ethanporcaro/eric-fulltext-meta huggingface dataset:
The Admission Industrial Complex: Examining the Entrepreneurial Impact on College Access
Author: Liu, Amy
Date: 2011-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: College Bound Students,College Admission,Entrepreneurship,College Preparation,Test Preparation,Tutoring,Admissions Counseling,Mass Media Use,Access to Information,Access to Education,College Applicants,Enrollment Management,Student Financial Aid,Essays,Coaching (Performance),Tourism,Disadvantaged

The entrepreneurial admission sector is comprised of commercial enterprises aimed at helping students increase their odds of admission, as well as providing general college information to the masses. As for-profit entities, a goal of companies in this sector is to maximize revenue and profit. Existing research identifies four main activities as making up the entrepreneurial realm: (1) standardized test preparation (test prep) and tutoring; (2) private college counseling; (3) mass media informational resources; and (4) institutional enrollment marketing and management (McDonough, Ventresca and Outcalt 2000). The purpose of this article is to build on previous scholarship by highlighting some of the arguments for why this sector creates the potential to perpetuate the already unequal playing field of higher education participation. It then offers considerations for how three additional areas--student financial services, packaged and customized college tours, and essay coaching--contribute to the inequity. It also provides an account of the big business revenue of these myriad activities. In doing so, it adds to the discussion of how corporations capitalize on the perception of "defensive necessity," thereby escalating the commercial incursion on college access. (Contains 3 footnotes.)
College Admission in a Contested Marketplace: The 20th Century and a New Logic for Access
Author: Kimball, Ezekiel
Date: 2011-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: College Admission,Educational History,Consumer Economics,Role of Education,Higher Education,Student Recruitment,Competition,Student Financial Aid,Educational Trends,Credit (Finance),Government Role,Access to Education,Educational Legislation,Politics of Education

The premise of this work is simple: the history of college admission since World War II is a consumer history. The way in which this history unfolds is far more complex. College admission is a contested good. It is simultaneously a consumable good (students purchase a college education for personal and familial reasons) and a social good (various governments and eleemosynary organizations pursue a variety of funding strategies to achieve desired enrollment patterns for specific social ends). In this same market, however, colleges are at once producer and consumer. They are producers in the sense that they offer the college education that students consume. Yet, the colleges are consumers when they compete against one another for students--a scarce input (particularly when speaking of highly-talented students) that allows the college to compete in secondary markets tied to prestige. In this formulation of the market, students have increasingly come to see themselves as producers who can package their saleable product (their future academic and professional selves) in order to achieve optimal outcomes. Likewise, while government and eleemosynary organizations can be thought of as consumers when they act to achieve specific social ends, they are also producers who sometimes benefit from the sale of things like student loans, the marketing of college preparation products and the administration of standardized tests. The process of college admission thus exists in a highly-contested marketplace. Given the complexity of the marketplace, the way in which assumptions about college admission are articulated through government policy becomes particularly important. Further, given that much of the government aid provided to students historically has come from student loans, the history of college admission since World War II is inextricably linked to the growth of a credit culture. To a very real extent, it is the profound influence of the credit culture and not government action that has created the modern admission marketplace. (Contains 1 figure and 13 footnotes.)
Gay Students: The Latest Outreach Target at Many Colleges
Author: Young, Amanda
Date: 2011-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Homosexuality,College Students,Student Diversity,Educational Environment,Outreach Programs,Student Needs,Sexual Orientation,Social Support Groups,College Choice

Today's colleges strive for diversity in order to enrich students' personal development, perspectives, and real-world knowledge. While colleges have been trying to recruit students of different races for decades, they are now expanding their perspective of what true diversity entails. LGBT students, due to their orientation, often have different hopes and struggles and a unique outlook on the world which can contribute to college life. Many schools are now addressing this demographic directly. For example, Dartmouth College (NH) added LGBT community and/or gender identity to the possible interests applicants can check off on its application supplement two admission seasons ago. Outreach does not end when students are admitted to college. Rather, universities aim to convince the students to matriculate. At the University of Pennsylvania, admission officers flag admits who write about coming out in their admission essays, are active members of their high school gay-straight alliances or otherwise mention their sexual identity in the application. Just as schools don't admit solely on LGBT self-identification, students don't choose schools solely on their LGBT services and sensitivity. However, many schools are working to create a comfortable and accepting environment for the LGBT students they do admit.
Consumption, a Modern Affliction: Branding Culture, Youth Identity and College Admission
Author: Tokuhama, Chris
Date: 2011-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: College Admission,Marketing,Advertising,Youth,College Applicants,Consumer Economics,Guidelines,Merchandise Information,Social Networks,Advantaged

