College Gazette, an online higher education magazine, has recognized Montana State University on its list of the top 10 public universities on the rise across the nation.

To compile the list, College Gazette chose schools that have made measurable strides over the past 20 years in a variety of areas, including their programs, student and alumni accomplishments, faculty accolades and research programs and expenditures.

In its write-up about MSU, College Gazette lauded MSU for a number of strengths, including impressive student scholarship, enrollment growth, notable research on the Yellowstone ecosystem, high research expenditures and new buildings on campus.

First, College Gazette wrote that MSU is a top producer of Goldwater Scholars, as well as a significant number of Rhodes and Truman Scholars. In April, four MSU undergraduates won the prestigious Goldwater Scholarship, the nations premier scholarship for undergraduates studying math, natural sciences and engineering.

Their scholarships pushed MSUs total number of Goldwater Scholars to 74; MSU is now tied for ninth in the nation for Goldwater recipients, ahead of Cornell University and Yale University, and ranks third among universities in the western U.S. behind Stanford and Caltech.

The online publication also discussed MSUs enrollment growth. The universitys enrollment and graduation and retention rates all are among the highest the university has seen in a generation. This falls enrollment of 16,766 students was the second highest in university history, and MSU is graduating more students in less time than at any point in modern history, allowing those graduates to begin their careers sooner and with less college debt.

Strong research expenditures also made the list. For the fiscal year that ended in June, MSUs research and contract expenditures from state, private and federal funding sources totaled $138.8 million. That marks a 9.5% increase over the previous years expenditures and the sixth year in a row that MSU research expenditures have topped $100 million.

The record year of expenditures came as MSU was again classified as R1 in the Carnegie Classification for very high research activity, making it one of only 131 universities nationwide in that category and the only one in the five-state region of Montana, Idaho, Wyoming and North and South Dakota and one of only two nationally also classified as Very High Undergraduate enrollment.

Additionally, on March 26-28, more than 4,000 university students from across the U.S. will visit MSU for the National Conference on Undergraduate Research. MSU has named the 2019-20 academic year the Year of Undergraduate Research to celebrate scientific discovery and creative activity on campus, in the Bozeman community and across Montana.

Finally, College Gazette wrote that MSU has added a number of facilities to its campus recently, including the impressive 40,000-square-foot Animal Biosciences Building. In recent years MSU has also added new residence halls and academic facilities, including Jabs Hall, home of the Jake Jabs College of Business and Entrepreneurship, and Norm Asbjornson Hall, home to classrooms, laboratories, the Norm Asbjornson College of Engineering and Honors College. MSUs new 25,000-square-foot, privately funded American Indian Hall is under construction and is slated to open in 2021.

Other universities included on College Gazettes list are Utah State University, Boise State University and Kansas State University.

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Online higher education magazine names MSU one of top 10 public universities on the rise - The Bozeman Daily Chronicle

Its been a tumultuous decade for Michigans K-12 education system.

From controversy over the Common Core standards, to funding issues, to expansion of charter schools and preschool programs, K-12 education has seen a number of changes.

Below are nine trends that helped define the past 10 years.

1. K-12 enrollment is falling.

In 2018-19, Michigans public schools had 1.45 million enrolled in grades K-12 compared to 1.58 million in 2009-10, a 8% drop and a continuation of a trend that began in fall 2003.

As a result of the states falling birth rate, Michigans public school enrollment hasnt been this low since the 1950s, according to U.S. Census data.

In 1950, Michigan had 1.3 million residents age 5 to 17 enrolled in school. By 1960, the Baby Boom pushed public-school enrollment to 1.6 million. Michigans public-school enrollment peaked at 2,182,885 in fall 1971.

Between 1975 to 2000, Michigan roughly averaged about 135,000 births a year. That meant the public school population was fairly stable into the early 2000s. When the number of births began to drop in 2001, school enrollment numbers soon followed. By 2018, the states K-12 enrollment had dropped 16% in 15 years.

And the end to that downturn is nowhere in sight. Since 2014, when this years kindergartners were born, the number of Michigan births has dropped another 4%, which means at least four more years of progressively smaller kindergartner classes coming in as larger cohorts of high schoolers graduate out.

2. Charter school enrollment is increasing.

Michigan opened its first charter schools in fall 1994, but there was a cap on the number for years. That changed in 2011, when then-Gov. Rick Snyder signed a bill lifting the cap, allowing for charter-school expansion.

In 2010-11, Michigan had 111,344 students in about 255 charter schools, about 8% of the public school population. In 2018-19, charter schools had 147,239 in 370 schools, about 10% of total public-school enrollment.

Charters remain controversial: Supporters say they provide much-needed options in public education. They say charters can be more innovative since their teachers arent unionized, and charters are uniquely positioned to offer specialized curriculums and serve niche populations.

Detractors say charter expansion doesnt make fiscal sense at a time when a declining birth rate means more schools are competing for fewer students every year.

Below is an interactive map that shows where charter students are enrolled, based on the county where their charter school is located. Michigan has 38 counties with no charter schools; those counties are shaded in gray.

Cyber schools can distort the number in northern Michigan; for instance, online programs in Manistee and Wexford counties enroll students from across the state.

Incidentally, if you click on a county, you compare charter enrollment in 2009-10 compared to 2018-19.

3. More children are in preschool.

Snyder also put more money into Michigans Great Start preschool program, doubling the number of slots available.

