Transforming Community College Education at The City University of New York

The City University of New York (CUNY) developed and implemented two evidence-based, educational initiatives at its community colleges. Accelerated Study in Associate Programs (ASAP), on six campuses, helped 55 percent of students who enter with one or two developmental needs earn an associate degree within three years. This compares with 20 percent for non-ASAP students who needed remediation. An external random assignment study by MDRC found that ASAP increased credits earned, completion of developmental coursework, and first-to-second semester retention. An independent study out of Columbia University Teachers College estimated that despite higher initial expenses, ASAP’s higher graduation rate costs the university $6,500 less per three-year graduate. The second innovation, CUNY’s New Community College (NCC), opened with 300 students in Fall 2012. It offers A.A. and A.S. degrees for transfer to baccalaureate programs, plus occupational A.A.S. degrees. Using a curriculum organized around problem-solving for New York City’s future, it integrates developmental and credit coursework, field experiences, and classroom learning in a structured and supportive environment. Other components include full-time study in the first year, limited majors, and a multidisciplinary faculty-staff instructional team. Early results include a 92 percent first-to-second-semester retention rate for Spring 2013

Transforming Community College Education at The City University of New York

The City University of New York (CUNY) developed and implemented two evidence-based, educational initiatives at its community colleges. Accelerated Study in Associate Programs (ASAP), on six campuses, helped 55 percent of students who enter with one or two developmental needs earn an associate degree within three years. This compares with 20 percent for non-ASAP students who needed remediation. An external random assignment study by MDRC found that ASAP increased credits earned, completion of developmental coursework, and first-to-second semester retention. An independent study out of Columbia University Teachers College estimated that despite higher initial expenses, ASAP’s higher graduation rate costs the university $6,500 less per three-year graduate. The second innovation, CUNY’s New Community College (NCC), opened with 300 students in Fall 2012. It offers A.A. and A.S. degrees for transfer to baccalaureate programs, plus occupational A.A.S. degrees. Using a curriculum organized around problem-solving for New York City’s future, it integrates developmental and credit coursework, field experiences, and classroom learning in a structured and supportive environment. Other components include full-time study in the first year, limited majors, and a multidisciplinary faculty-staff instructional team. Early results include a 92 percent first-to-second-semester retention rate for Spring 2013

Novel genetic loci associated with hippocampal volume

The hippocampal formation is a brain structure integrally involved in episodic memory, spatial navigation, cognition and stress responsiveness. Structural abnormalities in hippocampal volume and shape are found in several common neuropsychiatric disorders. To identify the genetic underpinnings of hippocampal structure here we perform a genome-wide association study (GWAS) of 33,536 individuals and discover six independent loci significantly associated with hippocampal volume, four of them novel. Of the novel loci, three lie within genes (ASTN2, DPP4 and MAST4) and one is found 200 kb upstream of SHH. A hippocampal subfield analysis shows that a locus within the MSRB3 gene shows evidence of a localized effect along the dentate gyrus, subiculum, CA1 and fissure. Further, we show that genetic variants associated with decreased hippocampal volume are also associated with increased risk for Alzheimer's disease (rg =-0.155). Our findings suggest novel biological pathways through which human genetic variation influences hippocampal volume and risk for neuropsychiatric illness

A Postscript for Charles Black: The Supreme Court and Race in the Progressive Era

Charles Black\u27s work in constitutional law is,1 like the slow politics ofthe text 2 of the great Document itself, a statement of fundamental truthsabout our condition and aspirations that often takes a while to set in. AsHarry Wellington has noted, few people had the sense to see The Peopleand the Court3 when published in 1960 for what it should with deliberatespeed have become: the dominant influence on my generation of constitu?tional lawyers\u27 efforts to see the problem of judicial review beyond theshadows of the New Deal and the debacle of FDR\u27s Court-Packing Plan.The book has, along with related works such as Decision According toLaw4 constituted our era\u27s main answer to the perennial anxiety that ju?dicial review is a usurpation of democratic powers vested in the legislativeand executive branches. Black has also been our era\u27s main exponent ofthe related truth so hard for many to swallow: that courts have in fact andare invited by the democratic branches to have large powers for socialchange, powers that grow rather than dissipate with sensible, principledand high-minded use. At the same time, Black\u27s approach is rooted in theinsistence that judicial review is an exercise of law and not of fiat; no oneis more withering about those who would turn to courts for a fix anytimethe political processes prove deaf, slow or inconvenient. Indeed, Black\u27sview that constitutional law must be rooted in principle has been the basisfor one of his most important insights about judicial review, that its primeimportance lies not in its checking function but rather in its capacity togive legitimacy to the exercise of governmental power