ROCK ISLAND, IL (05/30/2013)(readMedia)-- Thirty Augustana College students spent five weeks in Cambodia this past January and February. While in Cambodia, the students visited the temples of Angkor Wat and the cities of Phnom Penh and Siem Reap. The students also taught English at a school.

Students who traveled to Cambodia include :

Angela Cummins, a senior from Rock Island, Ill., majoring in communication sciences and disorders and psychology.

Jessica Roche, a senior from Moline, Ill., majoring in biology.

Moselle Singh, a senior from LeClaire, Iowa, majoring in anthropology.

About Augustana: Founded in 1860, Augustana College is a selective four-year residential college of the liberal arts and sciences. Augustana is recognized for the innovative program Augie Choice, which provides each student up to $2,000 to pursue a high-impact learning experience such as study abroad, an internship or research with a professor. Alumni include 140 Academic All-Americans, a Nobel laureate, 14 college presidents and other distinguished leaders. The college enrolls 2,500 students and is located along one of the world's most important waterways, the Mississippi River, in a community that reflects the diversity of the United States.

We're fast approaching 2014, the year federal law calls for all students to be 100 percent proficient in reading and math.

Are we there yet?

"No, but to be fair, that goal was unattainable," says Dr. Mariam Azin, president of Mazin Education, (www.mazineducation.com), which develops software solutions to help schools better assess, identify and serve at-risk students.

"What concerns me more is that the No Child Left Behind Act is also intended to dramatically reduce dropout rates. That's very attainable, and yet we still have one in five students failing to graduate from high school!"

A core tenet of the 2001 federal law is 100 percent student proficiency in reading and math by next year. It also requires all secondary schools to show yearly progress on the number of freshmen who graduate with diplomas after four years.

However, two years ago, states were offered waivers on meeting some of the law's requirements if they implemented certain policies, such as linking teacher evaluations to students' test scores. As of April, 34 states and the District of Columbia had been granted waivers and 10 more applications were pending.

"Most of the states with waivers are now circumventing the accountability rules intended to increase the graduation rate, which is now 78 percent nationally," says Azin, citing an Alliance for Excellent Education report released in February. "That sounds good until you realize 22 out of every 100 students - the dropouts - are more likely to earn less money, be less healthy, and spend time in jail. Five states have dropout rates of more than 40 percent!"

Azin, who holds a doctorate in applied social psychology and has more than 20 years' experience in educational research and evaluation, says there are clear indicators that a student is at risk for dropping out.

"By monitoring each student's risk factors and intervening early, we can keep more kids in school," she says. "And that doesn't have to be a labor-intensive exercise - we have computers!"

Some risk factors can be monitored just by collating the student information already recorded, she notes.

While research has identified many potential predictors, these have proven consistently reliable, Azin says.

• Attendance: Being absent 10 percent of school days (first 30 days per grading period annually).

• Behavior: One or more major behavior incidents per grading period1.

• Course performance: An inability to read at grade level by the end of third grade; failure In courses (e.g., including core subject areas such as English or math) in sixth through 12th grades; a GPA of less than 2.0; and failure to earn enough credits for promotion to the next grade.

"Once a student has been identified, it is critical that he or she be connected with someone who's able to further evaluate him or provide services," Azin says. "Unfortunately, research shows that this often fails to happen."

That's why it's essential to have a system in place that monitors when and how students connect with services, and the progress they're making, Azin says.

"Again, this can be automated, with alerts going to the appropriate interventionist when necessary," she says.

Boosting high school graduation rates to near 100 percent is both essential and attainable with the information now available, Azin says.

"No child should be left behind, and it's within our means to identify students at risk of dropping out and take steps to prevent that."

About Dr. Mariam Azin

Dr. Mariam Azin is president and CEO of Mazin Education, an educational company focused on software solutions that help schools to better assess, identify and serve at-risk students. Dr. Azin holds a doctorate in applied social psychology and has more than 20 years' experience in educational research and evaluation. She has been the principal investigator on numerous large-scale evaluation efforts related to students, currently serving as joint principal investigator on three federal Safe Schools/Healthy Students evaluations.

SEWARD, NEB. (05/28/2013)(readMedia)-- More than 450 undergraduate and graduate degrees, diplomas and certificates were awarded at Concordia University, Nebraska during its 2013 commencement ceremony on Saturday, May 11.

Commencement speaker Dr. Douglas Tewes used Concordia's theme Bible verse for 2012-13 -- "You are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God's people and also members of His household." - to explain a Christian's obligation to serve.

"I think that as citizens of God's kingdom, we have responsibility in our citizenship here in America," Tewes said. In addition to delivering the commencement address, Tewes also received the honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Concordia.

Undergraduates earning degrees from Concordia were eligible for distinction or high distinction honors. Up to 10 percent of those who earned, at minimum, a 3.75 GPA were designated as graduating with high distinction. An additional 15 percent of those who earned degrees with a minimum 3.5 GPA were graduated with distinction. Departmental awards were also announced.

The following are Concordia University, Nebraska graduates from your area:

Caleb Davison, Davenport, Iowa, Bachelor of Arts;

Lee Johanson, Davenport, Iowa, Bachelor of Arts;

Concordia University, Nebraska, founded in 1894, is a fully accredited, coeducational university located in Seward, Neb. Concordia currently has over 2,200 students. Concordia offers more than 50 professional and liberal arts programs in an excellent academic and Christ-centered community that equips men and women for lives of learning, service and leadership. For more information, visit www.cune.edu.

WASHINGTON - Congressman Dave Loebsack reintroduced the Working to Encourage Community Action and Responsibility in Education (WE CARE) Act to help ensure that schools and communities work together with families to meet student needs inside and outside the classroom. The WE CARE Act will amend the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) to more strategically engage the community in the education of our students and ensure they succeed in school and are prepared for productive employment when they graduate.

"I would not be where I am today without the support of my community.  Whether it was my principal helping me get a job to pay for college or my grandmother taking in my siblings and me, I know first-hand the importance of what happens outside the classroom to children's ability to succeed inside the classroom and throughout their lives.  I want to be sure that every child has access to the same supports that allowed me to lift myself out of poverty by my bootstraps," said Loebsack.  "When the full community is involved, our children will be best able to reach their full potential, secure good jobs when they graduate, and grow up to be the future leaders of our state and nation."

The bill is supported by First Focus Campaign for Children, a bipartisan children's advocacy organization.  "We've learned that what happens outside the classroom matters as much for a child's education as what happens inside. Rep. Loebsack gets it, and his WE CARE Act would give kids a better chance to succeed in school and life," said First Focus Campaign for Children President Bruce Lesley.

The WE CARE Act amends ESEA to more strategically engage the community in the education of our students by:

·   Providing incentives for school districts, community-based organizations and others to work together to develop and implement Community Involvement Policies. These policies would leverage resources from the community to help meet students' non-academic needs and prepare them for success in the classroom.

·   Calling on state educational agencies and local educational agencies to include an analysis of the non-academic needs of students in their plans, along with a strategy for partnering with community-based organizations and others to meet those needs.

·   Calling on local educational agencies and schools to engage community stakeholders in the development of school improvement plans in order to utilize every possible resource available to strengthen student performance.