The National Merit Scholarship Corporation plays the heavy

This morning's Chronicle of Higher Education had an article about the National Merit Scholarship Corporation's attack on a blogger, Nancy Griesemer, for her publication of the state cutoff scores used by NMSC for its awarding of National Merit Scholarships.  Her point was that these cutoff scores vary widely from state to state, so that a student scoring at a certain level on the PSAT (used as the cutoff for the awarding of the scholarships) would qualify for a scholarship in one state, while a student scoring at exactly the same level in another state may not qualify.

As was criticized by the National Association for College Admissions Counseling in a report last year, the use of a single test for the awarding of the scholarships is an inappropriate use of a high-stakes test.  Nevertheless, the NMSC persists in this practice, and has refused to release data on the distribution of its scholarship recipients by race or socioeconomic status.

Seems that the NMSC accused Ms. Griesemer of publishing "proprietary information," yet these cutoff scores are fairly widely-distributed, such as to pretty much every high school guidance office in the nation.  Nevertheless, NMSC demanded that she take the information off of her blog, which she did.  As legal experts in the Chronicle article pointed out, you can't sue someone for publishing facts.  FairTest, an organization dedicated to the appropriate use of educational testing, and presumably more able to stand up to the NMSC, jumped to Ms. Griesemer's defense and assistance by publishing the list of state cutoff scores.  You can find FairTest's list here, where for example you can see that a PSAT score of 208 would be high enough to qualify you for a scholarship in Alabama, but a score of 221 would be required in Massachusetts or Maryland.

More on Sallie Mae's lobbying

 

In a post last December, I described how Sallie Mae has been one of the leaders in spending money to lobby Congress and the administration on student loan issues.  A report in last Friday's New York Times describes how Sallie Mae's lobbying expenses increased even further in 2009, to $8 million, more than double the amount it spent in 2008.  Seems like Sallie Mae isn't yet ready to give up the fight against the Obama administration's attempt to eliminate the FFEL program.

What was missing in the State of the Union

Over at Education This Week, hosted by the Educational Policy Institute, I blogged about what President Obama left out of his State of the Union speech regarding higher education.

Rodney and me (with apologies to Michael Moore)

It's always interesting to see how people react to things I've published on the web or when I'm quoted in the media.  I've learned that's the risk you take when you put yourself out there.  In December, I published an op-ed in the San Francisco Chronicle about the fee increases at the U. of California.  It generated only a handful of comments in the Chronicle's on-line edition, including one amazingly intelligent and articulate reader who said, "An incredibly insightful article from a professor from Pennsylvania who has no reason to be biased for or against California" (and I swear it wasn't me using an alias, and I highly doubt my mother reads the Chronicle).  But my favorite comment was from the reader who said, "Back to Pennsylvania, Bozo."  While first tempted to respond in kind with, "That's Professor Bozo to you," I somehow managed to resist the urge.  These are just a couple of examples of what I've seen from the general public.

But today I came across a blog post that was a little different, and from a source that should know better.  The blog, "The Third Leg: Career Higher Education," is published by my friends at the Career College Association (CCA), the lobbying organization for for-profit higher education institutions.  Today's post in the blog critiques an article in the Houston Chronicle by Jeanine Kever: "Kever quotes a Donald Heller, a traditional higher education stalwart, who suggests employers will not equate degrees from proprietary colleges with the University of Houston, Penn State or Rice."

I'm not quite sure what it means to be "a Donald Heller" -- is that supposed to be a slap in the face, as opposed to being called just plain ol' "Donald Heller"?  I also enjoyed being referred to as a "traditional higher education stalwart."  Again, I'm not sure if this means I'm traditional, and I'm a stalwart of higher education?  It's not too often that anyone who knows me calls me "traditional," but I certainly wouldn't take offense at being called a stalwart of higher education.  Or maybe it's implying that I'm a stalwart of traditional higher education, whatever that is (Mark Hopkins and a log?  Charles Elliot at Harvard?  The Yale Report of 1828?).

In any event, I find the whole thing rather amusing.  The blog post does not identify the author, but featured prominently next to the post is a picture of Harris Miller, President and CEO of the CCA.  Now Harris is actually a really nice guy; we both spoke at a hearing of the Advisory Committee on Student Financial Assistance a couple of years ago in Nashville, and in chatting during the breaks, found that we have quite a bit in common.  For example, we both share a passion for promoting access to postsecondary education for historically underserved populations of students.  If you're really interested in what Harris and I had to say at the hearing, you can watch a video of it.

So I'm going to assume it wasn't Harris himself who was dissing me, but probably some lackey of his who doesn't know that I am not just "a Donald Heller," but am actually the Donald Heller.  To paraphrase that great higher education stalwart Rodney Dangerfield, I don't get no respect.  To add insult to injury, the CCA blog lists 14  "Education Blogs of Note," and they have the audacity to exclude The Itinerant Professor from the list!
 
Oh, and by the way Harris -- I've got almost twice as many Facebook friends as the Career College Association does.*  So put that in your proprietary pipe and chew on it.


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* at least today, that is

The death of the Master Plan for Higher Education in California?

My friends at the blog "21st Century Scholar" provided me with the opportunity to be a guest blogger there this week.  Here's my post on the Master Plan.