The Great Start Readiness Program provides free preschool to 4-year-olds from low- and moderate-income families. A family of four qualifies for the program if their income is under $78,000 a year.

In 2010-11, the state provided funding for about 30,000 half-day pre-K students. In 2019-20, it was about 64,000 half-day or 32,000 full-day slots.

4. Michigans high school graduation rate has improved amid stiffer high school graduation requirements.

The states high school graduation rate steadily improved over the decade: About 81% of those scheduled to graduate in 2018 graduated on time compared to 76% in 2010.

What makes that especially impressive: The trend occurred as Michigan implemented much stiffer high school graduation requirements.

For decades, Michigan school districts could largely set their own requirements for graduation. That changed with the Class of 2011, the first group that graduated under the Michigan Merit Curriculum, which standardized high school graduation requirements across the state.

Michigan students now must take four years each of math and English language arts, three years each of science and social studies, two years of a foreign language, and a year of physical education or health.

5. Whiplash over curriculum and testing changes.

The Michigan Merit Curriculum hasnt been the only the change imposed on Michigans K-12 educators over the past decade.

The state adopted Common Core standards in 2010, only to see years of controversy over that change. There also was the switch from the MEAP, or the Michigan Educational Assessment Program, to the online M-STEP, as the states standardized test for grades 3-8. The change from using the ACT to the SAT to assess high school juniors.

Yet another big reform is being implemented in fall 2020: This years third-graders will not transition to the fourth grade with some exemptions if they read a grade level behind on the states English language arts (ELA) assessment.

The state estimates are that more than 5,000 third graders statewide or 5 percent could be subject to retention.

6. The good news: Academic outcomes seen to be improving.

For all the hand-wringing about academic outcomes, they have improved over the past decade.

As previously mentioned, the percentage of students graduating high school within four years has increased from 76% for the Class of 2010 to 81% for the Class of 2018.

Also up: The percentage of high school juniors testing as fully college ready has increased from 16% for the Class of 2011, which took the ACT in spring 2010, to 34% for the Class of 2020, which took the SAT in spring 2019.

Meanwhile, Michigan fourth- and eighth-graders are scoring slightly higher on the National Assessment of Academic Progress, which is administered every two years to a representative sampling of students. The chart below compares the scores for the 2009 NAEP to the 2017 test.

Michigan's scores on the National Assessment of Educational Progress tests

7. Controversy over K-12 school financing.

Under a Republican governor and Legislature for most of the decade, K-12 educators have been vocal about their concerns that K-12 funding has lagged inflation while Republicans has pushed spending concerns such as the cost of health-care and retirement.

In 2010-11, the states minimum foundation grant was $7,146 per student compared to $7,811 in 2018-19, a 9.3% increase during a time span when the inflation rate was 16%. The minimum grant for this year increased to $8,111, the biggest dollar increase since 2001.

Including all funding sources, Michigans public schools spent $10,002 per student on operations in 2018-19, up 8% from $9,261 per student in 2010-11.

As funding has lagged inflation, schools have moved more non-instructional staff to third-party contractors, required staff to pay more for health care and retirement, and salaries have stagnated.

In 2010-11, the average salary for a Michigan teacher was $61,530. In 2017-18, the most recent number available, it was $61,908.

8. Teacher shortage has become a problem.

With stagnating salaries, rollbacks in benefits and more pressure to improve academic outcomes, long-time teachers are leaving the profession and fewer people are going into teaching, creating shortages in some areas.

Six out of 10 Michigan school districts started this school year without enough full-time teachers to fill their classrooms, according to a survey of Michigan school superintendents conducted by the Michigan Association of Superintendents and Administrators.

The survey, conducted the second week of September, found 518 classrooms in 178 school districts that did not have a full-time, certified teacher.

One reason: As Baby Boomers retire from teaching, there are fewer people to replace them. Enrollment in teacher prep programs at Michigan universities dropped 66 percent over seven years between 2009 and 2016, according to a report by the Citizens Research Council of Michigan.

The CRC report notes that teacher turnover those leaving the field permanently, or just for better opportunities in a different district is higher in Michigan than the rest of the country.

The share of the workforce that moved from one school to another increased from 9.5 percent in 2004-05 to 11.4 percent in 2016-17, more than 40 percent greater than the national figure (8.1 percent). Turnover is especially high in the states urban districts (24 percent) and among charter schools (37 percent), the report said.

9. The percentage of Michigan adults with a college degree has increased.

About 30% of Michigan adults age 25 and older had at least a bachelors degree in 2018, according to U.S. Census estimates. Thats up from 25% in 2010.

Driving that trend is younger adults. An estimated 28% of adults age 25 to 34 and 29% of those age 35 to 44 had a bachelors in 2010 compared to 34% and 35% respectively in 2018.

Related stories:

15 demographic trends that defined Michigan in the 2010s

7 economic trends of note over the past decade

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9 trends that helped define Michigan education in the 2010s - MLive.com

Many children in The T&D Region continue to live in poverty and fail to meet state education standards, according to data from the latest Kids Count study.

Considering a broad range of issues affecting children, including health care and education, Kids Count ranked South Carolina 39th in the nation in the well-being of its children. The state fell one spot from last years ranking.

While the nationwide report was released in June, Childrens Trust of South Carolina released its latest annual Kids Count child well-being county data in late fall.

The study ranks the states 46 counties on several indicators of child well-being across four domains: economic well-being, education, health and family and community.

