Author: jplucas

College campuses are discovering the possibilities that open up when students, faculty and staff make a point to read the same book. In the process, such “common readings” serve a range of purposes, especially for incoming students who are navigating a big transition.

“When students have more active involvement in school, when they have closer relationships with faculty, they’re more likely to persist and more likely to graduate,” says Carol Geary Schneider, president of the Association of American Colleges and Universities. “The common readings are a signal to students that this is going to be a very intentional, very engaging first year of college.”

The statewide panel charged with investigating the mass shooting at Virginia Tech sharply criticized the university for not quickly and clearly notifying students and staff after police responded to a double homicide in a campus dorm and for failing to respond when shooter Seung Hui Cho showed signs of mental illness his junior year.

RICHMOND, Va., Aug. 29 â?? A state panel has sharply criticized decisions made by Virginia Tech before and after last Aprilâ??s shooting massacre, saying university officials could have saved lives by notifying students and faculty members earlier about the killings on campus.

Because university officials misunderstood federal privacy laws as forbidding any exchange of a studentâ??s mental health information, the panelâ??s long-awaited report concludes, they missed numerous indications of the gunmanâ??s mental health problems.

National average scores for the SAT college entrance exam declined for the second year in a row, a report shows. But this year’s drops were less dramatic than last year’s, the first time that national average scores were based primarily on a recently revised version of the test.

And, unlike last year’s dip in the number of recent high school graduates taking the test, the number of 2007 graduates taking the test was up slightly. Nearly 1.5 million students took the test, up 1.9% from last year, representing the largest and most diverse group of SAT test takers ever, says the report, released Tuesday by the College Board, the non-profit group that owns the SAT.

Average reading and math scores on the SAT test declined slightly this year, as the number of high school students taking the standardized exam grew larger and more diverse than ever, according to a report released yesterday by the College Board on the high school class of 2007.

Outside Hollywood, the work of a crime lab technician is known for two things: tedium and less-than-lucrative pay. Yet, thanks in part to an abundance of crime lab TV dramas, the field of forensic science is one of the hottest new majors on college campuses.

At West Virginia University, with one of the largest programs, forensic science ranks second in popularity to Spanish.

TRENTON, Aug. 27, (AP) â?? The Mercer County prosecutor has asked a judge to drop charges of aggravated hazing against two Rider University officials in a case involving the drinking death of a fraternity pledge.