A new study has been released showing that high jobless rates in major cities across the country may correspond to poor education. Another factor revealed showed that cities hit hard by the housing crisis have larger gaps between workers’ actual education and the required education level of most job listings.

The study was conducted by the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C. Calculations were completed by senior research associate Jonathan Rothwell, and included online jobs posted between 2006 and 2012.

Rothwell looked at the average number of years required for jobs in 100 metro areas and compared that with the education level of those respective populations. The most narrow education gaps were found in locations with highly-skilled workers such as Raleigh, North Carolina, and Washington, D.C. – both boasting gaps of 2 percent or less.

“Narrowing the education gap is particularly important for improving the long-term health of metropolitan economies,” Rothwell told Forbes in a recent interview. “Metro areas with wide education gaps have higher unemployment, but metro areas with narrow education gaps have lower unemployment, more job creation and more job openings.” Read the rest of this entry »

The recent documentary on CNBC, 20 Under 20: Transforming Tomorrow program, highlights an exciting shift in technology and education and it’s creating quite a stir. This program started when a visionary from Silicon Valley named Peter Thiel decided to undergo a search for the next generation of entrepreneurs. Mr. Thiel started a fellowship program where he offers the winning fellows $100,000 to drop out of college to pursue cutting edge business and technology opportunities.

The documentary tells the stories of the young men and women who are competing for the coveted prize. The most notable requirement of this program is that in order to become a Thiel Fellow you must walk away from your education to focus on entrepreneurship full time. There’s no secret that many successful entrepreneurs abandoned college to work on their passion full time. People like Michael Dell of Dell Computers, Mary Kay Ash of Mary Kay Cosmetics, Walt Disney, Henry Ford of Ford Motor Company, Steve Jobs and Bill Gates are just a few super successful examples who dropped out of school.

Some major breakthrough ideas are in the forefront and presented by finalists competing to become Thiel Fellows. The winning Thiel Fellows include Connor Zwick, who left Harvard behind to revolutionize America’s education system, Noor Siddiqui, who plans to lift one billion people out of poverty, and Tony Ho and Anand Gupta who think they’ve found a way to help doctors catch cancer before it’s too late. Read the rest of this entry »

Stay in school. Get an education. Knowledge is power. All of these phrases are instilled in children from preschool on. It’s great advice and can definitely lead to some smart choices in life. But now it’s been found that getting more education can not only improve your life, but make it last a little longer.

A study published in the August issue of Health Affairs shows that the life expectancy of those who are poor and less educated has increased only slightly over the past several decades. The research also shows that in some cases, the life expectancy for those who don’t finish high school is getting shorter. Within this study, the researchers examined the trends in life expectancy from 1990 through 2008 paying special attention to how someone’s age, sex, race and education affected their longevity.

Lead author of the study Jay Olshansky stated in a news release, “There are essentially two Americas. The most highly educated white men live about 14 years longer than the least-educated black men. The least-educated black women live about 10 years less than the most-educated white women.” Read the rest of this entry »

Florida’s education commissioner Gerard Robinson announced his resignation and will leave his post by August 31 of this year. This news comes amid a lot of controversy in Florida surrounding some issues with the state’s standardized test-based accountability system. Robinson has only been in office for a year after being recruited from Virginia where he served as education secretary.

Although the reason cited for Robinson’s resignation is that he missed his family that never relocated to Florida with him, many suspect that he was the fall guy for several scandals associated with the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test exams, or the FCAT. Some may be thinking that if Robinson is gone the suspicion around the testing scandal will quietly fade away with him. Read the rest of this entry »

President Obama announced that he will be creating a new education initiative targeted to improving the achievement levels of African Americans in education. While in New Orleans giving a speech to the Urban League, the president stated that he would sign an order putting the White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for African Americans into place.

This new educational initiative “works to make sure that all African American students can receive an education that fully prepares them for high school graduation, college completion and productive careers,” Obama said.

This initiative will be work with the Executive Office of the President and cabinet agencies to identify evidence-based practices to improve African American students’ achievement in school and coll,ege. The White House stated that this initiative will also work to “develop a national network of individuals, organizations and communities that will share and implement these practices.” The goal of this initiative will be to ensure that African American students have the same opportunities as other students. Read the rest of this entry »

Those taking the G.E.D test may soon have another option for completing the exam. Major education testing company Pearson has teamed up with the American Council on Education to create a computer based G.E.D test. This test will be aligned with the Common Core State Standards. This new business will keep using the G.E.D testing service name and the new computer based G.E.D test will not be available until 2014.

Fortunately for those in Florida, California, Georgia and Texas, they will have an opportunity to start using the computer based test as early as this spring. Official testing centers in these states will offer the new test. Each year approximately 800,000 people complete their G.E.D. and over 470,000 people earn their high school equivalency.

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An announcement has been made that the Malaysian government and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology are set to offer a new research center.

This new education center will offer supply-chain education and will be located in Shah Alam which is outside of Kuala Lumpur. The Malaysia Institute of Supply Chain Innovation is set to be modeled from a program that is offered at M.I.T. and will be open to students in the spring of 2012.

The first degree available will be a master’s degree in supply chain management and logistics. Eventually a doctoral program will be instituted as well as professional courses for executives.

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Irregularities in public school test scores are set to be investigated by the District of Columbia’s Board of Education. The tests showed an unusually high rate of erasures- answers being erased and changed from wrong to right.

Former chancellor Michelle Rhee defended the integrity of the tests. She claims that the test scores are real and the investigation insults the dedication of teachers and children that worked hard to improve their academic achievement levels.

USA Today held its own investigation that lasted several months. During this investigation, 103 public schools in Washington, D.C. showed a high number of answers that had been changed from wrong to right. USA Today found that since 2008, more than half of the schools in D.C. were flagged for having high erasure rates with answers being changed to the correct ones. In one school, the erasures in one class were so high, the odds of winning the Powerball lottery were better than the erasures occurring by chance.

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Going to college is considered a rite of passage for most people. Students often can’t wait to leave home and enjoy living on their own as adults. While college is all about education, there are some life skills that are needed to make your college life bearable.

College students are known for having to live on very little funds due to their class load and being away from home. Many students don’t work so there is very little disposable income to go around. Below are some tips to make college life much more affordable. Minimizing your expenses can go a long way in having a good college experience. It will also help you avoid the temptation of borrowing money through student loans for necessities. Try out some or all of these ideas to maximize your dollar.

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As an upcoming high school senior, you may be thinking ahead to college. There are a lot of different things to do and dates to have on your calendar. For those that plan to continue their education beyond high school, several things must be done so that you are properly prepared for your freshman year of college. Making a list and prioritizing it by deadline is a helpful way to make sure that everything is taken care of in plenty of time so that you can have things lined up and enjoy your last year of high school. A little bit of planning now will ensure that you have nothing to worry about later. Below are a few things to keep in mind so that no deadlines are missed.

FAFSA: The FAFSA, or Free Application for Federal Student Aid, for the academic year of 2012-2013 is not currently available, but it will be on January 1, 2012. You only need to file once for each academic year and filing early is always best. The deadline for the 2012-2013 academic year will be June 30, 2013. Receiving free money like government grants can truly depend on how early you file, so keep that January 1 date in mind.  Once those government grants are gone, the only options available for federally funding your education would be student loans or work study programs. When filling out the FAFSA, you will need your parents’ tax and income information for 2011 and you can choose what schools you want your award information sent to. You can pick several schools to receive this information, which is helpful if you haven’t picked your college when you start filling out your FAFSA.

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