Posted: 02 Sep 2010 01:01 PM PDT

Clinton Parker, a senior at Julian High School, worked quietly at his computer in August as the clicks of mice from more than a dozen students punctured the air of an otherwise silent computer lab.

A teacher zipped through the classroom, assisting students as they worked their way through online classes that they had either failed during the school year or needed to pass to catch up with classmates.

By the time summer school had ended, Parker was among the more than 4,000 city schools students who earned credits taking online courses. What would have taken another year of school -- much of which Parker readily admits he would have skipped -- took just a few months, and he received his diploma.

The credit-recovery program at Julian illustrates why supporters say online learning has the potential to revolutionize education. It can be inexpensive, convenient and flexible -- valuable attributes for a cash-strapped district like the Chicago Public Schools. For those reasons, it's now one of the fastest growing areas of education. But research hasn't kept up with the rapid expansion, making it tough to know whether the programs really work.

Chicago Public Schools now offers a battery of online programs, ranging from math and reading enrichment, where elementary students spend a few hours a week online using a specific curriculum, to a virtual charter school, where students learn almost entirely from home.

The latest initiative came last week, when school officials announced a pilot program to add 90 minutes to the day at 15 elementary schools using online curriculum in place of certified teachers.

The recent growth within CPS has been rapid, mostly without fanfare. Two years ago, online courses were offered in just a handful of high schools. This year, they're slated to be in all of them. Other schools are scaling up to the initiative by installing cutting-edge media centers, piloting entirely online curriculums or contracting individually with vendors for online instruction materials.

The growth is reflected nationally as well. Just about every state has some sort of online learning initiative; experts figure the universe is expanding by 30 percent every year.

On reason for its popularity is that online learning allows students to learn individually and at their own pace, a difficult feat for a teacher with 30 students with varying levels of proficiency. The most advanced software can assess a student's progress and ability in real time, then adapt the difficulty of the questions.

While not all programs are created equal, those used by CPS align themselves with the state learning standards.

"A computer never replaces a teacher," CPS chief Ron Huberman stressed. "(But) it allows the most talented and gifted students to move extra fast and the students struggling to take the time they need to before moving on to the next task."

Still, even the most enthusiastic supporters of virtual schooling acknowledge that practice is far ahead of both policy and research. There's a risk such efforts could be as ineffective as the worst schools, experts say.

Additionally, critics worry online learning robs students of the classroom experience and the social aspects of school.

The local teachers union has come out strongly against the effort, saying any program that simply reinforces the "drill and kill" testing mentality that will fail to engage students. And poor implementation could stymie even the most promising approaches.

Despite its break-neck growth, the world of online learning is still tiny. Nationally, about 2 percent of all students do some form of online learning, experts figure.

Those pushing for the expansion of online opportunities argue that people shouldn't hold online learning to a higher standard than conventional classroom learning.

"I've heard people say that every online teacher and course isn't high quality," said John Watson, who publishes an annual report on the growth of K-12 online learning. "Well, I'm pretty sure every physical class isn't high quality, either."

One exhaustive report found online learning and the combination of online and classroom, called blended learning, were in fact better than face-to-face instruction. The results came from analyzing the findings of 46 different scientific studies comparing the two.

But only a few of the studies published between 1996 and 2008 were in K-12 settings. The rest ranged from college to military training.

"In a time of both strapped budgets and a limited supply of qualified teachers in certain subject areas, this is a very attractive option for school districts," said Barbara Means of the research group SRI International and lead author of the study. "It really adds a degree of freedom that school districts haven't had."

Since the world of online instruction is still relatively new, districts have a responsibility to scrutinize their programs, Means stressed. With such a wide array of vendors hawking instructional software, the only way to know which ones work is to study them, she said.

CPS has attempted just that in Area 13. In that region of the school district, which runs along the old State Street corridor, Chief Area Officer Shawn Smith rolled out an ambitious pilot at his 27 elementary schools.

Every student from third to fifth grade was given about three hours of online math each week using software that leads children through a series of problems, adapting to their skill level as each answer is given.

ISAT scores from last year show staggering -- some say implausible -- gains in math. But even greater gains were achieved among seventh grade students at one school that didn't use the online curriculum, making it difficult to connect the increases in scores strictly to the online curriculum.

Still, Smith says it's having an impact, and district administrators agree. This year, they're rolling the software out to every class in his area.

In a dimly lit computer lab, their heads barely protruding above the plastic chairs, Overton Elementary School students watched their monitors as a computer penguin zoomed across it. Part of the software, the penguin introduces them to each set of gamelike problems.

One child worked on whole numbers, filling imaginary bags with grapes. Another used his hands to measure distance.

