News Links | June 18, 2015

SYSTEM NEWS | OPINIONS

Area's first HS21 graduates Four area students fulfilled the requirements to earn a high school (HS21) certificate through Big Bend Community College during the 2014-15 academic year. Grand Coulee Star, June 17, 2015 Former drop-out solving life’s puzzles at Whatcom Community College Sharalyn Sentinella likes solving puzzles. In some ways, her own life has been a puzzle. From growing up training horses in Montana, to dropping out of school to build websites, and now graduating from Whatcom Community College, the stages of her life never seemed to fit together. The Bellingham Herald, June 16, 2015 Chinese officials honor Highline College president Highline College President Jack Bermingham was recently honored by Mayor Zhu Minyang of Yangzhou, China, as a 2015 Distinguished City Guest. Kent Reporter, June 16, 2015

TRENDS| HORIZONS | EDUCATION

Finding a new Compass ACT is phasing out Compass, a popular but controversial college placement test that colleges use to determine whether students need to take remedial courses. Community colleges and nonselective four-year institutions rely heavily on Compass and Accuplacer, a similar test from the College Board. Both assessments are low-cost, computerized and relatively quick ways of assessing students’ abilities in reading, writing and mathematics. Inside Higher Ed, June 18, 2015 Study: 2 in 5 associate degrees lead to a bachelor's degree The National Student Clearinghouse Research Center released a new study today that shows more than 60 percent of students who earned an associate degree when they were 20 years old or younger went on to earn a bachelor's within six years. For all students who earned an associate degree, 41 percent finished a bachelor's degree within six years. The research backs claims that a degree from a two-year institution will help pave a path toward a bachelor's degree. Inside Higher Ed, June 17, 2015 Defining competency The U.S. Department of Education and regional accreditors are closer to being on the same page about competency-based education. Earlier this month the Council of Regional Accrediting Commissions, which represents the seven regional accreditors, issued a common framework for how to assess and approve competency-based programs. Inside Higher Ed, June 17, 2015 Will three-year colleges make the grade? With college costs rising and many students struggling with loan debt, some colleges are offering three-year bachelor’s degree programs to reduce costs and send graduates out into the world a year sooner. KUOW, June 16, 2015

POLITICS | LOCAL, STATE, NATIONAL

Student loan watchdog to leave U.S. consumer agency The official who has driven the U.S. Consumer Finance Protection Bureau's increasingly aggressive scrutiny of student loans and for-profit higher education is leaving the agency. Inside Higher Ed, June 18, 2015 Block that regulation! Take your higher education regulations and shove them, Obama administration. Republicans in the House of Representatives didn't use exactly those words in the 2016 spending bill for the Department of Education they released Tuesday, but the message they delivered couldn't have been much clearer. Inside Higher Ed, June 17, 2015 Republican budget would slash U.S. education spending by $2.8 billion Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives unveiled on Tuesday a spending bill for the 2016 fiscal year that would slash education spending by $2.8 billion over all, while providing increases for college-preparatory programs and the National Institutes of Health. The Chronicle of Higher Education, June 16, 2015