Reducing College Costs

Start planning early to save on college tuition. Capable, diligent students can take an active part in reducing their class time and tuition costs while they’re still in high school. Of course, they have to be willing to put forth a diligent effort, but the results can be quite rewarding, both academically and financially.

In a previous article I explained that the College Board, the same organization responsible for the SAT, also designs and administers Advanced Placement Exams.  Most high schools include AP courses in their curriculum.  Students, typically those in grades 11 & 12, usually need teacher recommendations to enroll, as these courses parallel introductory college classes.  The coursework is more accelerated or detailed than that in honors courses, so students should be fully aware of the time commitment before they enter the AP class. However, the outcome can be substantially more worthwhile. Students who receive college credit have the opportunity to move more quickly into upper level courses when they enter college. They can graduate from college early or even double major if they have earned a number of college credits while still in high school.

From a financial standpoint, these AP courses are quite rewarding. The average per credit course at a state university ranges from $350-$500.  For private colleges and universities, the per credit cost is much higher, at least $1500.  Each college course is 3 or 4 credits, so the savings are quite substantial. Thus, a high school student who earns AP credit for a class can potentially save his parents $1000-$6000!  

The College Board offers 34 different courses.  Advanced Placement courses must follow a curriculum established by the College Board, because the exams that occur at the end of the course are national.  The focus of the courses includes problem solving and strong communication skills, especially in writing. The exams occur in May. They are scored on a 1-5 scale. Many colleges accept a minimum score of 3.  Students should check with their guidance counselors to determine which AP courses the school offers, and which ones might benefit them the most.  They may be able to start college with several courses already on their transcripts.  

Reality check

So, your children are bringing home stellar report cards and achieving above goal on state tests.  How can you tell how they fare on the national level? For many parents, the first indication of how their children rate on the national level occurs when the students take the PSAT’s.  Sometimes the results are quite unexpected.

I regularly encounter parents who contact me because they are alarmed by their children’s scores on national tests.  They ask why their children, who have consistently achieved honor roll status in middle and high school, score below the 50% when they first encounter a standardized test.  These can be entrance exams required by private or parochial high schools or SAT’s and ACT’s for college entrance.

These are the facts: Reports cards are subjective. They reflect an individual teacher’s experience with a student at a particular point in time. They may fluctuate greatly from term to term for a particular student. The reporting of a letter or number grade may not provide valuable information. The determination of the requirements for a grade may vary widely.  What would constitute an A in one class may be a B or even a C in another.  And attempting to compare grade requirements among different schools may be virtually impossible.

State tests are just that. The Connecticut  Mastery Tests (CMT’s) administered to public school students in grades 3 to 8, and the Connecticut Academic Performance Test (CAPT’s) given to tenth grade students,  are useful only for purposes of the State Board of Education. They determine a district’s adherence to basic curriculum standards. They aren’t meant to determine a student’s aptitude or potential.

Many independent schools administer nationally-normed exams like the Iowa’s or ERB’s to assess their students’ progress.  Sadly, many, if not most,  public school students and their parents aren’t aware of their comparative standing on the national level until they’re at the end of their high school career.  One way of avoiding an unpleasant surprise is to take a national test like the SSAT in the lower grades or a PSAT before junior year.  It’s critical for a student to have an early indication of where he stands, so he can work towards his potential.  

For more information, go to the SSAT website.

Read the Fine Print!

I’m not talking about a legal document; I’m referring to food packaging. Anyone who’s reading this is clearly literate. But how well do most people apply reading skills to fundamental activities like grocery shopping? Taking a few moments to read the listed ingredients can lead to better, more healthful eating. In fact, the entire family can participate in reading and reap the health rewards.

In this situation, less is better. Usually, a shopper can determine that the fewer ingredients an item has the better the contents tend to be. In addition, the consumer should beware of products that contain unpronounceable ingredients. Finally, she should realize that the suffix –ose usually indicates some type of sugar: Lactose, glucose, fructose, and sucrose all are forms of sugar. 

Having become sensitized to the inclusion of the multitude of additives in processed foods, I recently spent a day walking down supermarket aisles doing some basic research.  I spent some time perusing ingredient labels of a wide variety of items. Considering the ever-increasing expansion of the American waist-line, and the incidence of diabetes in this society, I fully expected to see “sugar” among the first of ingredients in products like cereals, cakes, cookies, ice cream and yogurt—and I did. Indeed,  I was alarmed at the profusion of methods used to conceal that fact. Many companies have eschewed the word “sugar” for more esoteric or chemical designations, like “evaporated cane juice” (How does that differ from granulated sugar?) or “high fructose corn syrup.”  Unfortunately, sweeteners of all sorts also appear in foods that we wouldn’t suspect: I found it in most soy milk and salsa brands and even in pickles! Why?

I do not profess to be a scientist or nutritionist, but I am a reader.  If shoppers take a few extra moments at the supermarket to learn what they’re ingesting, they might very well alter their diets  and eat their way to better health. How's THAT for a new year's resolution?

Punctuating the Season

It’s the time of year that many English teachers and other lovers of the language bemoan: the arrival of holiday cards that signify just how little their families and acquaintances know about their mother tongue. How could this situation persist? Most people purchase a variety of cards that require no more than their signature to express their heartfelt goodwill for the approaching season. Yet they still manage to mangle the language by including the one punctuation mark that they don’t need—the apostrophe. They unwittingly employ it whenever they sign their names: the Smith’s, the Jones’, the White’s, etcetera, cheerfully (if inadvertently) indicating that they own something—but what? Why do people insist on including the apostrophe, when they don’t need it? Do they think that it’s a shortcut for the plural? In short—how can such a small mark cause such massive misunderstanding?

