Exceptional Students, College Prices, and Impactful Nonprofits 

Posted September 20, 2019 | By

A crowd of Cooke Scholars look upwards at Scholars Weekend 2019.

September 20, 2019 – Here’s what we’re reading this week about the issues affecting high-achieving students. Meet our new Northern Virginia grantees and learn how to submit a Good Neighbor Grant proposal. Also, read about supporting talented learners and paying for college.

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High-achieving high school seniors can now apply for the Cooke College Scholarship Program, and the Cooke Undergraduate Transfer Scholarship is accepting applications from community college students preparing to transfer to a four-year institution. Both programs provide up to $40,000 per year, as well as comprehensive educational advising and access to the thriving Cooke Scholar community.

 

Elementary & Secondary Education:

  • “Our education system should be able simultaneously to ‘raise the ceiling’ for those who are exceptionally able and ‘lift the floor’ for others who are struggling,” writes Jason L. Riley in The Wall Street Journal.
  • Join FutureEd and New Classrooms this Tuesday in Washington, DC for a provocative conversation about the hidden truths of students’ unfinished learning in middle school mathematics. In this lively panel, education leaders will discuss takeaways from “The Iceberg Problem,” New Classrooms’ forthcoming report examining how education policies can unintentionally force educators to measure just a small portion of students’ knowledge. Register here to attend.
  • The high costs of a broadband internet connection, as well as a lack of access in underserved rural and urban communities contributes to the homework gap, reports Common Sense Media. Its new report details how students with financial need may have difficulty completing digital assignments.

 

Higher Education:

  • New Mexico announces a universal free tuition for all residents at all of the state’s two- and four-year public colleges and universities, reports The New York Times. Whether or not similar programs are cost-effective is up for debate in The Hechinger Report.
  • Despite the existence of tools like College Scorecard and net price calculators, PBS NewsHour finds that determining the price of college is “harder than it looks.”
  • “Of course, we recognize that on the path of upward mobility, people invest a lot financially and expend a lot of effort,” says Jennifer Morton in The Atlantic. “But there’s very little attention paid to the ways in which strivers end up paying in other areas of their lives that are meaningful and valuable — their relationships to friends, to family, and to their communities.”

 

Student Voices:

  • The Columbia Daily Spectator explains that even when students are awarded what appears to be full scholarship, non-included student fees “can be burdensome, hindering professional advancement and straining mental and physical health.”
  • The importance of making time for self-care is outlined in The Cornell Daily Sun, and The Daily Pennsylvanian discusses finding personal fulfillment and success, the topic of a recent campus talk from Angela Duckworth.

 

Cooke Foundation Highlights:

 

Social Media Spotlight:

Photo header: A crowd of Cooke Scholars look upwards at Scholars Weekend 2019.