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The Dartmouth
July 14, 2025 | Latest Issue
The Dartmouth

Daily Debriefing

President Barack Obama renewed the White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for Hispanics on Tuesday, according to a U.S. Department of Education release. The executive order will focus on working with community-based education initiatives through two committees. The Presidential Advisory Committee will work with community leaders to develop education policy that positively impacts the Hispanic community and the Federal Interagency Working Group will address issues relating to other aspects of Hispanics' lives, such as housing, health, finance and employment, according to the release. The Initiative was formed under former President George W. Bush in October 2001 to examine "the underlying causes of the existing education achievement gap between Hispanic American students and their peers," the website said.

A recent study found that in Montgomery County, Md., economic integration of schools led to higher performance for lower-income students, NPR reported. As part of the study, students living in public housing were randomly assigned to either low poverty or moderate poverty elementary schools. The students attending lower poverty schools outperformed their counterparts in reading and math, according to NPR. Richard Kahlenberg, senior fellow at the Century Foundation, which published of the study, told NPR that this achievement gap could be attributed to three factors. First, students at more affluent schools are likely to be surrounded by peers who have high educational aspirations and less discipline problems. Second, more affluent parents "know how to hold school officials accountable," Kahlenberg told NPR. Third, better teachers are attracted to better working conditions, which are more likely to be found at wealthier schools. Kahlenberg suggested that public officials use the study's findings to change housing policies to encourage economic integration of schools.

Recent budget cuts at the University at Albany led the school to cut its French, Italian, Russian, classics and theater programs, the Albany Times Union reported. The journalism major will likely see its course offerings cut in half next year, and the Judaic studies program now retains only one full-time faculty member and has been integrated into the history department, according to the Times Union. UAlbany President George Philip attributed these changes to $33.5 million in budget cuts since 2008, the Times Unions reported. The eliminated programs were chosen because they had low student enrollment and the changes would affect the least number of students. More popular majors such as journalism may introduce requirements such as a minimum grade point average to restrict student enrollment. Additionally, UAlbany anticipates that 160 full-time positions will be cut by the end of the 2012 fiscal year, according to the Time Union.