Childrens Trust reported that a lack of significant improvements in poverty and education have hindered the states progress in improving child well-being.

This year we still continue to see about 70 percent of kids not meeting math and reading proficiency standards, which is very high. It really comes down to looking at our policies and seeing how we can ensure that a kid that lives in Bamberg is getting the same education as a kid that lives in Lexington County, said Dr. Aditi Srivastav Bussells, Childrens Trusts research and community impact manager.

That really requires us looking at how our schools are being supported. Are we able to recruit and retain a good workforce? Are there policies in place that can really help meet the needs of different types of students? Bussells said.

With data taken from the beginning of the 2015-16 school year, the latest county profiles indicate that 61 percent of third-graders in Orangeburg and Calhoun counties tested below state standards in math, while 49 percent of Bamberg County third-graders tested below the standards. The state average was 44 percent.

About 73 percent of Orangeburg County third-graders tested below state English/language arts standards. About 60 percent tested below state standards in Calhoun County and 66 percent in Bamberg County.

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The state average stood at 55 percent.

In other education statistics, 84 percent of Orangeburg County eighth-graders tested below state standards in math. About 78 percent attested below state standards in Calhoun County and 67 percent tested below state standards in Bamberg County.

The state average was 63 percent.

About 79 percent of eighth-graders tested below state English/language arts standards in Orangeburg County, 72 percent were below state standards in Calhoun County and 69 were below the state standards in Bamberg County.

Bussells said the area of childhood poverty has remained pretty much unchanged over the last several years across the state.

About a quarter of kids in South Carolina are in poverty, and then anywhere from 12 to 15 percent are in concentrated poverty over the last several years, which is even higher poverty, she said.

Bussells added, We have to ensure that parents have economic opportunities to provide for their families, and that also means that they have opportunities for continuing education or alternative kinds of options to pursue their education so that they can make more money to support their children and families.

Opportunities for affordable housing and full-time jobs are also key, she said.

About 35 percent of Orangeburg County children live in households with incomes below the poverty level.

In Bamberg County, 36 percent live below the poverty level. In Calhoun County, 25 percent fall in the same category.

Poverty is something that you cant solve overnight and theres so many factors that go into it. Its about supporting the entire family because the parents well-being is so closely linked with childrens well-being. And I say parents, but we also know there are often grandparents and other kin that are supporting, Bussells said.

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Study: Kids lag in poverty, education stats | Local - The Tand D.com

The internet is going to look, and work, a little different starting today. Thats because Californians have new rights over how their personal information is gathered, stored and sold by any company operating in the state as of Jan. 1, thanks to the California Consumer Privacy Act, or CCPA.

As businesses scramble to get in compliance with the law, youve probably seen a rash of pop-up notifications and emails about privacy policy updates. You also may have noticed the small-print do not sell my information buttons that have started appearing at the bottom of websites.

But what are these new rights? How can you actually exercise them? And will any of this make a difference in how you use the internet?

Three new rights are at the heart of the CCPA, the strongest consumer data privacy law in the nation: the right to know, the right to delete, and the right to opt out.

The right to know means that you can ask a company to produce a copy of all the personal information it has gathered on you over the years, and let you know the categories (although not the specific names) of businesses it gathered that information from or sold that information to.

This also means that companies have to notify you typically in their privacy policy which categories of personal information they collect, and let you know if theyre selling it to third parties.

The right to delete means that companies must delete all the information they have on you when you ask, and if they had shared your information with another company they hired to perform a service, they must tell that company to delete it, too. Companies can still keep data they deem necessary for some uses, such as completing an ongoing transaction or detecting security breaches, but by and large theyre required to zero you out if you request it.

Companies subject to the law (which include most companies with websites and customers in California, including The Times) have to provide at least an email address and a toll-free phone number where you can submit these requests, which you should be able to find in their privacy policies.

A separate law passed in California this year will require any companies that act as data brokers these are companies that never interact directly with consumers, but who amass and sell data from other sources to register with the state by Jan. 31. The attorney general will then post that list of data brokers online, and you can go through and make information or deletion requests there, too.

But a knotty problem lies at the heart of both of these new rights: How can companies make sure that theyre deleting or sharing the right persons information?

Despite the eerie accuracy of some hyper-targeted ads and the (correct) feeling that youre being watched at all times online, the sophisticated system of tracking and sharing your personal data is not perfect. Technical challenges baked into the architecture of the internet make it difficult for many companies to verify, with complete accuracy, who is on the other side of the screen at any given moment.

Thanks to this fundamental fuzziness, even Facebook, the company that probably knows the most about you, is telling users that it might need to ask for a photo of a government ID before it can comply with a right-to-know or right-to-delete request. This extra level of verification is intended to prevent situations where one David Lopez gets sent the comprehensive profile of a different David Lopez or even worse, someone impersonating David Lopez gets their hands on his most personal information.

And this information is personal. The law concerns information that is specific enough that it could be clearly linked to you or your household. That includes things like your name, address, IP address, device ID number, social security number, email address, purchasing history, face or fingerprint image, browsing or search history, physical location, employment or education information, audio or video recordings, and even descriptions of your physical characteristics.

The third right to opt out seems like it should be straightforward, but it comes with a lot of caveats and technicalities.

For starters, it entitles users to opt out of having their data sold on to third parties, but it does not allow them to opt out of having their data collected and used in the first place.

