1. Data drives change.
This press release is less of the traditional type article that we share in our weekly roundups, but just as important to be aware of since it’s a great example of the change driving that’s possible for a discipline when their professional association has data around enrollment trends and the needs of the future workforce. We partner with PAEA to power CASPA and through it, the association has been able to collect data needed to make a case for PAs through legislation like this that’s been introduced by Rep. Karen Bass.
2. Diversity-promoting laws — do they work?
The Texas top 10 percent college admissions rule was created to help the Lonestar State’s public universities build more diverse classes, but is it working? This piece offers one take on the law, which was approved 20 years ago this month.
3. Follow the leader(s).
American colleges are obsessed with leaders — finding them, recruiting them and graduating them. But is a class full of “leaders” truly diverse? This Atlantic article explores the answer to this question and the value of diversity in interpersonal approaches.
4. Bernie, your dreams are coming true.
Three states and one city have enacted measures to offer tuition-free college in the past two years. Lawmakers in other places across the country are considering similar programs. This CNN article covers the details of where this approach is working to increase access to higher education and where it’s not.
Recommended Reading
Inventing the Mathematician: Gender, Race, and Our Cultural Understanding of Mathematics
Do they have a copy at your local library? WorldCat will tell you.
Math’s not just for male, white, relentlessly objective people — so why does it seem like they’re the only ones who can excel at it? Author Sara N. Hottinger deconstructs individual and cultural ideas about math in order to reinvent them in a more inclusive fashion in this title, making the argument that everyone can do mathematics.