News Links | August 26, 2014

SYSTEM NEWS | OPINIONS

Study: State college graduation levels won't meet Washington wine program demands Current graduation levels for Washington viticulture and enology programs aren't enough to meet the demand of a steadily growing industry. As many as 212 people with bachelor degrees and 260 people with associate degrees could be needed to fill new positions in the next four years, according to a study by Agri-Business Consultants of Prosser. Overall, the industry is expected to add 2,200 to 6,500 new vineyard and winery jobs by 2018. ... Meeting the need for trained workers means ramping up the state's viticulture and enology programs, said Trent Ball, agriculture department chair and viticulture and enology instructor for Yakima Valley Community College's Grandview campus. The Tri-City Herald, August 23, 2014 Clover Park Technical College Helps Prepare Students for a Career in Retail Management Barbara Nelson enrolled in Clover Park Technical College’s Retail Management Certificate Program to continue her education. As Nelson, a Fred Meyer human resources representative in Puyallup, progressed through the program, she was promoted to HR administrator. Upon completion of the program, she is now working toward an Associate in Retail Management. South Sound Talk, August 22, 2014 Centralia College Grad Moves On to Harvard Last year, 34,295 hopefuls applied to Harvard University — the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and arguably the most notable of the exclusive Ivy League schools. Among the pool of applicants, only 2,048 applicants were accepted. Lillian Albright was one of the few to overcome the odds. Graduating from both Centralia High School and Centralia College this past school year, as well as being honored as one of four valedictorians for the Class of 2014, Albright will be flying out to Cambridge, Massachusetts, this week. The Blaze, August 20, 2014 Former Centralia College Athletic Director, Coach George Gablehouse Dies George Gablehouse, a longtime athletic director and coach at Centralia College, has died. The Centralia College Foundation announced Gablehouse’s death Monday morning. Gablehouse, who recently had been retired and living in Packwood, served as athletic director for the college from 1957 to 1977. The Centralia Chronicle, August 18, 2014 Onalaska Student, 16, Earns Scholarship to Study Russian in Estonia, Moldova Since taking a family trip to Thailand two years ago, 16-year-old Gavin VanClifford has wanted to study abroad. VanClifford, entering his junior year at Onalaska High School, recalls taking a boat ride in Thailand with a Swedish family. ... VanClifford, who has studied Spanish at Centralia College, said he is interested in learning more about the Russian language and culture. The Centralia Chronicle, August 16, 2014 Celebrating the Loyalty of a Client This is the story about a 50 year-old love affair and loyalty of a client; not necessarily to a salon, but to the betterment of the cosmetology industry and its training practices. The tale started in 1963 for Elnora Melody, now a spry 95 years old (her birthday was August 2nd), who still continues to patronize the Clover Park Technical College's Cosmetology (CPTC) program salon to have her perm set, hair trimmed and styled. Stylist and Salon Newspapers, August 2014

