This week, Harvard named a new president and made a change to its application, the FAFSA will be delayed for a second year, and changes to AP exam scoring methods are altering student scores.
Harvard University has named Alan Garber as its 31st president. Garber has been serving as interim president since January, and replaced former president Claudine Gay, who resigned amidst plagiarism concerns that arose shortly after her widely-criticized congressional hearing regarding antisemitism on college campuses. He will serve through the 2026-27 academic year.
Also at Harvard… 2024 applicants will see a new supplemental essay prompt this year, which asks applicants to reflect on a time they “strongly disagreed with someone.” After a year of campus turmoil and complaints that there’s been a change in students’ freedom to share dissenting views on campus, Harvard joins many other institutions in asking about real disagreement and how applicants have handled it.
After this year’s botched rollout, the FAFSA will be delayed for a second year. Beginning next October, the Education Department will pilot a new phased rollout where the application will become available to a select group of students starting October 1st, then incrementally rolled out to all students by December 1st.
The College Board’s 2022 decision to adopt a new methodology for scoring AP exams has altered student scores, nearly doubling the percentage of students receiving 4s and 5s in some subjects. New data shows how the AP passing rate has changed over time for five of the most highly-requested exams.
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