWI. Klaus forbade him from going (referring to the humans' great international war as a "food fight"), but Marcel's journey took him overseas anyway, where he was suddenly watching his friends die ignoble foxhole deaths. After a particularly savvy compatriot sussed out that Marcel was (a) a vampire, and therefore (b) the most capable leader in their midst, Marcel took on the responsibility of keeping his unit alive. Unfortunately mustard gas had other ideas and the unit were all choking to death on their own blood. That's when Marcel had his a-ha moment: Turn 'em! Turn 'em all! And then we were treated to the episode's best and most potent image: Marcel leading a troupe of black vampire soldiers across a battle-scarred field toward the German army. Guys? It was the best. Forget flashbacks, I want an en entire EPISODE of this plotline. But the flashbacks were more than simply an amazing visual; they perfectly paralleled what Marcel was going through in the present day. Specifically, he needed to lead his vampire comrades out of the compound and through a parade without any of them giving in to a curse that made them crave the blood of innocents. That this sequence was intercut with the WWI flashback was just straight-up inspired and powerful, and did more to confirm Marcel's heroic nature than the season and a half that preceded it. For as often as flashbacks seem to be merely a gratuitous excuse to put the actors in hilarious wigs and get them to rip each others' bodices, it's these flashbacks that draw upon the grim energy of true history that really resonate. If it's not clear by now, I really loved these flashbacks! As it turned out, mentally visiting another realm became the episode's biggest theme when Finn used magic to trap his three brothers' consciences in a witch holodeck (or whatever). A very cool rustic cabin flanked with animals that represented each Mikaelson?a wolf for Klaus, a stag for Elijah, and a fox for Kol?they were unable to return to their physical bodies until Finn discovered what Klaus' biggest secret was. It was kind of implausible that Finn couldn't use magic to discover that Hope was still alive, but was perfectly capable of using some of the most powerful magic we've seen in this universe to do all these other huge things, but whatever. This sequence in particular took on an added poetry when Elijah and Klaus freed themselves by severing their ties to their taxidermied spirit animals. Elijah, for example, was not a noble stag in that he had once murdered Tatia all those years ago, and Klaus refused to be associated with the dastardly wolf by forgiving Elijah for said crime. (Sounds complicated, but it played out beautifully in the episode.) Long story short, The Originals continues to casually traffic in some of the most intellectually complicated and elegant concepts on network television. The other big thread of "Brotherhood of the Damned" was Hayley's meet-up with Jackson's grandmother. As a Crescent Wolf elder, the grandmother would be administering their werewolf rites, trials, tests, hazing, and game of werewolf Twister, before actually marrying them and spreading her hybrid powers to the rest of the wolves. But when Hayley found out that one of the rites involved smoking truth-weed and divulging all her secrets?including the pesky one about having a living baby?she tried to back out of the plan. Jackson somehow managed to change her mind, but then Klaus caught wind of this ritual and now seeks to stop it by any means necessary. Watch out, grandma! Yes, Josh and Aiden appeared in this episode, but never in the same scene, so. That being said, "Brotherhood of the Damned" was still pretty great. It's hard to say for how much longer this Finn plotline will keep our attention but as long as episodes can continue to be as inventive and well-constructed as this one, it's hard to complain. In the meantime, I for one would like to publicly thank all the black vampire soldiers who bravely defended our nation. We salute you, sirs. QUESTIONS ... Roughly how many holidays are observed in the French Quarter every year? Seven thousand? Nineteen thousand? ... Would you let Cami babysit your child? ... What's Rebekah up to in that witch prison? ... Could you marry someone like Jackson and stay "just friends"? Be honest.

Gloucester County emergency crews responded to a high school after a chemistry lab mishap Monday morning.

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) ? From her hometown in India in 2010, Bhanu Challa said she had no reason to doubt that Tri-Valley University was a legitimate American school where she could pursue a master's degree. Its website featured smiling students in caps and gowns and promised a leafy campus in a San Francisco Bay Area suburb.

A leading scientist and academic and his research team are being investigated after his university received anonymous allegations of ?research misconduct?, The Independent can reveal.

Once considered the exclusive preserve of children and hardcore fanatics, comics have become such an important form of mainstream entertainment that they are ?gathering steam? as an academic discipline, according to the Oxford Art Journal.

Muslim pupils across Britain are suffering a backlash of bullying and abuse following the Charlie Hebdo massacre amid a broad rise in Islamophobia in schools which the Government is failing to tackle, campaigners have told The Independent.

A record number of women started university courses in September - with the result that the gap between male and female acceptances for places is at it its highest level ever, according to the first official analysis of the latest intake into universities.

The international outcry over  restrictions on freedom of speech in Saudi Arabia escalated last night as an array of Nobel prizewinners published an open letter calling on the country?s academics to condemn the public flogging of the blogger Raif Badawi.

Schools should stop wasting money buying iPads and other ?shiny gadgets? for pupils and instead hire more teachers, the leader of Britain?s largest headteachers? organisation says today.

“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.

read more

“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

read more

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:

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

read more

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.

read more

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:

read more

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:

read more

To say we’re in a time of tremendous transformation in education has practically become a cliché. Unfortunately, most state education agencies (SEAs) didn’t get the memo. Many still function as bureaucracies dedicated to compliance and enforcement, instead of setting a vision for education and providing the necessary support to achieve it. That needs to change.

Over the last few years, many states have initiated a variety of ambitious policy reforms, from new educator evaluation systems to rigorous standards and assessments to sweeping school turnaround plans. But implementing these bold policies successfully in hundreds of schools statewide is a massive undertaking, and it’s clear that districts need more from their SEAs in order to improve student outcomes—–from clear direction and guidance to critical thought partnerships and additional resources. Unfortunately, in most cases, these districts are left to fend for themselves.

