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CUTTING THROUGH THE RED TAPE

The Connecticut Community Colleges system has centralized its financial-aid offices, and more students are applying for aid as a result. Marc Herzog (right), chancellor of the Connecticut Community Colleges system, created a central bureau, run by Tom Bradham (left), that freed up individual colleges' aid offices to concentrate on counseling and outreach. (Photograph by Stan Godlewski)

Selected Articles

HELP FOR REMEDIAL STUDIES: The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has chosen 15 community colleges for grants under a new program to help underprepared students and improve graduation rates.

STATES' EFFORTS: Jobs for the Future, a nonprofit group focused on work-force development, has released a report on promising projects in 15 states to reduce the need for, and improve, remedial education.

NAMING PLAN DEFERRED: The City College of San Francisco's Board of Trustees has temporarily repealed a plan to allow donors to sponsor classes that would otherwise be canceled, and to rename them in honor of their benefactors.

NO JACKET REQUIRED: A scholar's study of her own students suggests that while a professor's clothing might affect initial impressions, it doesn't make a difference in the long run.

NOT GOOD ENOUGH: Poor writing persists because students don't try hard enough and aren't pushed to try harder, writes Bob Kunzinger.