In order to understand the effects that consumer culture may have on modern youth, this article first traces a brief history of branding in the United States throughout the 20th Century to develop a context and precedent for the argument that the current generation of students applying to college has developed in a society saturated with branding, marketing and advertising. This environment has, in turn, allowed youth to conceptualize themselves as brands and to think of their projected images in terms of brand management. This article will then address the commoditization of the college applicant by examining the confluence of branding, society and the admission process. Looking at how and why branding affects modern culture, the article suggests that admission officers can unconsciously encourage students' dependence on the paradigm of branding (and its associated vocabulary) as they themselves come to rely on the ability of the framework created by branding culture to activate networks of associations that, in turn, further aid in readily understanding and conceptualizing applicants. To this end, the cognitive organizational function of branding as a type of narrative structure is explored. Further supporting this position, the article argues that latent biases in the college application process may also help to reinforce the high/low culture dichotomy by privileging particular kinds of actions and experiences over others. A trickle-down effect then encourages youth applying to college to adopt the language of branding in order to present themselves as ideal candidates for particular institutions, thus consecrating the importance of branding in the bidirectional relationship between students and institutions. (Contains 5 endnotes.)
SBOs Share Their Thoughts: Essential Technical and Leadership Skills
Author: McClain, E. Glenn, Jr.
Date: 2009-01-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Leadership Qualities,Accountability,Skill Analysis,School Surveys,Administrator Attitudes,Standards,School Business Officials

As an important cabinet-level position that reports directly to the superintendent and board of education, the school business official (SBO) often holds the second most powerful position in the district. Along with calls for fiscal and educational accountability, this elevated stature underscores the need for business officials to have leadership skills to complement their critical technical skills. To better understand the leadership skills that today's SBOs need in their evolving role, the authors surveyed hundreds of ASBO members. Clearly, SBOs agree that budget, financial resource management, administration, and compliance are the most essential skills. Based on the results of this survey, the authors conclude that SBOs view technical skills as more essential than leadership skills in their position. (Contains 4 tables.)
Do You Have Their Support? How to Make Informed Decisions Using Focus Groups
Author: Brent, Brian O.
Date: 2009-01-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Focus Groups,Disabilities,Decision Making,Stakeholders,Questioning Techniques,Listening Skills,Data Collection,Data Analysis

The authors spend their days making decisions. Often, the consequences of their choices seemingly affect only a handful of stakeholders. Regrettably, when they rely on a scattershot approach to gauging stakeholders' opinions, they often find themselves off the mark. Perhaps, they give too much credence to "squeaky wheels" even though their views do not represent other stakeholders. How can one better predict how various stakeholders will react to proposed district actions? The authors suggest using a well-planned series of questions in a nonthreatening environment when asking the stakeholders. They call this process conducting a focus group. This article describes how to make informed decisions using focus groups. Eliciting "useful" information from stakeholders involves thoughtful questioning and listening--skills that are a bit more complicated than one might think.
What Does Average Really Mean? Making Sense of Statistics
Author: DeAngelis, Karen J.
Date: 2009-01-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Statistics,School Business Officials,Statistical Studies,Data Analysis,Leadership Training,Measurement Techniques,Evaluation Utilization,Information Utilization,Inferences,Basic Skills

The recent shift toward greater accountability has put many educational leaders in a position where they are expected to collect and use increasing amounts of data to inform their decision making. Yet, because many programs that prepare administrators, including school business officials, do not require a statistics course or a course that is more theoretical than practical, administrators tend to have only limited knowledge of how to analyze, interpret, and use their data. This article provides a user-friendly primer on basic statistics and how one can use them to make sense of his/her data. (Contains 1 figure.)
Turning the Tide: Anatomy of a Successful School Tax Increase Vote
Author: Zeman, Gail M.
Date: 2009-01-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: School Administration,Public Education,Educational Finance,Voting,Tax Effort,Budgets,Budgeting,Educational Equity (Finance),Politics of Education,School District Wealth,School Budget Elections

