Remediation, roommates and gender-neutral lavs

Avoiding Roommate Shock, Online Ultimately, college officials hope that these roommate-recommendation programs can combat a costly problem: interpersonal conflicts so severe that they can prompt students to transfer to other schools before their sophomore year. (The New York Times)

Does Khan Academy Work? No one really knows how well it works. Sure, it’s cheaper than a real classroom, but we don’t understand how the learning part of this goes. Soon we might have some idea. The U.S. Department of Education is spending $3 million to see how effective the Khan is. (Washington Monthly)

Why college remediation needs to be overhauled There is more to the college remediation story than just the inflated remediation rates that are being used to hawk the Common Core State Standards. If we want to reduce remediation, especially in our open-enrollment colleges, we must question the purpose and efficacy of the remedial model itself. (The Washington Post)

Community colleges expanding disclosure on graduation rates and other outcomes Dozens of community college leaders, dissatisfied with how the federal government measures graduation rates at their schools, have signed up for an alternative reporting system that provides more information about student outcomes. (The Washington Post)

Gender-Neutral Bathrooms Are Quietly Becoming The New Thing At Colleges The number of gender-neutral bathrooms has grown in just the past few years, in city-run facilities, workplaces and, most commonly, college campuses. There are more than 150 schools across the U.S. that have gender-neutral bathrooms. (The Huffington Post via NAICU)

• How Augsburg is going all Mark Twain
• How past U of M presidents view higher-ed today
• Metro State data breach affected 160,000 students