Education
All Things Considered

Ex-Rutgers Student Sentenced In Webcam Spying Case

By Nancy Solomon

A judge on Monday sentenced former Rutgers student Dharun Ravi with 30 days in jail for using a webcam to spy on his roommate. Tyler Clementi committed suicide days after Ravi saw him kissing another man.

All Things Considered

'Making Your Mark Is Hard' And Other Tips For Grads

Audie Cornish shares excerpts from this year's college commencement addresses by President Obama, Mitt Romney, Maria Shriver, Michael Bloomberg and others.

Talk of the Nation

Students Find It's Tough To Graduate In Four Years

Just over half of students graduate with their bachelor's degrees within six years of enrolling in college, according to recent studies. Educators say many students are reducing semester credit hours to save money, taking time off or dropping out of school all together.

Morning Edition

Son Fulfills Dream That Racism Denied His Mother

By Jennifer Moore

Friday, Terry Walls is graduating from the same university that rejected his mother because of the color of her skin. Mary Jean Price Walls hadn't spoken about her application to Missouri State University in six decades, until her son uncovered letters in university archives.

All Things Considered

The Politics Of Catholic Schools' Graduation Speakers

The Catholic Archdiocese of Washington, D.C., is up in arms over Georgetown University's invitation to Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius to speak during commencement weekend. Church officials are upset about Sebelius' role in the creation of the contraception mandate in the federal health reform law. It's one of several controversies surrounding graduation speakers that have cropped up this spring.

Tell Me More

Ivy League Janitor: 'I'm Still Wearing The Gown'

By NPR Staff

(Jason DeCrow / AP)

Gac Filipaj graduated this week with honors from Columbia University. The 52-year-old Albanian refugee not only fled civil war to come to the U.S., but worked as a janitor at Columbia for nearly 20 years while taking English classes and earning his bachelor's degree. NPR's Michel Martin speaks with Filipaj about finally achieving his goal.

Tell Me More

After Devastating Tornado, Joplin High Bounces Back

By Bridget Armstrong

(Mark Schiefelbein / AP)

One year after a tornado ripped through Joplin, Mo., life for the city's residents is beginning to return to normal. President Obama will deliver Joplin High School's commencement speech.

All Things Considered

Fla. Students Crash After State Raises Bar On Test

By Sarah Gonzalez

The Florida Board of Education has voted to temporarily lower the passing grade for its state writing test after a dramatic drop in scores on this year's exam. The state had made the test more difficult and raised the passing grade in an attempt to upgrade standards. But education officials were stunned when preliminary results showed the passing rate for 4th graders this year had plummeted from 80 percent to less than 30 percent.

Tell Me More

Why So Many Ph.D.s Are On Food Stamps

By NPR Staff

(iStockphoto.com)

The number of people with graduate degrees — master's degrees and Ph.D.s — applying for food stamps or other assistance more than tripled between 2007 and 2010. One reason: Cost-cutting universities are using nontenured faculty more and paying them far less.

Paying For College: More Tough Decisions

(Kainaz Amaria / NPR)

From your late 40s through early 60s, you're supposed to squirrel away cash to cope with health care costs in your old age. But for millions of Americans, middle age also is the time when children are seeking help with higher-education bills, and elderly parents may be needing assistance with daily care.

Talk of the Nation

Third Grade A Pivotal Time In Students' Lives

In a growing number of states a single reading test determines which third-grade students advance to fourth grade. Proponents of the rule say that kids learn to read until third grade, and then read to learn. But critics argue that holding students back does more harm than good in the long run.

Morning Edition

Budget Woes Could Close Philly's Problem Schools

Philadelphia's school district plans to close a quarter of its school buildings in coming years to eliminate a huge budget hole. But parents and activists don't trust the decision-makers. Many of them suspect the plan is a ruse to force charter schools and privatization on the district.

Weekend Edition Saturday

In L.A. Pregnancy 'Hot Spot,' An On-Campus Clinic

By Saul Gonzalez

(Bob Owen / San Antonio Express-News)

Roosevelt High School in East Los Angeles has the only Planned Parenthood-funded family planning clinic in the Los Angeles Unified School District. The program has its opponents, but the school's chief nurse says "90 percent of the time, abstinence just isn't working for them."

Morning Edition

College Grads Struggle To Gain Financial Footing

(Butch Dill / AP)

A new Rutgers University survey finds just half of those who graduated from college between 2006 and 2011 are working full time. Burdened by student loan debt, and with wages depressed even for those with jobs, many say they no longer believe that education and hard work will necessarily lead to success.

Morning Edition

Education Is Priceless But The Pricetag Is Hefty

A study indicates just half of college graduates, from 2009 to 2011, are finding work within a year. In the meantime, most grads have student loans to replay. Tim Maurer, a financial adviser in Hunt Valley, Md., talks to David Greene about the high cost of getting a college degree.

Morning Edition

Fla. Court To Rule: Can A Lawyer Be Undocumented?

(Kathleen Flynn)

The Florida Board Bar of Examiners requires all applicants to have valid citizenship or immigration papers. Jose Godinez-Samperio, who has no such papers, was granted a waiver to sit for the bar exam in 2011. He passed, but now the bar says it will admit him only with approval from the state Supreme Court.

All Things Considered

Students To Congress: Don't Let Interest Rate Double

(J. Scott Applewhite / AP)

If lawmakers can't come to an agreement, the federal Stafford loan interest rate will jump from 3.4 to 6.8 percent on July 1, adding an average of $1,000 to the cost of a year of college. Students from across the country visited Capitol Hill on Tuesday to ask Congress to keep that from happening.