If you click one of the many do not sell my personal information buttons that will soon be on every website you visit (though you might need to scroll down to the bottom to find them), the company operating the website is obligated to earmark your personal information as a chunk of data that it cant package and sell to a marketing firm or data broker. But it can still keep collecting data every time you visit for its own uses which includes selling targeted advertising.

Alastair Mactaggart, the San Francisco real estate developer who led the initial effort to have this privacy law passed as a ballot measure in 2018, has always maintained the law wasnt intended to abolish targeted advertising. Having an ad follow you around the internet may be one of the more viscerally uncanny experiences of the data economy, but the set of rapid transactions between sellers and buyers that produces those ads is kosher under the CCPA, since each business along the pipeline is only using the personal information to deliver a service (the ad), not selling the information on to a third party.

This system stands in contrast to Europes more stringent privacy law, the General Data Protection Regulation, or GDPR, which requires that companies ask users to opt into having their data collected in the first place. Under that system, users have the ability to cut off the data stream that fuels the targeted ad economy at the source.

Under the California system, it might be difficult to notice much of a difference in the browsing experience even for the most active exercisers of these new rights. If you request that every website you visit delete your personal information and opt out of having your information sold whenever you can, theres a chance that youll see less and less specific advertising as time goes on.

But the laws transparency provisions are set to give users an unprecedented look into how their personal information is shared and monetized across the internet. And the laws main backers, including Mactaggart and California state Senate Majority Leader Bob Hertzberg (D-Van Nuys) are preparing a new ballot measure for 2020 that will beef up the regulations surrounding more sensitive personal information, such as location, health status and sexual orientation, create a GDPR-style opt-in system for users under 16, and fund a new standalone state agency to enforce these rules.

Already, a number of large businesses are changing their privacy policies for all U.S. users to match Californias requirements.

So California where much of the digital world we all live in today was first invented may yet lead the rest of the country toward a more privacy-oriented internet.

Are you having difficulty with a request to delete your personal information, or a request to know what information companies have gathered on you? If companies have complied with your requests, are you surprised by what youve found? Please let me know: sam.dean@latimes.com

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In 2020, Californians will have new privacy rights online - Los Angeles Times

Starting Jan. 1, obtaining a concealed carry handgun permit in Tennessee becomes easier.

Per a 2019 law passed by the state legislature, Tennesseans will now be able to take an online course in order to receive a carry permit, a significantly faster, cheaper alternative to the state's existing process that will requireno hands-on training.

The state's current carry permit which allows foropen and concealed carrying will remain the same, but is now being called an "enhanced permit." That includes taking a day-long in-person course and paying a $100 application fee.

The permit will costjust $65, but will only allow for concealed, and not open,carry. The new permit also doesn't allow for carrying a firearm on higher education campuses, which is approved under the enhanced permit.

Two vendors so far Tier One Tactics and Clarksville Guns and Archery Tennessee Carry Permit Online School have been approved to teach the 90-minute course, which both are offering online.

The application fees for both the enhanced and concealedpermit options do not include course costs.

While legislation approving the new system was easily approved in the House, it faced bipartisan criticism in the Senate this spring when it passed 18-11. Lt. Gov. Randy McNally, R-Oak Ridge, was among four Republicans who did not cast votes.

Six Republicans joined the chamber's five Democrats in voting against the bill, which was opposednot only by Moms Demand Action, a gun control lobbying group, but by theTennessee Firearms Association.

The bill was sponsored in the House by Rep. Andy Holt, R-Dresden, and in the Senate by Sen. John Stevens, R-Huntington.

Those applying for the new concealed carry permit must be 21, pass a background check from the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation and provide a certificate showing they completed a state-approved training course no more than a year before applying.

Reach Natalie Allison at nallison@tennessean.com. Follow her on Twitter at @natalie_allison.

Want to read more stories like this? A subscription to one of ourTennessee publicationsgets you unlimited access to all the latest politics news, podcasts like Grand Divisions, plus newsletters, a personalized mobile experience and the ability to tap into stories, photos and videos from throughout the USA TODAY Network's 261 daily sites.

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This Tennessee law makes it easier to obtain a concealed carry handgun permit in 2020 - Tennessean

Ryan might have used a synopsis of Force Majeure as an in-class case study, because shame and denial inhibit the reporting of human-triggered avalanches, which subsequently reinforces a culture of silence and impedes the sharing and disseminating of instructive stories in which the main characters do not choose wisely. Instead, during the second half of class, Ryan distributed a case-study synopsis about a party of experienced skiers on Microdot. (He didnt use a case study from the latest Snowy Torrents, intuiting, perhaps, that many in our course had already scrutinized it cover to cover.) We divided into smaller groups to discuss what stood out in terms of the partys preparation, safety, teamwork. The incident was notable less for the body count (zero) and more for how, even though several members of the eight-person party had previously triggered avalanches and even, in one case, witnessed a fatality, they had ignored the many obvious dangers, suggesting that these skiers had become dazzled by their own expertise, falsely brightened by luck.

The case study didnt include as the case studies in The Snowy Torrents dont include the psychological factors that led these skiers to continue when the signs against it were so compelling. Heres where my skill set came in handy. Heres why all avalanche courses should include at least one novelist. In my head, I imagined the real avalanche problems on Microdot.

