Daily Lumina News 012423

As a young boy, Armando Martinez remembers being told that college was not for him. He became determined to prove his naysayers wrong.
A program at Salem State University aims to help prospective first-generation college students like Martinez get up to speed while they're still in high school.

Florida's Department of Education has rejected an Advanced Placement course covering African American Studies—saying the class indoctrinates students to "a political agenda."
But scholars involved in creating the curriculum say that's far from the truth.

A pending ruling on race-conscious admissions by the U.S. Supreme Court and other shifts like ChatGPT’s effects on application essays threaten to upend the higher education landscape in 2023.
Six education experts offer their thoughts on the one trend they expect to see this year in college admissions.

In the higher education sector, many of Pittsburgh's top institutions are replacing their presidents or chancellors. The turnover could echo for decades, say education watchers.
New leaders are now applying fresh perspectives and novel ideas to help revitalize Pittsburgh and develop academic offerings that align with the city’s shifting needs.

Arkansas, like many states, has struggled to protect its classrooms from significant shortages of certain educators, in part because of declining completion rates at traditional teachers colleges and the profession's low pay.
Districts and states across the country are experimenting to address these stubborn vacancies, establishing or expanding programs that remove some of the hoops people traditionally have to jump through to become a teacher.

A statewide effort to streamline transfer to California’s two public university systems is facing controversy over which classes students should be required to take at their community colleges before making the switch.
Community college leaders are protesting the omission of classes in psychology, phys ed, and health science, claiming it will cause a collapse of enrollment in those courses and harm both faculty and students. Others say fears are overblown.