Morning Edition

Tornado Recovery Offers Joplin Students New Lessons

By Missy Shelton

(Charlie Riedel / AP)

It's been nearly a year since a tornado tore through Joplin, Mo., destroying several school buildings. As the city rebuilds, some students have been attending a makeshift facility at the mall. Students, teachers and administrators reflect on a tumultuous year that has brought healing and hope.

All Things Considered

Hazing Hard To Prosecute In Fla. Despite Tough Laws

(Jim Burress for NPR)

The culture of hazing is back in the national spotlight after charges were filed against 13 people in connection with the hazing death of a Florida A&M University student. Florida has one of the toughest anti-hazing laws in the country, but legal experts say prosecuting the crime is tricky.

Report: Law Schools Share Blame For Unemployment Among Recent Grads

By Sacha Pfeiffer

BOSTON — A new report by the Mass Bar Association says fundamental failings in how law schools educate their students have contributed to high rates of unemployment among recent law school graduates.

Video: Google’s Schmidt Speaks At BU Commencement

By The WBUR Newsroom

Google Chairman Eric Schmidt told Boston University graduates to be “an adorer of life.”

Waltham Nonprofit Helping Facebook Find Cyberbullying Solutions

By Bob Oakes

BOSTON — Education Development Center is one of four organizations worldwide that was awarded a grant from Facebook to study cyberbullying.

MIT Names New President

By Curt Nickisch
L. Rafael Reif smiles as he addresses a news conference after he was announced as the 17th president of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology on Wednesday. (AP)

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — Rafael Reif was born in Venezuela to Eastern European emigrants. He grew up in a household that spoke Spanish and Yiddish. Now, the 61-year-old married father of two will be MIT’s first Latin American president.

MIT Names Provost Reif Its New President

By Benjamin Swasey
L. Rafael Reif smiles as he addresses a news conference after he was announced as the 17th president of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology on Wednesday. (AP)

BOSTON — L. Rafael Reif, a 61-year-old electrical engineer, has been provost at MIT for seven years.

BPS Faces Criticism For Lack Of Minority Teachers

By Delores Handy

BOSTON — The Boston Public Schools is coming under growing pressure to come back in compliance wtih a long-standing court order regarding the hiring of minority teachers.

UMass President Seeks A Satellite Campus By Next Year

By Benjamin Swasey

BOSTON — The president of the university system signaled support for the creation of “at least one” satellite campus elsewhere in the state by 2013.

‘No One Ever Told Us That’: Advice For Your Life And Your Wallet

By Bob Oakes

BOSTON — Boston-based writer and financial advisor John Spooner says he wrote his new book after a college student said no one had ever told her about basic financial principles.

Under Initiative, More Students Flourish In AP Courses

By Monica Brady-Myerov
Students work together in an AP math class at Brighton High School. (WBUR/Monica Brady-Myerov)

BOSTON — A program in Massachusetts has more than doubled the number of high school students who receive college credit-eligible scores on Advanced Placement math, science and English exams.

Spoof Student Paper Draws Criticism At UMass Lowell

By Benjamin Swasey

BOSTON — A year-end spoof issue went too far, say school administrators and many UMass Lowell students.

Mass. 8th-Graders Finish 2nd In Science Exam

By Benjamin Swasey

Just 44 percent of Massachusetts eighth-graders scored “proficient” or above. But the national average was 31 percent.

Family Petitions To End School’s Shock Treatments

By Benjamin Swasey

A family that settled a lawsuit against a Canton school for disabled children that offers skin shock treatment has organized a petition to end the controversial therapy.

Alum Gives BC, BC High A Total Of $27M

By Benjamin Swasey

BOSTON — Patrick Cadigan, 77, is donating $15 million to Boston College and $12 million to Boston College High School.

Citing High Demand, State Lifts Charter School Moratorium

By Bob Oakes

BOSTON — Amid growing demand for seats, state education officials are lifting a temporary moratorium on new charter school applications in certain locations in Massachusetts.

Harvard, MFA Unveil Virtual 3D Tour Of Ancient Egyptian Pyramids

By Sacha Pfeiffer
From right to left: Peter Der Manuelian, Harvard Egyptologist; Sacha Pfeiffer, WBUR; Mehdi Tayoubi, Dassault Systemes; Maggie Geoga, Harvard student, in the Harvard University Visualization Center, known as the 'cave.' (Lynn Jolicoeur/WBUR)

Harvard, the MFA and a Waltham 3D company have created a virtual tour of the ancient pyramids of Egypt.

At NU, Powell Kicks Off Area Commencement Speeches

By Benjamin Swasey
Northeastern University commencement, at Boston's TD Garden (sferranti/Instagram)

On Friday, former Secretary of State Gen. Colin Powell delivered the Northeastern University commencement address, kicking off the season. Here’s a partial list of local commencements.

UMass Law Moves Toward Full Accreditation

By Benjamin Swasey

BOSTON — The American Bar Association has recommended that the University of Massachusetts Law School be granted provisional approval.

Report: 6 Local College Suicides This School Year

By Benjamin Swasey

A student suicide at Boston College this weekend was the sixth in Cambridge and Boston this academic year.

Harvard, MIT: Free Online Courses Will Also Enhance On-Campus Learning

By Monica Brady-Myerov
Harvard President Drew Gilpin Faust, left, and MIT President Susan Hockfield announcing the creation of edX, Wednesday.  (Courtesy Katie Broida)

BOSTON — Harvard and MIT will spend $60 million to develop an online education program that will offer free courses from the two institutions.

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