TRENDS| HORIZONS | EDUCATION

Affirmative-Action Policy Is Found to Reduce Achievement Gaps Affirmative-action policies can help motivate underrepresented minority students before they apply to college and, as a result, can help narrow achievement gaps across demographic groups, concludes a report released on Monday by the National Bureau of Economic Research. The Chronicle of Higher Education, August 26, 2014   The #PayMyTuition Challenge Students inspired by (or tired of) the "ice bucket challenge" for ALS research have taken to Twitter with the #PayMyTuition challenge, in which they are challenging various celebrities to help finance their higher education. Inside Higher Ed, August 26, 2014 U.S. and Calif. Agencies Put New Restrictions on Corinthian Colleges Corinthian Colleges Inc., the troubled for-profit higher-education company that is gradually closing its doors under an agreement with the U.S. Education Department, is facing new challenges on two fronts, both made public on Monday. The Chronicle of Higher Education, August 26, 2014 Profit and Social Responsibility For-profit higher education has tried previously to create voluntary standards for quality and responsibility. But those attempts at self-regulation, which many saw as too self-serving, failed to take hold. A new effort, announced today, probably has a better chance of making an impact. It’s being led by a nonprofit group, B Lab, which has no vested interest in the partisan fight over for-profits. Inside Higher Ed, August 26, 2014   Interest-Rate Cap on Loans Is Now Automatic for Qualifying Service Members The Department of Education on Monday made it easier for members of the armed forces to pay lower interest rates on their federal student loans. Service members who qualify for a cap on their interest rates under the Higher Education Opportunity Act have had to request that the benefit be applied to their loans. The Chronicle of Higher Education, August 25, 2014   Free Digital Textbook Publisher to Produce 10 New Titles by 2017 Rice University’s OpenStax College, a project that publishes free digital textbooks, will use $9.5-million in grants to produce 10 new books by 2017, the university announced on Monday. The aim of the project, started in 2012, is to provide low-cost textbooks to students who have trouble affording titles that can cost hundreds of dollars. OpenStax has published a handful of books—written and peer-reviewed in-house and accessible free online—for common courses that enroll the most students nationally. The Chronicle of Higher Education, August 25, 2014 John Sperling, a Higher-Ed Pioneer, Left Disciples Across For-Profit Sector The legacy of John G. Sperling, the founder of the University of Phoenix who died on Friday at the age of 93, includes more than the sprawling institution that he began in an Arizona union hall in 1976 with eight students. Mr. Sperling was instrumental in creating today's for-profit-college industry, a sector now known for both its focus on working adults and the prominence of giant publicly traded companies. The Chronicle of Higher Education, August 25, 2014 Is your college financially stable? Earlier this year, the six Washington campuses of Everest College, a for-profit school, were put up for sale after the parent company ran into financial and legal hot water. That raises interesting questions for students: How do you know if your college is financially sound? And should you be worried if it isn’t? The Hechinger Report, a nonprofit education news site out of New York, recently suggested five steps you can take to make sure the college you’re attending is financially solid. (The issue applies to nonprofit and for-profit schools, since public colleges and universities aren’t going to run into the kinds of financial problems that would force a closure unless the state itself runs out of money.) The Seattle Times, August 25, 2014 California Legislature Approves Bachelor's Degrees at Community Colleges California's Legislature on Thursday approved legislation that would allow 15 of the state's community college districts to issue four-year degrees. Governor Jerry Brown now will consider the bill, which would make California one of more than 20 states that have enacted similar legislation. Inside Higher Ed, August 22, 2014 Professors Calling Students The new interim president of the University of Southern Maine has advice for faculty amid an enrollment decline: Call students who have yet to re-enroll and get them to come back to campus. Inside Higher Ed, August 22, 2014 Hat in Hand on Facebook Colleges are increasingly turning to one-day social media blitzes to raise money, especially from their youngest alumni. The latest will take place today at the University of Vermont, the state’s flagship in Burlington. Officials there have organized a daylong social media “extravaganza” to connect with what it calls its elusive young alums. During the Move In Day Challenge, pegged to the university’s move-in day, officials will post on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter all day, including videos of students moving in and talking about the university. They will also set up a special site for would-be donors. Inside Higher Ed, August 22, 2014 More minorities aim for college, but academic preparation lags First, the good news: In just four years, the number of Hispanic students taking the ACT college entrance exam in Washington state has nearly doubled, suggesting that significantly more minority youth here aim to pursue higher education. And overall, Washington students scored two points higher than the national average on the country’s most widely administered college-readiness test. Yet in other areas, the results, released Wednesday, underscored a series of troubling trends. The Seattle Times, August 20, 2014 Blind mom sues Seattle schools over website accessibility A blind mother whose three children attend Seattle Public Schools is suing the district, saying its website and math software aren’t compatible with technology that blind people use to access the Internet. The Seattle Times, August 20, 2014

POLITICS | LOCAL, STATE, NATIONAL

Aggressive Pragmatism Bill Haslam wasn’t sold on the idea of two years of tuition-free community college when he first heard it. That was back in 2008, when the Republican, now governor of Tennessee, was Knoxville’s mayor. Mike Ragsdale, who was then mayor of the surrounding Knox County, made the pitch to Haslam. Ragsdale was among a group of local leaders who were trying to create a private scholarship to cover the tuition costs for high school graduates who wanted to attend community and technical college. ... Haslam didn’t take long to change his mind about the project. Inside Higher Ed, August 26, 2014   Local View: Earlier Legislature took schools seriously For some time I have held off from writing about how the Legislature and the newspapers have and are responding to the McCleary v. Washington case. The Columbian's editorial on Aug. 10 reviewed the history of the Legislature action for 36 years (or lack thereof) in compliance to Article 9 Section 1 of the Washington Constitution. The editorial page alleges that lawmakers spent three-plus decades giving the 1978 court decision nothing more than a "nod-and a-wink" to the ruling. This is where I vehemently disagree. The Columbian, August 24, 2014   Lawsuits Challenge FAA Drone, Model Aircraft Rules Model aircraft hobbyists, research universities and commercial drone interests filed lawsuits Friday challenging a government directive that they say imposes tough new limits on the use of model aircraft and broadens the agency's ban on commercial drone flights. The three lawsuits asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia to review the validity of the directive, which the Federal Aviation Administration issued in June. The agency said the directive is an attempt to clarify what is a model aircraft and the limitations on their operation. AP, August 22, 2014