Skier 1, an avalanche survivor, hadnt slept well for weeks because his business, which he hadnt run scrupulously, was being audited by the I.R.S. Skier 2, a past witness to an avalanche fatality, was dating Skier 3, who had recently expressed doubts about their long-term compatibility prospects, and so Skier 2, though worried by the ranger report, said nothing when Skier 3 insisted they keep climbing. Skier 4, a tech executive, learned over the years that she could gain the respect of her male co-workers by behaving in a cavalier manner, and so, wanting the same respect and acceptance from her male skiing friends, she employed this strategy on mountains too. Skier 5 wanted to appear committed to the plan to Skier 6, creator of a successful series of life-coaching videos for aspiring C.E.O.s, and for whom Skier 5, an unemployed filmmaker, hoped to work. Skier 7, also an avalanche survivor, had lost his father, a Libertarian, to bone cancer in January, and his fathers final admonition was, never cave to the mediocrity of groupthink, which Skier 7 took to mean that caution equals cowardice. The sun was temptingly warm. The sky was temptingly blue. A wolverine crossed their path. Skier 8, a folklore scholar, said that wolverines, in Finland, signaled safe travel.

Wed never know, of course. But Ryan encouraged us to be empathetic, because empathy helps us learn, and judgment does not (the Microdot case study warns, This story underscores the fact that all humans are capable of making poor decisions), which I believe to be superficially true, though it strikes me as a conclusion drawn from data sourced from the Bible, not actual data. Regardless, we didnt judge, if only because we were going into the mountains for the next two days and, based on whatever biblical or superstitious story math we did in our heads, we didnt want to curse our outcomes. As we packed up our notebooks and travel mugs, however, I wondered why these case studies were called accidents. To call these deaths and burials accidents implicitly perpetuated the idea that the randomness of nature was the killer, not the shortsightedness, cowardice or hubris of people. It acquitted the subject and the object of the action: Damage was done. In the interests of vulnerability, growth, shame-reduction and clear communication, The Snowy Torrents might revise their subtitle: Timeless United States Avalanche Mistakes.

Bad winter weather in the Sierra is nothing like bad winter weather in the Northeast, where Im from. Snow falls so quickly in the Sierra that you can barely keep up while shoveling it. If youve never seen snow like this and I hadnt, not until I moved to California in my 20s you might realize, upon first experiencing it, that you never understood why the Donner party couldnt just walk out of the mountains when winter hit.

As always, before starting the course, I enthusiastically prepared for the worst. Preparing for the worst, when youre not on an avalanche course, can earn you the label catastrophist. To some, ceaselessly scanning a plain day for big and little dooms is a highly optional and neurotic activity. David Page, who lives in the nearby mountains and who met me for dinner the night before the course began, told me that he prefers to call otherwise-pathologized attentiveness heightened situational awareness.

I preferred this term, too.

Because I knew how quickly the weather in the Sierra could turn, I reserved a four-wheel-drive car weeks in advance. Right before my flight, I called the rental agency to confirm that my car would have four-wheel-drive. When I arrived, and was given the keys to a vehicle, I checked with the lot attendant before putting my bags in the trunk: Does this car have four-wheel-drive? He said he didnt think it did. I returned to the desk. The clerk apologized for the error. On my way back to the lot, the same attendant said, Oh, youll be really happy, thats a good four-wheel-drive car.

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What I Learned in Avalanche School - The New York Times

The Philippine Constitution clearly states that the State shall protect and promote the right of all citizens to quality education at all levels of education and shall take appropriate steps to make such education accessible to all.

To further emphasize this basic policy, other sections of the Constitution enunciate the duty of the State to establish, maintain and support a complete, adequate and integrated system of education relevant to the needs of the people and society.

That education is given one entire article Article 14 in the basic law of the land is a reflection of how our constitutional framers clearly recognize the ardent desire of parents to have their children finish school, face the world and grab economic opportunities, improve themselves and elevate the standard of living of their families. Education is the ultimate enabler for any individual, regardless of location, race, sex, or creed. Oftentimes, it is a vehicle for upward mobility that would allow anyone to transcend the limits of ones birth.

So when the results of the OECD-administered Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) in 2018 were recently released, the reaction was utmost dismay, frustration and embarrassment. The results showed that Filipino students garnered a mean of 340 points in reading comprehension, which is starkly below the established average of 487 points. And we all know that reading skills are a cornerstone of a human beings ability to understand, comprehend, decide and take action in response to day-to-day human and societal events. Such skills are crucial to any professional undertaking.

In the areas of mathematics and science, competencies which are core to the nations vision of being globally competitive in technology, industry and innovation, our students got a mean of 353 in Math, and 357 in Science, against a 489 OECD average for both categories. Interestingly enough, China beat the pack by garnering scores higher than the aforementioned OECD averages.

NATIONAL RESPONSE The reaction of the country, at first, was defensive disbelief and eventually, a humbling acceptance. After an honest recognition of the gaps and weaknesses of our educational system, its infrastructure, and issues around teacher-pupil ratio, and classroom shortages, teacher education development program, conditional school feeding and other initiatives are now being revived.

These results are also frustrating and embarrassing to the international community which has depended for many decades on millions of our workers and professionals who enjoyed the reputation of being well educated with good speaking skills and relationship management. If the scores are this low, how can we still be competitive or even respected within and outside of the Philippines?

Particularly encouraging, on hindsight, is the fact that our Department of Education (DepEd) made a conscious and brave decision to participate in PISA for the first time in 2018. Education Secretary Leonor Briones exercised political will by going through the process, accepting the results, and paving the way for understanding the deficiencies of our educational system and providing solutions that are not only relevant for students today but also those belonging to the next generation. And coping with the future risks and opportunities is very important because our youth are exposed to learning and communicating through the use of advanced information technology, artificial intelligence, and robotics. Secretary Briones is fully aware that the tools for future education shall be radically different from what we use today and in the next few years.

