This report on the state's early education system offers a dark assessment, but not a fatalistic one, especially if leaders can seize and build on reform efforts that have already started in patches throughout the state. There's much more that policymakers, advocates and the state can--and should--be doing to work toward a day when all California…

Richard Murnane observes that the American ideal of equality of educational opportunity has for years been more the rhetoric than the reality of the nation's political life. Children living in poverty, he notes, tend to be concentrated in low-performing schools staffed by ill-equipped teachers. They are likely to leave school without the skills…

This paper provides an overview of U.S. Department of Education programs authorized and funded under federal law. It includes information as well on the laboratories, centers, and other facilities funded by the Department that provide important resources for education. Each entry, which gives a brief overview of a program or resource, is listed…

The achievement gap, the persistent disparity between the performance of African American and Hispanic students and that of white and Asian American students, is perhaps the most stubborn, perplexing issue confronting American schools today. Closing the gap is widely seen as important not just for the education system but ultimately for the…

Researchers have disagreed about the extent to which differences in achievement based on socioeconomic status (SES) accumulate during the school year as compared to the summer, and the literature has not fully assessed the contributions of social contexts--in the form of both school and neighborhood poverty concentration and racial and ethnic…

This PowerPoint report summarizes AISD student demographic and academic performance results at elementary schools as of the end of the 2007-2008 school year.

This booklet is one in a series of "hot topics" reports produced by the Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory. This particular issue is a joint publication of NWREL's Equity Center and the Office of Planning and Service Coordination. These reports briefly address current educational concerns and issues as indicated by requests for information…

This article discusses the Atayal aboriginal kindergarten program in Taiwan, known as the Kui-whai kindergarten program. While teaching a course on "Designing Kindergarten Curriculum" at a teacher-training program in Taiwan, the author realized that she had seven aboriginal preservice teachers in her class; previously she had none. Those…

The landmark legal decision, Brown v. Board of Education, was rendered on May 17, 1954. Fifty years later, campuses and communities are commemorating the decision and its impact on contemporary life. The Harvard legal scholar, Charles Ogletree, has published a riveting book of his reflections, a government commission is staging a variety of…

On average, black students typically score one standard deviation below white students on standardized tests--roughly the difference in performance between the average 4th grader and the average 8th grader. Historically, what has come to be known as the black-white test-score gap has emerged before children enter kindergarten and has tended to…

This article describes results from the Oregon Latino Youth Survey, which was designed to identify factors that promote or hinder academic success for Latino middle school and high school youngsters. The study samples included a total of 564 Latino and non-Latino students and parents. Analyses showed that Latino students reported a high frequency…

This double issue of "The Evaluation Exchange" focuses on one of the central components of complementary learning: family involvement. As outlined in the Theory & Practice article, investments in family involvement are important across ages and settings and through the co-constructed efforts and shared responsibilities of many…

"Harvard Education Letter" is published bimonthly at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. This issue of "Harvard Education Letter" contains the following articles: (1) Early Childhood Education at a Crossroads: Access to Preschool Has Come a Long Way, but Critical Choices Lie Ahead (Deborah Stipek); (2) Bridging the…

The Louisiana Literacy Plan is designed to address the learning needs of all students in grades PK-Adult Education in order to improve the literacy rates of students in the state, thereby developing a more literate and capable citizenry for the future. Connecting this plan to the No Child Left Behind Act, Louisiana seeks to close the achievement…