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What We’re Reading: Week of January 24, 2022

January 29, 2022

Happy Friday! We’re excited to share a piece in EdSource from Linked Learning Alliance’s President and CEO Anne Stanton on Governor Newsom’s proposed investments in college and career preparation and workforce readiness. We also round up articles on CSU’s decision to drop standardized testing from its admissions process, coverage of Education Secretary Miguel Cardona’s recently announced K-12 priorities, and COVID-19’s impact on California high schoolers’ FAFSA completion. Thanks for reading with us!


Linked Learning in the News
Newsom's education budget is opportunity for California’s workforce talent supply, EdSource
Linked Learning Alliance President & CEO Anne Stanton writes that for the governor’s investment strategy to truly support students and communities, we must ensure that college and career pathways are available to the majority of California’s students and that they are implemented in tandem with K-12, higher education, and workforce readiness initiatives to provide seamless transitions and accelerated experiences that lead to good jobs.


Assessment
California State University prepares to drop SATs and ACTs, Associated Press
California State University is poised to eliminate SAT and ACT standardized tests from its undergraduate admissions process, following a trend in higher education over concerns that the exams are unfair to minority and low-income students.


COVID-19
Covid blamed as fewer California high school students file FAFSA applications, EdSource
With applications for federal and state student aid lagging among California high school seniors, one school is optimistic that it can build on previous success and encourage its students to apply.


Higher Education
Drop in college enrollment threatens to cause long-term economic, social consequences, Washington Post
A sharp and persistent decline in the number of Americans going to college — down by nearly a million since the start of the pandemic, according to newly released figures, and by nearly 3 million over the last decade — could alter American society for the worse.

Workers without degrees take 30 years to catch up to peers' starting wages, nonprofit says, HR Dive
Employees who develop job-related skills through pathways other than a Bachelor's degree — such as military service, training programs, bootcamps or on-the-job learning — may take some 30 years to earn a starting wage equal to what college graduates make upon entering the workforce, according to a January report by nonprofit Opportunity at Work.


Policy
Secretary of Education Envisions Solutions that are Low-Tech, High-Touch, EdSurge
Cardona made several detailed recommendations for how schools might put federal pandemic-relief dollars to use to ensure that more students can thrive—especially as many children struggle to adjust to the social-emotional and academic challenges the pandemic either created or worsened.


Work-Based Learning
Apprenticeships increase employment, earnings, and optimism in the technology sector, Brookings Institution
LaunchCode, an organization based in St. Louis, combined its education program with an apprenticeship program in an effort to create a more efficient and equitable transition to the labor market, as students learn new skills and then apply them with a local employer.