August 2007

PCN E-Newsletter Showcases New Design and Interactive Features
In addition to newsworthy articles and reports, the PCN E-Newsletter now includes new links to a sign-up form, archived back issues, the PCN Online Library, and other PCN resources. Readers may use the new "Contact Us" feature to provide PCN with comments or feedback about newsletter content.

Council for Opportunity in Education Conference
Pathways partner Council for Opportunity in Education (COE) is holding its annual conference, “The College Access Revolution,” in Chicago on September 5-8, 2007. Topics include issues related to financial aid, student support, state engagement, and building a college-going culture.
For more information

National Scholarship Providers Association 2007 Annual Conference
The National Scholarship Providers Association’s (NSPA) conference is being held in Portland, ME from October 3-5, with a pre-conference workshop on October 2 entitled “Too Much Data, Not Enough Information!”
For more information

National College Access Network 2007 Annual Conference and Excelencia in Education Symposium
The National College Access Network (NCAN) is holding its conference in Los Angeles From October 7-9. Immediately following the NCAN conference, on October 10, Excelencia in Education will host a symposium on “Translating College Access into Success for Latino Students”
For more information about the NCAN conference
For more information about the Excelencia in Education symposium

Choosing Hispanic-Serving Institutions: A Closer Look at Latino Students’ College Choices
A new Excelencia in Education report examines patterns of Latino higher education enrollment in Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs), and finds that about half of all Latino undergraduates enroll in HSIs. Through a series of focus groups and interviews with Latino students about their higher education choices, the study found that cost, proximity, and accessibility outweighed considerations of academic prestige for Latino students who chose to attend HSIs. In some cases, however, perceptions of “cost” were based on “sticker price” rather than actual cost.
[Read report]

What Matters for Staying On-Track and Graduating in Chicago Public High Schools
A report by the Consortium on Chicago School Research examines freshman-year “predictors” of non-graduation, including attendance, GPA, and course failures. The report finds that students at the same level of incoming achievement have better attendance rates in schools with higher overall levels of achievement among incoming students. The study also finds that schools can have a significant positive influence on grades, failure rates, and attendance, independent of the incoming academic skills of their students, based on factors such as student trust in teachers and students' belief that future goals are dependent upon success in high school.
[Read report]

Information Sharing Could Help Institutions Identify and Address Challenges Some Asian American and Pacific Islander Students Face
According to a recent GAO report, the percentage of Asian Americans holding college degrees varies widely among subgroups, from a robust 68 percent for Asian Indians to only 13 percent for students of Cambodian, Laotian, and Hmong descent. This difference is correlated with degree status upon entry to the U.S. and with immigration status. By surveying postsecondary institutions with large concentrations of Asian American and Pacific Islander students, the report provides strategies used to assist underserved students and recommends further information sharing among these institutions to increase outcomes.
[Read report]

Financing Higher Education in the 21st Century
American households assume a larger percentage of higher education costs than households in any other OECD country, with the exception of Korea. An issue brief by the Institute for Higher Education Policy traces the growing global role of private finance in higher education and includes rich comparative international data on higher education financing.
[Read report]

New Advanced Mathematics Course Attendance Pattern Data from the National Center for Education Statistics
The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) reports that high school coursework in mathematics and science increased significantly between 1982 and 2004. However, economic disparity in precalculus and calculus coursetaking patterns increased significantly during this time period, up from an 18 percentage-point gap between students from the highest and lowest economic quartiles in 1982 to a 35 percentage-point gap in 2004.
[Read report]

For more general student data, the 2006 edition of the Digest of Education Statistics is now available. Among the hundreds of tables are data disaggregated by race and ethnicity relative to graduation rates, SAT, ACT, and NAEP scores, college enrollment, and degree completion.
[Read report]