In Brief - Education - Sept. 30, 2011

From The Associated Press
 

Cops: immigrants ride school bus
DEMING — Authorities say four more suspected illegal immigrants entered the U.S and then boarded a New Mexico public school bus.

The Deming Headlight reports that Deming Public School transportation office director Ray Trejo says once the four were in Deming, the school bus driver notified the school district which in turn notified the Deming Police Department.

Police Chief Michael Carillo says the case was turned over to the U.S. Border Patrol.

The boarding comes a week after a Mexican national was arrested for entering the country illegally and riding a school bus to Deming.

Trejo says the district wants to be told at the port of entry if there's any question regarding students that aren't on the roster or if there's any questions at all.

Residents support more funds
ALBUQUERQUE — A new study shows that around 70 percent of New Mexico residents polled support more state funding for pre-kindergarten education.

The poll, conducted by Research & Polling, Inc. and commissioned by St. Joseph Community Health, also found the nearly 80 percent of those polled felt that early childhood education was important for children under 5 years of age.

According to the poll, 8 out of 10 residents support sending an “early childhood funding amendment” to voters.

The poll was a random sample of 603 adult residents in New Mexico and was conducted between Aug. 24 and Sept. 5. It had a margin of error of 4 percent.

NMSU signs partnership

LAS CRUCES— New Mexico State University has signed an agreement with a Mongolian university aimed at fostering student and faculty exchanges between the two schools.

The memorandum of understanding announced last week between NMSU and the Mongolian State University of Education is expected to bring an exchange of academic research materials.

NMSU officials say the partnership will explore changes in the classroom curriculum and environment for Mongolian teachers.

The agreement also means that the two schools with work together on research projects, workshops, and future symposiums.

The Mongolian school is seeking to bring in more Western thoughts and ideas on education.

University finds more problems

CHAMPAIGN, Ill.  — An ongoing investigation into the use of inflated grades and entrance-exam scores in University of Illinois law school marketing material found inaccurate data was posted online for the four most recent classes, university officials said Wednesday.

For three of those classes, the inaccurate information was also forwarded to the American Bar Association and to ranking organizations, such as the influential U.S. News & World Report, university spokesman Tom Hardy said. The snapshot data of law school students is often used to attract future students, among other things.

The university hired an outside law firm and a forensic data analysis company to investigate after receiving complaints and finding that the data posted online for the class of 2014 was inaccurate. Investigators have looked at the data for the 10 most recent law school classes and found inaccurate Law School Admissions Test and GPA scores posted in online student profiles for the classes of 2011 through 2014, Hardy said.

The inaccurate data forwarded to the association and ranking groups was for the classes of 2011-2013, he said.

“We've taken the 10-year period of time, looked at all those years, found that, with the exception of the last four classes, everything was as it should be,” he said. “Meanwhile, the investigation isn't complete. (But) I think we're getting near the end.”

The oldest data, posted shortly after the class of 2011 enrolled, has been online since 2009, Hardy said.

The university is talking to both the bar association and ranking organizations, Hardy said.

Messages left with the bar association were not returned. Earlier this year, the association censured the law school Villanova University for submitting falsified admissions data for several years.