One State’s Long Road Toward Teacher Diversity
Trisha Powell Crain | AL.com
While evidence shows a diverse teacher workforce can benefit all students, researchers are finding just how important it is for black students to have black teachers.
But that's not always easy to accomplish in Alabama. Ten school systems in North Alabama have no black classroom teachers.
"It's essential that we diversify the workforce," said Dr. Barbara Cooper, Alabama's chief academic officer, referring to studies demonstrating the positive impact black teachers can have for black students, including reducing the likelihood of being suspended or expelled, possibly due to a better understanding of the lives of black students that nonblack teachers might not have.
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Why are Texas Schools Losing International Applicants?
Lindsay Ellis | Houston Chronicle
Students from India, China, Iran and other countries have long flocked to Texas campuses to work with top professors and to earn a prestigious American degree.
But this year, those students appear to be less enamored by the Lone Star State.
International applications to Texas' four-year public universities have plummeted over the past year by at least 10,000, a 12.5 percent decrease from last fall, according to a Houston Chronicle review of university data. ...
Several factors are likely causing foreign students to look elsewhere, analysts and campus administrators say, noting a sluggish global economy and greater competition from other countries. Still, many bluntly point to President Donald Trump's anti-immigrant rhetoric as significant, saying it is creating an unwelcoming environment.
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The Politics of Studying Bluegrass in College
Nick Roll | Inside Higher Ed
Bluegrass music has its roots in rural Appalachia. In recent years, however, its growing popularity has also helped bring it to the classroom, prompting debate and discussion about its origins and those who are taking it into the mainstream, both via the lecture hall and the concert stage.
“Do the available opportunities represent real choices for students, or are they more effective marketing as colleges seek to recruit adolescents burning with a fever to succeed in music?”
“Does a college degree function to offer more choices or narrow opportunities?”
Those are some of the questions raised by Ted Lehmann, well-known in the bluegrass world for his writing and blogging on music, in a recent post on the roots-music website No Depression. …
To be clear, Lehmann isn’t saying that roots musicians who receive an education are worse off or can’t improvise, but rather that the changing educational environment around bluegrass, and a lack of awareness of the class and social gaps in the bluegrass music community, could lead to a change in the music.
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How Goofing Off Helps Kids Learn