NECESSARY SOLUTION Thus, participation in the PISA, no matter how painful the results were, was a journey worth taking. It was the proverbial bitter pill urgently needed to cure the ailing educational infrastructure. In fact, the DepEd launched Sulong Edukalidad which seeks to institute reforms in four key areas of K to 12 review and updating, improvement of learning facilities, teachers and school heads up-skilling and re-skilling through a transformed professional development program, and engagement of all stakeholders for support and collaboration.

Sulong Edukalidad has a great potential of being an effective platform which shall hopefully improve our scores in the PISA and make education a true vehicle for the ordinary students liberation from illiteracy, ignorance, and despondency. The overall agenda to ensure that our educational system shall be at par with the more advanced societies of the world is truly a paramount obligation of the state to its citizens.

Ariel F. Nepomuceno is a management consultant on strategy and investment.

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Education as the premise of progress - BusinessWorld Online

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The study encompasses profiles of major companies operating in the global Online Education market. Key players profiled in the report includes : Ambow Education, CDEL, New Oriental Education and Technology, TAL, Vedantu, iTutorGroup, EF Education First, Chegg, Knewton, Tokyo Academics, Tata Interactive Systems, N2N Services, Microsoft, Saba Software, McGrawHill, YY and so on.

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This Online Education market report provides a comprehensive analysis of:Industry overview, manufacturing cost structure analysis, technical data and manufacturing plants analysis, major manufacturers analysis, development trend analysis, overall market overview, regional market analysis, consumers analysis and marketing type analysis.

Scope of Online Education Market:

The global Online Education market is valued at million US$ in 2018 and will reach million US$ by the end of 2025, growing at a CAGR of during 2019-2025. The objectives of this study are to define, segment, and project the size of the Online Education market based on company, product type, application and key regions.

This report studies the global market size of Online Education in key regions like North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Central & South America and Middle East & Africa, focuses on the consumption of Online Education in these regions.

This research report categorizes the global Online Education market by players/brands, region, type and application. This report also studies the global market status, competition landscape, market share, growth rate, future trends, market drivers, opportunities and challenges, sales channels, distributors, customers, research findings & conclusion, appendix & data source and Porters Five Forces Analysis.

The end users/applications and product categories analysis:

On the basis on the end users/applications,this report focuses on the status and outlook for major applications/end users, sales volume, market share and growth rate of Online Education foreach application, including-

On the basis of product,this report displays the sales volume, revenue (Million USD), product price, Online Education market share and growth rate ofeach type, primarily split into-

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Online Education Market : The Regional analysis covers:

The Crucial Questions Answered by Online Education Market Report:

The report offers exclusive information about the Online Education market, based on thorough research about the macro and microeconomic factors that are instrumental in the development of the market. The information featured in this report can answer salient questions for companies in the Online Education market, in order to make important business-related decisions. Some of these questions include:

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Global Online Education Market 2019, Overview, Growth, Analysis And Development - CupMint

In 2019, we came across many businesses that saw success, but a slew of startups was also shrouded in uncertainty and scams, especially towards the end of the year.

The shutdown of startups like Doodhwala and the general slowdown in the economy left the Indian startup ecosystem in a mellow mood towards the end of the year. While 2020 seems to be starting off with the same grim feeling, we can only hope that in a few months it will be the harbinger of better times. Here are the top predictions for startups in the coming year.

If there is political unrest in the country, international investors will become uncertain about investing in India. The National Register of Citizens (NRC) and Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB) have already received a lot of international criticism, and it is only a matter of time before it affects business sentiment.

Alienation of border areas like Kashmir will continue, which means development will get stunted if the government continues to prioritise issues related to citizenship rather than focusing on economic development.

Past research and experiments done by Nobel laureate Abhijit Banerjee shows that refugees and minority groups dont eat into the jobs that locals desire. That is more myth than reality. Assam and Kashmir have tremendous potential in the travel, tourism, and agritech space, but due to government clamp downs and shutdown of internet, startups are not going to want to set up base there.

With ecommerce giant Amazon upping its game with sourcing of fresh produce from farmers in the grocery delivery business, and increasingly promoting its own products in categories that do well on the platform - all businesses that compete with it should be cautious.

Ecommerce, content, grocery, web services, and retail are all already duopolies, and the power dynamic might shift to favour Amazon more if it goes on unchecked by regulators.

Despite there being a sizeable number of startups in the education space, all of them are likely to see growth. Startups like upGrad, Avani Learning, Byjus, and InterviewBit, which are all catering to slightly different segments, will have plenty of growth opportunities.

Indias education system seems to be broken due to very limited institutions offering quality education, combined with cut-throat competition for jobs. Also, many reports released this year revealed that the average graduate, engineering or otherwise, was not employable.

This is disheartening both for businesses and for young people. The traditional education system needs to be supported by online academies and courses that are skill-based.

With the PMC Bank scam fresh in the mind of consumers and high number of cases linked to financial fraud coming to light this year, fintech firms are going to have a tough time convincing consumers.

Online mutual fund platforms have failed to get the traction they expected to get in the last three years, market performance has been muted, and a lot of things that former RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan had warned us about are coming true.