There are a few high-performing SEAs that have broken the bureaucratic mold and emerged as innovators and change management experts. (States like Colorado, Louisiana, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island and Tennessee come to mind.) Tennessee in particular has been on the cutting edge of ambitious reforms, and the appointment of Kevin Huffman as Commissioner of Education brought the visionary leadership needed to guide his agency and state through their implementation. Former Commissioner Huffman, who left the post in January, called for the Tennessee Department of Education to be restructured, leveraged the state’s regional offices to customize support for districts, and attracted high-quality talent to join his agency. Today, Tennessee is the fastest improving state in the nation in K-12 education.

Here are three things states can do to make sure they take a step forward, not a step back:

Prioritize recruiting and retaining great people to state teams. For SEAs, this means appointing visionary leaders with the ability to staff their teams with talented and committed experts in policy, curriculum, instruction, data and even communications. The school chief role has become high profile and politicized. What was once a role for a bureaucrat now requires exceptional leadership, education expertise and the skills to communicate and engage effectively with various stakeholders. A school chief should know where she wants to take education in her state and have the determination to withstand the inevitable opposition she’ll face.

Provide high-quality and customized implementation support. Setting policy is easy. The real work begins with implementation. It might be appropriate for some components of implementation to be standardized, including policy interpretation guidance, training for district administrators and specialists, or model resources (such as Common Core-aligned curricular materials or model observation forms for a new evaluation system).

But high-quality implementation may look different for each district, especially if state policy allows some local control of policy setting (for example, designing an evaluation system that meets certain criteria). SEAs need to be capable of a sliding scale approach to implementation support. With some high-performing districts, the SEA may play the role of thought partner, while lower-performing districts may need more hands-on support.

Ensure legislatures set SEAs up for success. As state legislatures begin to consider additional policy changes this year, it’s important to keep in mind that SEAs can be used for more than enforcement—if the right conditions exist. To do so, they need the funds, flexibility and mandate to set ambitious goals and policy and then execute on them. This means having the flexibility and autonomy to compete for the best talent at all levels in the agency, and having the resources necessary to provide superior support to districts.

SEAs have often been written off as compliance machines, but as their best selves, they can be much more. They are the government entities best-positioned to provide both the thought leadership and technical assistance districts need to improve outcomes for students, and working conditions for educators.

Subscribe to the TNTP Blog.

Jessica Conlon is a Project Director of Strategy, Systems and Policy at TNTP. 

For a number of years I have worked with standard medical school admissions as well as BS/MD admissions.  This has mainly been through referrals from other counselors that knew I did medical school admissions. I haven’t generally talked about this much because frankly, I hate turning people away and I already turn away too many...Continue Reading >

RSS Feed Content © Todd Johnson and College Admissions PartnersWe Do Medical School Admissions

The post We Do Medical School Admissions appeared first on BS/MD Admissions by College Admissions Partners.

BS/MD programs, and selective colleges in general, like to see students that have challenged themselves academically. Great, but specifically, what classes are important to BS/MD programs? The answer to that varies depending on the classes available at a particular high school but in general terms BS/MD programs like to see students that have 4 years of...Continue Reading >

RSS Feed Content © Todd Johnson and College Admissions PartnersWhat Classes are Important to BS/MD Programs.

The post What Classes are Important to BS/MD Programs. appeared first on BS/MD Admissions by College Admissions Partners.

It happens all of the time when I am first contacted by a student. They tell me that their dream is to be a “name the medical specialty”. Neurosurgeon is particularly popular. There isn’t necessarily wrong with having an interest in one particular medical specialty. Maybe your interest came about because your favorite aunt died...Continue Reading >

RSS Feed Content © Todd Johnson and College Admissions PartnersWhy You Don’t Want to Say You Know Your Medical Specialty

The post Why You Don’t Want to Say You Know Your Medical Specialty appeared first on BS/MD Admissions by College Admissions Partners.

Historically, some of the oldest BS/MD programs were six year programs. But recently there have only been four BS/MD programs that were six year programs. And now there are three. Penn State University has eliminated the six year option in the BS/MD program. Starting next fall all of the new BS/MD students at Penn State...Continue Reading >

RSS Feed Content © Todd Johnson and College Admissions PartnersPenn State is Now a Seven Year Program

The post Penn State is Now a Seven Year Program appeared first on BS/MD Admissions by College Admissions Partners.

Happy 2015 to all our readers! This seems like as good of a time as any to announce the addition of College Admissions Partners’ newest consultant: Kelley Anne Johnson. I will let Kelley Anne introduce her self. Hi, I’m Kelley Anne and so excited to be joining College Admissions Partners this year. Before you wonder if it...Continue Reading >

RSS Feed Content © Todd Johnson and College Admissions PartnersNew Year. New Consultant. Kelley Anne Johnson Joins College Admissions Partners

The post New Year. New Consultant. Kelley Anne Johnson Joins College Admissions Partners appeared first on BS/MD Admissions by College Admissions Partners.

Will you be a more competitive candidate for BS/MD programs if you play a sport? No. Does that mean that sports, as an activity, are not important? No. Sport are fine as activities but they are no better than, or worse than, any other general activity. If you like playing a sport, then play a...Continue Reading >

RSS Feed Content © Todd Johnson and College Admissions PartnersDo You Need Sports for BS/MD Programs?

The post Do You Need Sports for BS/MD Programs? appeared first on BS/MD Admissions by College Admissions Partners.