Ipswich, with about 2,200 students, is one of the many school districts in Massachusetts. Ipswich is governed by an open town meeting at which every registered voter may speak and vote. Budgets in Ipswich are highly detailed public documents in which every salary, classroom, and operating expenditure is identified. The budget book provides overviews, summaries, charts, and analyses, as well as plenty of information for individuals to argue for or against. Citizens began to become aware of the crisis as budget details were explained and publicized at televised meetings and in the press. The school administration spelled out clearly what would be lost. Soon, a core group of parents and businesspeople brought forth a call for &quot;override&quot; and the school committee agreed, though recent history suggested it would be unsuccessful. Meanwhile, like towns and cities everywhere that want to support their children, Ipswich is waiting and working for a permanent solution to the long-term problem: the cost of public education as currently delivered exceeds the available resources to support it. (Contains 3 tables.)
To Block or Not to Block? The Complicated Territory of Social Networking
Author: McVey, Michael
Date: 2009-01-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Foreign Countries,Social Networks,Internet,Computer Uses in Education,Privacy,Educational Technology,Computer Mediated Communication,School Districts,Web Sites

Online social networking is more than just a passing fad; it's a phenomenon that unifies people of all ages across the Internet and around the world. The most popular social networking sites are Facebook and MySpace--both founded in the United States. However, the United States does not have a corner on the market. Hi-5 is rooted in Asia, Skyrock in France, and LinkedIn in the United Kingdom. Such applications may be valuable to educators attempting to network and reach out to a larger community, but they should be aware that they can and should adjust their privacy settings so details of their profiles are available only to those whom they invite. With hundreds of millions of users of social networking sites, there is a new and overwhelming pressure to begin unblocking server ports. There are valid networking sites with a role to play during school hours. White-label Websites have been particularly helpful for schools wishing to enhance communication with parents or the broader community. It would be more valuable and set a better precedent for emerging tools and applications if districts took a proactive stance and educated students and employees on the power of this social networking reality.
Leadership, History, Insights: Battlefield and Naval Academy Perspectives Change the Way School Business Officials Lead
Author: Verardi, Nicole
Date: 2009-01-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: School Business Officials,Public Education,Professional Development,Program Descriptions,Program Content,Case Method (Teaching Technique),Leadership Training,Organizational Change

More than 40 school business officials honed their skills as leaders in education by participating in the 2008 Eagle Institute held July 31-August 1 in Annapolis, Maryland. Association of School Business Officials International's (ASBO) Eagle Institute is a tremendous learning forum to foster growth among rising leaders in public education. Led by Jeff McCausland, this group of esteemed professionals and emerging leaders began with Leadership 101, exploring what it means to be a leader. Then, attendees traveled to the Antietam Battlefield in Mary land to experience September 17, 1862, the bloodiest day in American history. Colonel Tom Vossler, U.S. Army (Ret.), brought to life the thunderous cannons, smoky air, and bravery of the day, while McCausland related the leadership challenges to the everyday work of school business officials. In this article, the author describes some lessons from the battlefield and discusses leadership from a naval perspective. She also discusses how battlefield and naval academy perspectives change the way school business officials lead.
ASBO at 100: A Supreme Court Retrospective on Equal Educational Opportunities
Author: Russo, Charles J.
Date: 2009-01-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Equal Education,School Desegregation,Elementary Secondary Education,Educational Finance,Court Litigation,Educational Opportunities,Accessibility (for Disabled),Minority Groups,Literature Reviews,Educational History

The Supreme Court has played a crucial role in shaping education over ASBO International's first century of existence. Accordingly, this column, the first of two on the Supreme Court and education, inaugurates ASBO's centennial year with a retrospective look at key cases that were litigated in K-12 school settings around the issue of equal educational opportunities. In light of the role that the Supreme Court has assumed in shaping American education, this column reviews key cases dealing with equal educational opportunities since the line of cases beginning with "Brown" set the tone for much that has occurred in its wake. After highlighting the Court's major rulings on school desegregation, the column briefly reviews its only case on school finance because funding plays a major role in seeking to provide equal educational opportunities for children. The final part of the article examines the Court's litigation on equal educational opportunities for females and students with disabilities.
When Disaster Strikes: How School Facilities Can Cope with the Unthinkable
Author: Dufresne, Ray
Date: 2009-02-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Reaction Time,School Buildings,Coping,Emergency Programs,Planning,Access to Information,Educational Facilities,Natural Disasters