Early-stage investors, who have slowly built a portfolio of tech-based scalable B2B businesses in the last decade, will look to identify more promising startups in 2020. With the economy showing warning signs of slowing down, and Indian businesses getting strapped for cash, HNIs who want to give back to the startup community will set themselves higher targets this year.

We have already seen the trend of startups raising money from groups of individual investors increasing this year, and that is set to grow faster next year.

The city has been a startup hub for a while, but still doesnt get enough limelight as Bengaluru and Gurugram. But thats likely to change in 2020 because the community there is now large enough to command more media attention.

With T-Hubs investments into the ecosystem and the presence of firms like Jay Robotix, True Push, Neemans, AuthBlue, and SkinCraft, the city is likely to get more attention than before, which will further encourage new firms and talent to relocate.

Research has shown that Hyderabad residents are extremely tech savvy, and their education levels and internet penetration are also high. This will encourage new startups to set up their headquarters there.

In India, the average age of the startup founder is about 30. That totally makes sense considering the countrys demographic dividend. But theres a large pool of successful CEOs, now in their mid to late 50s, who arent willing to retire yet.

The ones who identify themselves as doers and not investors will want to co-found companies with young people with expertise and exciting ideas. So, well see more of the UpGrad type of partnerships, where Ronnie Screwvala teamed up with youngsters like Phalgun Kompalli, Mayank Kumar, Ravijot Chugh (they are all co-founders) to startup.

There was a time when starting out on your own was looked down upon. People would think youre starting your own business, because nobody else is willing to hire you. In urban India, of course, that is no longer the case. However, in rural India, a government job is still considered to be a great career achievement.

With the Modi governments focus on Startup India over the last five years, one can see the change in rural parts of India. The youth are keen to implement agritech solutions, get involved in implementation, and measure social impact as well. Those whore lucky to get out of the village and pursue higher education in prestigious institutions, are now giving back to the society by going back to their villages and empowering others, instead of taking up well-paying jobs in cities.

(Edited by Megha Reddy)

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(Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of YourStory.)

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2020 startup predictions: Top trends to look out for in the coming year - YourStory

THERE are three portfolios, outside of the Prime Ministership, in the Cabinet that I consider the most important:

* Finance Minister

* Economic Affairs Minister

* Education Minister.

If the Prime Minister is essentially the Executive Chairman of Malaysia, the Finance Minister is basically the custodian of our Treasury and practically the Chief Financial Officer of the nation.

I have written about the Economic Affairs portfolio before when I touched on economics the Minister is for all intents and purpose hold a very powerful position with respect to the business of the nation, while not having a reporting function for the executive cabinet members. He is essentially the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the country.

The business and well-being of the economy, the growth and (business) development of the economy leads and runs through the CEO. He is accountable for the bottom-line. And I have already made my opinion known on the state and the rudderless situation of this portfolio, which has not been performing since its inception to this date.

Now I have written more than a few times about education, but today I shall return to it from a different perspective.

The education portfolio is nothing short of the Chief Human Resource (HR) Officer.

The so-called HR function is easily understood but in a nation this role is even more powerful than in a corporation. This is due to the portfolio not only develops but IMPLICITLY allocates the most valuable resource the nation has its youth into every sector of the economy, private and public.

Not too long ago, a photo of a widely smiling Education director-general Datuk Dr Amin Senin, holding up the 2018 Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) was published. He proclaimed that its ranking showed Malaysia has improved significantly for all three categories of Science, Mathematics and Reading literacies. Smiling with pride, he announced that the ranking put us in the middle one-third of countries participating in the international assessment, from being in the bottom one-third in previous cycles.

Based on results released by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), Malaysia scored 440 in Mathematics, 415 in Reading and 438 in Scientific literacy in PISA 2018. Amin said that our country is thus above other Asean countries, except Singapore.

For the DG to tout a six-point drop in Maths and a five-point increase in Science as Overall, Malaysia's achievement showed significant increase, just takes the cake. (The 2015 PISA is 446 for Mathematics and 443 for Science).

Really, ladies and gentlemen, this is what the Education Ministry is proud of?

It seems that this PH Government after almost one and a half year in power has not been able to shed the old habits of the BN Government of sweeping the rubbish under the rug and putting lipstick on pigs.

Dear citizens of Malaysia, please see the chart given by OECD in their PISA result and how we stand and what it really means.

What is so difficult about calling a spade a spade, being honest about the state of affairs, having the integrity and courage to admit the problems and the issues; and then having the leadership and vision to lay out the exact remedy, strategy and plan to execute the corrective measures, improvement and development?

What is so politically difficult about that?

Is it because you lack spine, or you lack the brains and capability to come up with the solution and the strategy to implement them?

I have just two words to describe the Malaysian education system as reported by the PISA 2018 result a FAILURE and PATHETIC.

Then we have the widely celebrated Education Minister making the proud announcement of making free education available to Malaysians. Please tell me, what is the use of being given a free car if that car is a 30-year old clunker that will break down right inside the Sempah Tunnel before it can even get up to Genting Highlands.

If memory serves me right, when I first started school, my year was the first year all subjects were taught in Bahasa Malaysia (except English, of course) and SPM (Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia) was first-time all-in Bahasa in 1980. I still recall the strength of our SPM curriculum, which was equivalent to the General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) in England.

