All posts by Mary Stegmeir

Admitted writer/editor Mary Stegmeir welcomes additional comments and story ideas at mstegmeir@nacacnet.org.

A New Way to Measure Student Success

iStock

Could a video game ever replace standardized testing’s role in college admission?

Enter 27-year-old Rebecca Kantar and Imbellus Inc., her start-up that aims to reinvent testing.

Imbellus wasn’t started with the recent bribery scandal in mind, but Kantar told Bloomberg Businessweek that it is “cheatproof.”

Continue reading A New Way to Measure Student Success →

Registration Now Open for 40th Annual Guiding the Way to Inclusion

Register now for NACAC’s 40th Annual Guiding the Way to Inclusion and join hundreds of professionals responsible for multicultural recruiting, increasing access to higher education, and creating campuses strengthened by students with diverse backgrounds and perspectives.

The workshop will be held in Fort Lauderdale, FL on July 28-31.

Continue reading Registration Now Open for 40th Annual Guiding the Way to Inclusion →

Author: ‘Bias Toward Privilege’ Prevalent on College Campuses

Colleges and universities are working to recruit more diverse populations. But a new book finds that these marginalized populations often don’t have the resources and support they need as they work toward a degree.

“There’s a difference between access and inclusion,” explains Anthony Abraham Jack, author of the new book The Privileged Poor: How Elite Colleges Are Failing Disadvantaged Students.

“Universities have extended invitations to more and more diverse sets of students but have not changed their ways to adapt to who is on campus.”

Continue reading Author: ‘Bias Toward Privilege’ Prevalent on College Campuses →

NACAC Discusses Bribery Scandal in New Podcast

The Phi Beta Kappa Society hosted a special extended episode of their Key Conversations podcast this week all about the bribery scandal.

Fred Lawrence, the secretary and CEO of Phi Beta Kappa, Andrew Flagel, a vice president at the American Association of Colleges and Universities, and David Hawkins, NACAC’s executive director for educational content and policy, spoke about the issues the recent scandal has brought to light.

Continue reading NACAC Discusses Bribery Scandal in New Podcast →

Effort Underway to Support Single Moms in College

iStock

A new effort to raise graduation rates for single moms enrolled in community college is officially underway.

Single moms are among the fastest growing populations on college campuses – more than 11 percent of college students – but only 28 percent of single moms graduate within six years.

Former second lady Jill Biden announced the Community College Women Succeed initiative in late February. The initiative will start with regional roundtables, actually talking with these single mothers, and building a support system from there.

Continue reading Effort Underway to Support Single Moms in College →

Report: Self-Advocacy Skills and Self-Determination Key for Students with Disabilities

iStock

All students participating in postsecondary education need effective self-advocacy and self-determination. However, it is even more essential for those with disabilities for obtain and utilize these skills.

According to a new brief from the National Center for Learning Disabilities, self-advocacy skills “include a person understanding themselves, their rights, and their needs, and communicating that understanding—leading to self-determination. Self-determination is a dispositional characteristic that enables a person to act in service of freely chosen goals and make or cause things to happen in their own life.”

Continue reading Report: Self-Advocacy Skills and Self-Determination Key for Students with Disabilities →

NACAC Briefs Congressional Committee After Bribery Scandal

Pictured: David Hawkins, NACAC’s executive director for educational content and policy, Daniel Saracino, retired dean of admission at Notre Dame (IN) and former NACAC president, and Mike Rose, NACAC’s director for government relations.

The recent bribery scandal has captured the attention of the media, the nation, and the US Congress.US Rep. Donna Shalala, a former president of the University of Miami (FL), hosted a Congressional briefing Thursday afternoon. The briefing was intended to inform members of the House Committee on Education and Labor and their staffs about the dynamics that led to the scandal, as well as broader concerns about access and equity in college admission.

Continue reading NACAC Briefs Congressional Committee After Bribery Scandal →