"When I first started, I thought it was going to be hard. But I got the hang of it now," said Phylicia Rich, a fifth-grader. "I think this made (testing) easier for me."

Other efforts are being closely watched, too, like VOISE Academy, a contract school in Chicago's Austin neighborhood that uses the blended approach of online learning and in-class teachers. Students use laptops instead of textbooks, and the district plans to pilot a similar approach at up to five schools.

"There's so much data ... that we know the strengths of every individual students and weakness of every individual student," said Todd Yarch, the principal there. He said online curriculum "really frees our teachers up to help individual students."

Yarch isn't sure what his schools' ACT scores will look like this year. Maybe they'll be great. Maybe they won't.

"Too many times in education when it doesn't work right away we tend to move away from it," he said.

"You have to kind of stick it out," Yarch said. "There are going to be issues."

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A Dearth of Work for China's College Grads

Posted: 02 Sep 2010 05:08 AM PDT

The job hunt came as a shock. The 23-year-old job seeker graduated in June from a good school -- Beijing University of Technology -- with a bachelor's degree in materials science, a subject he figured would appeal to employers. Yet he had to go through scores of interviews and comb the online job sites endlessly before landing a job at a local trading company. Happy ending? Barely. The pay, $368 a month, is meager by Beijing standards, so he has had to move back in with his parents and he's too ashamed about the outcome of his job search to give his name. As the young man explains, there are too many recent grads looking for jobs, while companies want only the most qualified people at the lowest price.

At least he got a job -- many of his peers are still looking. Even as labor shortages plague manufacturing industries, more than one-quarter of this year's 6.3 million Chinese college graduates are unemployed, according to the Education Ministry.

The problem of graduate unemployment and underemployment has been building for years, due to rising university enrollments and a mismatch between what students learn and the skills companies need. About a decade ago, the government decided to boost university admissions, a move that policymakers believed would yield big economic benefits as China shifted to an economic model based more on innovation than on cheap manufacturing. Since 1998 the number of graduates has risen threefold, according to Zeng Xiangquan, dean of the School of Labor Relations and Human Resources at Renmin University of China in Beijing.

"Ant Tribes"

The expanded enrollment has slowed down salary increases for entry-level white-collar jobs. Graduates in high-cost cities such as Beijing and Shanghai struggle to get by, living in crowded dormitory-like conditions. Chinese sociologist Lian Si has coined the term "ant tribe" (yi zu in Chinese) to describe the tens of thousands of grads subsisting in squalor on the outskirts of China's biggest cities. In an Aug. 6 commentary for China Daily, Yu Jianrong, a scholar at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in Beijing, wrote that with so many college grads marginalized, China risks creating a new class of "underdogs" who seethe with "hatred against the bureaucracy."

Foreign companies are not doing much to absorb this surplus labor. Those that take on newly minted grads typically find they "have to invest significantly in training and development to bring their new hires up to par with their peers in other countries," says a white paper published in May by the American Chamber of Commerce. "While we hire many recent graduates, of course we prefer candidates to have working experience, especially in a multinational, diverse environment," says Trevor Hale, director of corporate communications for Ford Motor, Asia Pacific & Africa. "In some disciplines like engineering or marketing, we would much rather have fewer people who are more senior and experienced than a greater number of less experienced people." According to Gerard A. Postiglione, a researcher on Chinese education at the University of Hong Kong, Chinese college students are not trained to work collaboratively, be creative and innovative, or take risks.

Some of these deficiencies are a product of the Communist Party's decision to model the educational system on that of the Soviet Union. After the new regime seized power in 1949, China's comprehensive universities were replaced with Soviet-style schools that churned out graduates narrowly focused on skills seen as necessary to manage a heavy-industrialized, planned economy. Academia was dealt another blow by the Cultural Revolution of 1966-76, when the Red Guards shut down all institutions of higher education and persecuted thousands of teachers and administrators.

Education Reform Plan

One feature that has survived all the upheaval is the traditional emphasis on rote memorization. "The teacher stands and talks, talks, and talks. The students sit and listen, listen, and listen," says Renmin's Zeng. "We overemphasize theory and don't (do well) when it comes to the teaching of practical skills." Compounding the problem is that state-owned enterprises, which traditionally hired many college grads, have been severely downsized themselves.

The government is trying to set things right. Chinese authorities on July 29 announced a "National Plan for Medium and Long-Term Education Reform and Development" that will boost spending on education at all levels and focus university curricula more on practical skills. Outside analysts are encouraged. "The blueprint 10-year plan is very clear about the flaws in the educational system," says University of Hong Kong's Postiglione. The city of Chongqing, meanwhile, has introduced special funds and tax rebates to support graduates who set up their own businesses. The central government is urging young people with college degrees to apply for official posts in the poor interior provinces.