For the record: apostrophes have several useful purposes. The two most common include showing ownership and indicating the omission of letters. That rule seems clear enough, as in the following sentence: It’s six o’clock, and I’m about to put my family’s dinner on the table. The first three apostrophes indicate letter omission, and the last shows possession. Compare that sentence to the following: It’s seven o’clock, so most of us are washing our families’ dishes. Notice how the plural possessive differs from the singular form—families’ vs. family’s. Admittedly, grammar and punctuation rules often have exceptions, as in: We’re hoping to have the children’s homework assignments completed before my boss’s teleconference. Whew!

Another common abuse of apostrophes appears with the possessive pronoun, particularly the word “its.” Most people who would never dare to write his’s, her’s, their’s, or our’s to indicate ownership readily interchange it’s for its. Why? Here’s a simple rule: Possessive pronouns NEVER use apostrophes. That rule is as unambiguous as one can find in English, yet one of the most abused. The word it’s remains the contraction, (shortened form) of the words it is. Yet look around to find various misuses of these two words: “HOHO’S is having it’s annual sale! Its time for saving’s at HOHO’S department store!” YIKES!

Can you find the errors in the following sentence? Avoid sending cards’ with unnecessary apostrophe’s! During the upcoming card exchange season, please carefully consider those who love the language. Remember: An apostrophe is not merely decorative, placed hither and yon to adorn letters and cards. It does serve a purpose, and that is NOT to form the plurals of words and names. Now the comma, on the other hand . . . Ah, but that’s a tale for another time.
Season's greetings!

Virtual Schooling

Parents seeking an alternative to public education have often selected homeschooling. Within the past decade, their options have expanded to include online courses. According to a recent article in The Washington Post, Virginia-based K12, Inc. is “leading a national movement to replace classrooms with computers.” While the company originally intended to provide a resource network for home-schooled students, it now provides flexible schooling for those who may not fit into the mainstream education system: “high achievers, strugglers, dropouts, teenage parents and victims of bullying among them.”
At least 250,000 students in thirty states currently engage in some form of virtual education. K12 represents a large portion of that number. “K12 would rank among the 30 largest of the nation’s 1,500 districts. The company, which began in two states a decade ago, now teaches about 95,000 students in virtual schools in 29 states and the District of Columbia.” Business is booming, as the company reported a 36% increase in revenue over last year.

According to the K12 website, parents and students can choose from a wide variety of free courses or programs online. “Students take courses online with support from their teacher via phone, online Web meetings, and sometimes even face to face. The parent (or "Learning Coach") keeps the student on track in line with the provided lessons plans. While courses are delivered online, the schools provide plenty of opportunities to connect online and offline with a vibrant school community.” Parental involvement decreases as students progress, but they should expect that their children will spend five to six hours per day on academic work.

However, most American parents and educators still question the value of virtual education. They are uncomfortable with the prospect of isolating children in front of a computer for a large portion of a day. They prefer a “brick and mortar” academic environment in which students interact with teachers and peers. They claim that socialization is a large part of learning. The debate will certainly continue as more opportunities for school choice emerge.

Teaching as a Profession

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and Scholastic conducted a survey of teachers, asking about their working conditions. The Wall Street Journal reported the results recently: “The Scholastic project found that teachers are desperate for more support. Three kinds rose to the top: more involvement from parents, more engagement from school leaders and higher quality materials to use in the classroom.”
The study found that although most educators can identify excellent teachers, they cannot actually quantify the qualities that those teachers possess. The Gates Foundation has been working for several years to try to change that. They have been working with “more than 3,000 teachers on a large research project called “Measures of Effective Teaching, or MET. These teachers volunteered to have their classes videotaped and their lessons scored by experts, to have their students evaluate their teaching, to fill out surveys about the support they receive and to be assessed on their content knowledge.” They discovered that “ . . .teachers don't like their no-support/low-expectations working conditions” The study aims to identify the characteristics that embody effective teachers, so that school districts can utilize those standards when hiring.
Both the American Federation of Teachers and the National Education Association have expressed willingness to rethink evaluation systems. The Gates are hopeful that once the research has been completed, educators can institute evaluations that will reward effective teachers and assist those in need of improvement. Providing effective evaluation tools and a process to implement improvement may end the “dance of the lemons.” *
*The practice of moving ineffective teachers from one school to another rather than firing them.

Another Reason to Shoot Your Television!

This week, the American Academy of Pediatrics issued a policy statement about the dangers that television poses for children under the age of two. These physicians declare that television may result in sleep disturbances and delayed speech for these young children. An article on Vitals, an internet site associated with MSNBC, cites a disturbing statistic from a 2007 study: “About 90 percent of parents say their kids younger than 2 watch some type of media. By the age of 3, nearly one-third of kids have a TV in their bedrooms.”
The doctors recommend that rather than sitting toddlers in front of quickly flickering images, parents provide playtime for their children. According to the report, even background television may interfere with play activities that benefit children’s learning. In fact, it also inhibits parents’ interactions with their children.
While a few studies indicate that children older than 2 can improve their language and social skills by watching educational programs, the research does not extend those benefits to young children. In order to receive any positive results, children need to have the ability to pay attention and understand television programming. Babies do not!
According to Dr. Ari Brown, a pediatrician in Austin, Texas, and lead author of the new policy statement, “Studies show that children under 11/2 years old have the same reaction to a TV program regardless of whether it's going forward or backward.” The AAP refers to two studies that indicate that “for kids 2 and under, watching programs such as ‘Sesame Street’ may have a negative impact on language development.”
Who needs further evidence that it’s time to unplug?