In the wake of a major disaster, damage assessment can be particularly challenging for organizations with dozens or even hundreds of affected properties. Those with well-documented information about predisaster facility conditions can more readily pinpoint those facilities that are at the greatest risk of damage and to determine how to prioritize the assessment process. In the past, a comprehensive and well-organized plan room was considered a best-in-class approach to supporting the operations team in its disaster response. However, if such a plan room is damaged in the disaster, the organization's ability to respond effectively can be significantly impaired and the loss of data can be crippling. Today, best practices dictate that critical information be stored electronically in multiple locations to minimize the effect of a single event. For school systems, having accurate information along with an established centralized system can increase response time and truly affect the days, weeks, and even months following a disaster. From minimizing the interruption of classroom time to construction dollars saved, having a handle on the asset portfolio is the first major step in being prepared to respond.
The Public School Infrastructure Problem: Deteriorating Buildings and Deferred Maintenance
Author: Hunter, Richard C.
Date: 2009-02-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Public Schools,Facility Planning,School Maintenance,School Buildings,Financial Support,Urban Schools,Educational Facilities Improvement,Long Range Planning

The deterioration of public school buildings is more prevalent in large cities that, because of funding shortfalls, have deferred maintenance and require huge sums to bring their buildings up to acceptable standards. Cities such as New York will require approximately $680 million to address the problem of deferred maintenance for needed painting, roofing, and exterior brickwork or tuck-pointing. Jonathan Kozol (1991) has presented stark contrasts in the condition of school facilities and the overall system of school funding in the American public educational system, particularly urban versus suburban schools. To illustrate this point, a study of the public schools in Washington, D.C., indicated that only 10% of the 137 schools in the District of Columbia were in good condition and 75% were in poor condition (DC Voice Ready Schools Project 2007). In this article, the author presents two case studies that grew out of his professional experiences in facility planning and efforts to address the deteriorating condition of urban public school facilities.
Cleaning up: Battling Germs in School Facilities
Author: Gerba, Charles P.
Date: 2009-02-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Disease Control,Sanitation,Hygiene,Educational Facilities,Health Care Costs,Program Effectiveness,Educational Environment,Prevention,Child Health,Attendance,Health Promotion

Every school year, parents, teachers, and administrators must deal with an overwhelming number of sick children. In fact, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the average child catches at least eight colds a year, and kids in the United States miss as many as 189 million school days annually due to colds. Good hygiene practices, such as hand washing and using hand sanitizers, along with proper cleaning of school environments, can significantly reduce the number of infections each year and keep teachers and students in the classrooms. The benefits of good hygiene and proper cleaning can be a hard sell because they are not clearly visible in the short term. However, the benefits for the students are huge in reduced absenteeism and reduced health care costs.
Computers and the Environment: Minimizing the Carbon Footprint
Author: Kaestner, Rich
Date: 2009-02-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Computers,Natural Resources,Energy Conservation,Recycling,Conservation (Environment),Purchasing

Computers can be good and bad for the environment; one can maximize the good and minimize the bad. When dealing with environmental issues, it's difficult to ignore the computing infrastructure. With an operations carbon footprint equal to the airline industry's, computer energy use is only part of the problem; everyone is also dealing with the use of natural resources in manufacturing and disposal issues. The life cycle of computers--from their manufacture and operation to their disposal--negatively affects the environment. However, their negative effects can be minimized, and this same technology can be used to reduce waste in other areas. To better understand what can be done to reduce the computer carbon footprint at a school or district level, this article discusses options for purchase, energy use, and disposal, followed by some ideas on using computers to reduce waste.
From Workstation to Classroom with the Click of a Mouse
Author: Gay, Rick
Date: 2009-02-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Internet,School Business Officials,Web Sites,Purchasing,Costs,Educational Finance,Access to Information

Since July 2007, members of the Association of School Business Officials of Maryland and the District of Columbia have been able to shop for school and curriculum-related supplies through the ASBO MD/DC Web-based shopping platform. This shopping platform comprises 35 catalogs with more than 450,000 line items offered by 225 vendors. ASBO MD/DC's vision is to provide a mechanism for all schools to access these price-advantaged contracts via a robust Internet online shopping site. The shopping platform is designed to harness the self-service power of the Internet, enabling users to purchase online from prenegotiated contracts and supplier catalogs. The shopping platform can eliminate the backlog in purchasing and accounts payable and can reduce the time needed for order processing and payment. The system also eliminates the practice of placing large orders at the beginning and end of each school year. Using the ASBO MD/DC site could potentially be a one-stop shop across the state for teachers and parents to get what they need for the classroom while substantially reducing their out-of-pocket costs and eliminating the time and expense of going to multiple stores.