Our lessons were practically unchanged from the days of MCE (Malaysian Certificate of Education) in English the year before, the teachers we had were superb, even though some were struggling to adjust to Bahasa Malaysia. Also, unlike today, the science laboratories were available and fully stocked. The sciences were subjects I looked forward to in-spite of my not being a strong science student.

A good friend of mine who went to do engineering in one of the top universities overseas told me he practically did not need to go to class in his first semester because our standards were so high in Form Five that he already knew the things taught in the Basic 101 physics, chemistry and maths courses which he practically aced, by the way.

That was 40 years ago. Looking at the PISA results, I doubt that we would still be at the same level today if a proper review was done. Look at where we stand in relation to Great Britain: a 67-point difference in science and a 62-point difference in maths. For goodness sakes, we are 40 to 50 points below the average for maths and science.

Singapore used to be the same level as us but within 40 years they are more than 100 points ahead in each of those categories. This is a complete embarrassment and a damning indictment of our education policy, system, administrators, teachers and schools. Not to mention the governance of our society.

By the way, should any one one dare to point out that Singapore is a small country and easier to manage and centralise their education etc. I would point to China.

Chinas figures are even higher than Singapore and much far ahead than us.

Think about this.

The infamous Tiananmen Square incident was in June 1989. China was in a precarious situation in the 1990s, socialism in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union was collapsing and the future of China under the Chinese Communist Party was at a breaking point. They were far behind Malaysia in terms of development and education.

Deng Xiaoping, then embraced capitalism and a scientific-driven education for his society. If you want to understand what this leader saw, remember that he left for France at the age of 16. He looked West and never looked back. And in less than 30 years, look at where they are compared to us.

What did we do instead?

Looked East for a short while before looking inward, became a more race-based, controlled economy and made our education religion-centric.

Did Deng Xiaoping embrace an increase in Taoist or Confucius pondoks or madrasahs and increase such classes in their schools?

Did they incorporate religious elements in teachings? NO. They went scientific.

They threw their youth out to the best schools in the West, most to study in the sciences and come back and rebuild their schools and universities on merit. They dont spend wasted taxpayer funds to send their young for religious education nor do they tolerate teachers or universities that bring religion into education. They bring evidence-based knowledge, they bring maths and science.

We meanwhile have watered down our curriculum to make it easier to pass and handed out As by the bushels. Just look at the number of straight As per school every year when the results come out. It does not make statistical sense.

For what? Syok sendiri I call it, so that our teachers and school administrators can pat their backs. And our molly-coddled students can easily be admitted into universities via a disproportionate 90% racial quota. They then graduate out and start that cycle all over again by occupying positions in public administrations and GLCs that are incompetent and lose money year in and year out.

Why is this happening?

I always say one need not look any further than at the leadership. Since after Musa Hitam left the post of Education Minister in 1981, we have had a minister who was either of religious scholar in background or outlook in mindset. How then do we expect our education system to be world class and scientific?

We need a new scientifically- minded technocratic policymaker as Education Minister. One who is willing to dismantle the hegemony of religious influence in curriculum and racial mindset in educational opportunity.

We need a minister who understands that primary and secondary education is about imparting the basics of 21st century thinking knowledge, which can only be provided by maths and the sciences.

Someone who also understands that humanities and other types of electives are additional knowledge and skill at fundamental level that would allow our children to enter university with a more rounded evidenced-based critical knowledge.

Streaming is important because not everyone needs to learn calculus or higher-level physics or chemistry in secondary school. But those capable should be allowed to take them at the fundamental level so that they can compete at the level needed for tertiary education in the sciences.

The priorities of this education minister are so laughable that sometimes I want him to stay there forever as he is quite good comedic material, if it is not so tragic. He makes a big deal about coding as a subject. Coding skills are like any other skill, such as learning different languages, shop-skills, arts and the likes are all based on aptitude and interest. Its an elective. It is not fundamental for education.

Focus on the basics.

Return our fundamental education to where it was in the 1970s and early 80s and update the curriculum to a tougher and higher level. For example, if in the 70s we taught up to Mendelian inheritance, today we should go right up to DNA structure and genetic evolutionary biology. If we stopped at Newtonian physics, then include general and special relativity now.

Put teachers who are truly interested and capable to teach these subjects, qualified at least at the masters level and pay them what they deserve. Not having teachers and headmasters coming to school talking about religion in every other classes and having prayer gatherings.

Then let merit reign. Not everyone should go to university or be a university graduate. Those who do not merit such places can go vocational, learn the hospitality industry, obtain certificates in skills that we require for our daily economy to function at every level.

Why do you think if you go the USA there are no migrant workers at even the roadside diners? Because those who do not merit a degree are not accorded one and they pride themselves in working an honest day at decent wages. No need for migrant labour from Pakistan or Bangladesh or security guards from Nepal.

My final thought on this is: give options for other well-rounded humanistic knowledge of human civilisation, like languages of places where knowledge is today being produced such as French, Chinese and German world history and geography, music and the arts and... coding.

Education is not rocket science. But you need to be scientifically-minded, and therefore critical in thinking, in order to make true policy and substantive changes in our education system if we want to progress as a nation and not be left behind by the rest of the advanced world.

Note: The PISA, administered by the OECD, is a triennial survey of 15-year-old students that assesses the extent to which they have acquired key knowledge and skills essential for full participation in society. For PISA 2018,6, 111 students from 191 schools were chosen to represent Malaysia. These students were assessed and compared with students from 72 OECD and non-OECD countries.

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The ashes of our education - The Star Online