Author: Reporter

After years of challenges punctuated by a rapid financial decline, Hampshire College will close. The private college in Massachusetts fended off closure several years ago, but it will finally shutter at the end of the fall 2026 semester due to what officials described as the combined effects declining enrollment, rising costs, fiscal instability and the financial headwinds affecting many small liberal arts colleges. Founded in 1965 and known for its progressive values and student-driven curriculum, Hampshire is the latest in a string of small colleges to announce closures this year, including Labouré College of Healthcare (also in Massachusetts) and Lourdes…

Is an MBA Valuable? An MBA does require a financial investment. While every program varies, and financial aid is often available, you can expect to pay several thousand dollars for your degree. So, is an MBA worth the investment? The value of the degree will help you understand its worth as you make your decision. 1. Increased Earning Potential One of the primary reasons people will go back to school to earn their MBA is to increase their earning potential. According to the Graduate Management Admission Council’s 2021 Corporate Recruiters Survey, the average salary for someone with an MBA was…

Listen to the article 5 min This audio is auto-generated. Please let us know if you have feedback. Over a year after the Trump administration gutted the U.S. Department of Education to nearly half of its staff, the agency has restructured many of its key programs and announced new priorities for some of them — shedding light on how the department intends to allocate its remaining resources.  In the last week, the agency has released at least three priorities, spanning career and workforce readiness, educator training and retention, literacy and artificial intelligence.  The Education Department is stressing these initiatives while…

contributed by Tulika Samal In today’s rapidly changing world, the ability to think critically is more valuable than ever. Mathematics, often perceived as a subject of numbers and formulas, is in fact one of the most powerful tools for developing critical thinking. At the heart of meaningful mathematics lies the ability to analyze, interpret, and justify reasoning. Why Mathematical Reasoning Matters More Than Memorization For many learners, mathematics becomes a set of procedures to memorize; apply a formula, follow steps, and arrive at an answer. While this approach may produce correct results in familiar situations, it often falls short when…

Curtis Valentine, The 74 Investing early in the lives of young men and boys with dedicated mentors and male educators will pay dividends in the future.

Cape Cod Community College placed former president John Cox on paid administrative leave last October after receiving “credible, serious reports and a subsequent formal complaint of inappropriate and unprofessional conduct,” the Board of Trustees revealed Friday in a message to the college community. Cox announced his resignation on March 16, effective immediately, after leading the college for roughly 14 years. The board noted that it had hired “experienced external investigators” to look into the president’s conduct, which “potentially violated” the college’s policy on affirmative action, equal opportunity and diversity. While the investigation found that Cox had not violated the policy,…

The “Let’s Read Together” program, an initiative to help Spanish-speaking kindergarten students and their families improve their English literacy skills, was a success in its first year. The program, a collaboration between Shenandoah University’s Claude Moore Center for Literacy (CMCL) and Winchester Public Schools, was funded by a $10,000 Family Literacy Grant from the Dollar General Literacy Foundation (DGLF) and launched in September 2025, at Garland F. Quarles Elementary School in Winchester. Twenty parents and guardians enrolled, with a core of 12-14 families regularly attending the program nearly every week. Each family received 20 books to build their own home…

Hampshire College’s long-running turnaround efforts came to an end this week.  Following “years of sustained effort to secure the college’s financial future,” the Massachusetts institution announced Tuesday that it will shut down permanently in December, when its fall 2026 semester ends.  The private liberal arts college will not bring in any new students this fall and will refund deposits for those who were already admitted. But it will teach courses and provide services for current students through the fall term.  Hampshire is working with its accreditor and the Massachusetts Department of Higher Education on a teach-out plan for students who…

This article is part of Bright Spots, a series highlighting schools where every child learns to read, no matter their zip code. Explore the Bright Spots map to find out which schools are beating the odds in terms of literacy versus poverty rates. At John Barry Elementary School, the veteran third-grade teaching team laughed and cried when they talked about their long journey together. It started 12 years ago when Emily Angiletta, Stephanie Timek and Emily Silluzio were first time teachers at the Meriden, Connecticut school, staying late to plan lessons — long after the custodians shuttered the building.  The teachers…

From Completions To Capability Only 2 in 10 HR managers say measuring training ROI is a challenge. That sounds like progress. Until you look at what they’re measuring. According to the TalentLMS 2026 L&D Benchmark Report, just 37% of organizations evaluate L&D by business impact. The rest rely on completion rates, satisfaction scores, and cost-per-learner. Numbers that are easy to track, easy to report, and easy to misread. Most organizations feel confident about their training ROI. But that confidence is built on metrics that describe activity, not outcomes. And without visibility into workforce skills, there’s no way to tell whether…