Already, the government is claiming a small victory of sorts, with the Education Ministry announcing recently that the rate of employment for recent graduates rose from 68 percent in 2009 to 72.2 percent this year. "As the economic structure changes, more suitable jobs for graduates will be created," says Zhang Juwei, deputy director at the Institute of Population and Labor Economics at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. Although Zhang may be right, that scenario is little comfort to the more than 25 percent of recent grads still hunting for work.

The bottom line: China's new university graduates lack the skills companies need, and there are too many of them, which is keeping salaries low.

For-profit college risk: Huge debt, questionable degree

Posted: 02 Sep 2010 06:50 AM PDT

Dane Lockman, 33, is pictured at the Westwood College campus in Atlanta, Georgia. He has $40,000 in student debt.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

A class-action lawsuit alleges Westwood College used deceptive recruitment practices
GAO report revealed 15 for-profit universities used deceptive recruiting practices
Dane Lockman, 33, took out $40,000 in student loans to pay for Westwood
He doesn't have enough money to pay back his loans, which has ruined his credit

Atlanta, Georgia (CNN) -- Dane Lockman saw a commercial advertising Westwood College while watching late-night television. The then-29-year-old single father, with a budding interest in web design, decided he would be the first in his immediate family to attend college.

By October 2006, he was enrolled in the for-profit institution to complete a bachelor's degree in graphic design. To pay for school, he took out $40,000 in private and government loans.

Lockman says he earned A's and B's at Westwood, but he wanted to take his education further by transferring to Georgia State University in late 2007, a public school that is regionally accredited, which is considered to be the "gold standard" of college education. But since Westwood is nationally accredited, Georgia State University refused to recognize Lockman's credits.

Lockman says Westwood admissions representatives never warned him about the difference.

"I went into it really blindly," Lockman said. "I tried to do everything on my own."

Today, he's without a degree or a full-time job and unable to pay back his loans. He says his savings are gone. His credit score is shot because of his student debt, and he can't get credit cards. His student loans will incessantly haunt him, even if he declares bankruptcy.

Lockman is not alone.

At least 750 former Westwood students and employees have come forward with complaints about the school engaging in deceptive recruiting practices that have left some students with an unmanageable amount of debt, according to a class-action lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Denver, Colorado, in August.

Some students, like Lockman, have also complained that the school failed to give them accurate information about future job prospects or whether their degrees would be recognized by other schools or employers.

"This is a massive problem that's going to change the face of education if this isn't corrected," said Jillian Estes, an attorney at the Florida law firm James, Hoyer, Newcomer, Smiljanich & Yanchunis P.A., which filed the suit against Westwood. "This isn't only about the students; this is about you and I. Taxpayer money is funding the deceptive practices these schools are using. This has to be everyone's problem."

Westwood College, owned by Alta Colleges Inc., is one of about 3,000 for-profit colleges in the country. The college denies claims made in the lawsuit and has filed a defamation suit against the law firm. The defamation suit is pending.

This summer, the multibillion-dollar for-profit college industry has come under the scrutiny of the U.S. Senate. Some government officials say the industry is regulated too loosely. Senate hearings in August revealed government findings that 15 for-profit schools, including Westwood, were encouraging fraudulent practices among students. For example, some schools were caught suggesting that prospective students hide their savings to secure more federal aid.

Across the country, other for-profit schools are facing their own legal battles.

In June, a Chicago law firm filed a lawsuit on behalf of students at Illinois School of Health Careers claiming the school engaged in deceptive trade practices. Students say the college failed to inform them that the school's nursing program was not approved by the Illinois Department of Public Health. CNN called the school several times but did not get a response. The school is trying to get the court to dismiss the suit.

"We think they're innovative and have done some good things, but in some of these programs, students have high debt loads," said James Kvaal, deputy undersecretary at the Department of Education. "We are also hearing anecdotes of graduates unable to get jobs in the fields they were trained."

The for-profit sector explodes

The number of for-profit colleges, which typically cater to working students and students beyond the traditional college age, has grown dramatically. Between 2007 and 2008, there were 2.6 million students enrolled in for-profit schools, up from 1.7 million between 1997 and 1998, according to The Institute for College Access & Success, a think tank committed to expanding access to higher education.

This is a massive problem that's going to change the face of education if this isn't corrected.
--Jillian Estes, a Florida attorney

For-profit institutions do exactly what the name suggests: They are private companies that aim to make money. Some for-profit colleges have physical campuses, some have online classes, and others have both. For-profit schools tend to cater to specific skills in a certain vocation or industry, explained Terry Hartle, Senior vice president of the American Council on Education, a trade association representing colleges.

