The IRE Resource Center is a major research library containing more than 23,250 investigative stories — both print and broadcast. These stories are searchable online or by contacting the Resource Center directly (573-882-3364 or rescntr@ire.org) where a researcher can help you pinpoint what you need. Browse or search the tipsheet section of our library below. Stories are not available for download but can be easily ordered by contacting the Resource Center:
Search results for "enroll" ...
-
For-Profit-College Business Model Breeds Exploitative Marketing Tactics
In the first radio piece: Interviews with former recruiters, faculty, administrators and students of a small group of for-profit colleges in Minnesota paint a picture of schools that are exploiting unsophisticated students for their financial-aid money. Analysis points to a high-enrollment, high-dropout business model that earns the company millions but provides questionable return on taxpayer investment. In the second radio piece: Political differences at the federal level make it unclear how much the government will regulate for-profit colleges. At the Minnesota state level, the leading official for higher-ed says his agency doesn’t have the resources to go after problem colleges – and isn’t sure whether beefing up enforcement would be the best use of higher-education funding.
Tags: Non-profit colleges; financial aid; business models; for-profit colleges
-
A Damaged District
For more than a year, Zahira Torres overcame obstacle after obstacle to document one of the worst school cheating scandals in the nation's history. Where other cheating scandals involved altering accountability tests, the El Paso Independent School District gamed the state and federal accountability systems by targeting Mexican immigrant students. In a number of cases, district officials refused to enroll students or pushed out students already enrolled -- denying countless students their constitutional right to an education. In other cases, they arbitrarily reclassified grade levels or altered transcripts, all in an attempt to keep students out of the testing pool. Torres' reporting sparked numerous results. The superintendent who masterminded the scheme went to federal prison. The state education agency removed the school board. And when Torres' reporting documented that the state was aware of details of the cheating in 2010 and cleared the district anyway, the new education commissioner ordered an independent investigation of how the agency missed the cheating.
Tags: schools; scandals; education; school board
-
Little Known Colleges Exploit Loopholes to Make Millions Off Foreign Students
The Chronicle found numerous colleges -- most of them unaccredited -- exploit byzantine federal regulations, enrolling almost exclusively foreign students and charging them upward $3,000 for a chance to work legally in the United States. Enabled by lax state regulations, these colleges usher in thousands of foreign students and generate millions of dollars in profit because they have the power, bestowed by the U.S. government, to help students get visas.
Tags: college; foreign; student; visa; unaccredited; college; university
-
"Making a Killing"
A 26-year-old bipolar student enrolled in a drug trial at the University of Minnesota. However, Carl Elliott reveals that the professors who were ran the study knew that the student was probably "not competent to give his consent" because he suffered from "severe psychotic delusions." He was given a powerful antipsychotic and eventually stabbed himself to death. Elliott is "a professor of medical ethics at the University of Minnesota," and believes that the professors who were running the drug study would profit from it and that the student who committed suicide was "coerced" into participating.
Tags: bipolar; drug trial; antipsychotic; Seroquel; University of Minnesota; AstraZeneca
-
"Allegations of Enrollment Abuses at U. of Phoenix"
In this series, Marketplace and ProPublica team up to investigate accusations that The University of Phoenix has been lying to potential students, as well as improperly advising students on financial aid options. They found enrollment counselors frequently pressured students to sign up, and also lied to students about "whether their credits" were transferable.
Tags: University of Phoenix; Bill Pepicello; Congressman George Miller; American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers; Barmak Nassirian; Career College Association; Department of Education; Harris Miller; The Apollo Group
-
Government Orders Columbia to Tell Patients 'True Nature' of Drug Study
Columbia University Medical Center conducted a study with experimental surgical fluid on patients undergoing open heart surgery. Subjects were not made aware of the risks of potentially fatal bleeding caused by the fluid. Some of the study's subjects were poor, Spanish-speaking patients who were enrolled without giving formal consent. At least two patients died and more than two dozen required transfusions.
Tags: Columbia University Medical Center; open heart; surgery; fluid; internal bleeding; fatal; study; experimental; emergency room;
-
Weighing the Options
"Significant numbers of black students fled on low-performing school only to land at another one, and many neighborhoods with the worst schools have yet to see new, better schools open. We also found black and Latino enrollment declining in magnet schools, the oldest schools of choice in the district."
Tags: racism; administration; education; Renaissance 2010; elementary; high school
-
Subtraction by Addition: A watchdog report on MPS' failed construction program
The series focused on a failed $102 million neighborhood school building program to add classrooms, gyms, libraries, labs and entire schools for Milwaukee schoolchildren. The investigation found that tens of millions of dollars of classrooms added since 2001 sit empty or severely underused.
Tags: school district; construction; enrollment; classroom; academic; test score
-
Ghost Schools
Charter high schools operated by for-profit corporations are experiencing the nation's worst rates of rampant absenteeism with many campuses reporting daily truancy rates of more than 50 percent of student enrollment. The investigation found that some school officials have learned it's a profitable business model to be paid millions of tax dollars not to teach kids who don't show up. The trend is worst in Ohio.
Tags: education; charter school; absenteeism; student; enrollment; school funding
-
Leaving to Learn: DPS' Enrollment Gap
The reporters used data from Denver Public Schools, the US Census Bureau, and the Piton Foundation of Denver to determine where Denver's school age children were going to school. Their analysis found that nearly a quarter of Denver's children do not go to public schools, and that many students from certain areas of the city are attending suburban schools instead of city schools.
Tags: education; school; transportation; Census; demographics; data analysis