These schools say they fill a void for students who may not have access to traditional universities or overcrowded community colleges. They offer busy students many advantages, including a shorter time period to complete degrees, in some cases, and flexible classes that can be taken online and at night, some say.

For some students, the schools' accreditation is a major concern.

Many for-profit schools are nationally accredited, which makes transferring credits to universities that are regionally accredited often impossible, education experts say. Private institutions, such as Harvard University and Smith College, and public schools, such as the University of Michigan or community colleges, are usually regionally accredited.

Regionally accredited schools are more widely recognized by other schools and employers, education experts say.

Westwood College is nationally accredited, and company officials say the school makes that clear during the recruitment process, but some students complained they weren't told the difference when they enrolled.

"Westwood maintains transparency with everything it does with its students," a company spokesman said. "They go above and beyond what they need to do to create transparency."

A degree but no job

Critics of for-profit institutions allege these schools use deceptive enrollment practices, including failure to warn about student debt, similar to practices used in the recent subprime mortgage crisis.

Some, such as Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, are concerned that for-profit schools may be failing to adequately inform students of the risks of taking loans they cannot pay back.

On average, students who attend for-profit colleges are more likely to borrow federal aid, and they borrow larger amounts.

During the 2007-08 school year, 92 percent of undergraduates attending for-profit colleges took out student loans, compared with 60 percent of undergraduates attending private nonprofit colleges and 27 percent of undergraduates attending public colleges, according to The Institute for College Access & Success.

One former Westwood admissions representative, Joshua Pruyn, who testified at the Senate hearings in August, admitted to conducting interviews at which he and other representatives pressured students to enroll by manipulating their "hopes, fears and insecurities."

Westwood officials call Pruyn's claims an "isolated incident." After the hearings, Westwood College said it planned to add third-party verification programs to ensure Westwood employees are accurately explaining the costs and career outcomes of enrolling in its programs.

"It's not enough that we find out how this breakdown in our system happened," Westwood College CEO George Burnett said in a statement on the school's website. "We have to make sure this doesn't happen again."

Estes, the attorney who filed the class-action lawsuit against Westwood this month in Colorado, said she is also concerned about what happens when students complete a Westwood degree.

She said her firm has interviewed hundreds of students who were unable to find a job in the field they studied because the Westwood degree was not recognized by employers. Kvaal, deputy undersecretary at the Department of Education, also mentioned similar concerns about job placement by these for-profit schools.

It's not enough that we find out how this breakdown in our system happened. We have to make sure this doesn't happen again.
--George Burnett , Westwood College CEO

The lead plaintiff is Krystle Bernal of Denver, Colorado, who completed a degree in fashion merchandising at Westwood College in 2008 with honors. She says she paid $75,000 for the degree, but she also says it didn't help her find a job in her field.

The suit alleges Westwood made false promises to Bernal and other students in order to receive their private and federal aid.

"Defendants follow a simple formula," the suit says. "Recruit those with the greatest financial need and enroll them in high-cost institutions to maximize the amount of funding the defendant receives."

Westwood has denied the claims in the suit.

Officials at the college say they explain the financial risks and the accreditation differences to students during enrollment.

'Westwood is Awesome'

Some Westwood students say the school was affordable and helped propel their careers. A site called Westwood is Awesome, which says it is not affiliated with Westwood, tells the stories of alumni who benefited from their degrees.

"They helped really fill in the gap," wrote Steve Wiideman, 34, who graduated in 2004, earning a bachelor's degree in e-business management.

He says he landed his first job in the online field working with search engines immediately after finishing at Westwood. He says the degree helped him earn $60,000 a year. Wiideman said he was not paid to post praise of the school.

Wiideman writes on the site, "I personally had my mother look over my paperwork and got a commitment from her to back me up if I needed help every now and then."

Back in Atlanta, Dane Lockman, now 33, wishes he had asked someone to help him with the confusing college process.

He says he can't afford to pay his student loan bills piling up in his apartment. He's working as a freelance photographer to support his son. His paychecks, which depend heavily on the whims of the economy, can barely support them.

"How I could pay so much money, and it left me in this situation?" Lockman says.

Of course he could always go back to Westwood, where he is halfway finished with his bachelor's degree. But he says he's heard horror stories of classmates graduating and unable to find employment.

Lockman says he won't be doing that.

He considers his experiences at Westwood a lesson learned.

Online Education

Thursday, September 2, 2010

“Online education expands, but is it effective?” plus 2 more

“Online education expands, but is it effective?” plus 2 more

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