The article is a commentary on "Evaluating English Learner Reclassification Policy Effects across Districts," by Joseph R. Cimpian, Karen D. Thompson, and Martha B. Makowski, which is a wonderful display of the power of combining current analytic methods, present-day educational data sets, practitioner-researcher collaborative…

An examination of past research, policies, and reforms in mathematics education suggests that there have always been, and remain, tensions in conceptualizing the aims and goals of mathematics teaching and learning. While the disproportionality and conditions of marginalized learners is a cause for concern, it is important to understand that…

This commentary was designed to accompany a series of articles in "Educational Researcher," vol. 35, no. 1, a theme issue entitled "Moving Beyond "Gratz" and "Grutter"--The Next Generation of Research." The author discusses the role of education research in civil rights litigation, drawing on historical…

Desegregation litigation has failed to address the causes of segregation. Court decisions should offer choice and control in assignments and money damages for the plaintiffs. A correct reading of the decision rendered in "Brown v. Board of Education" would make schools more racially neutral rather than attempting to balance them. (VM)

Recent literature reviews have emphasized the weakness and inconsistency of research on school desegregation outcomes. If social science is to have more influence on school desegregation policy, future research will need to work from comprehensive causal models that incorporate the conditions under which desegregation occurs. (Author/LC)

The parallels between South Africa and the United States run deep. For the United States, that moment of transition, at least as far as education is concerned, was the landmark ruling of 1954, described in the shorthand, "Brown v. Board of Education"; for South Africa, that moment came 40 years later when every citizen could, for the…

Efforts to desegregate public higher education have embodied two concerns: the need to overturn legally imposed segregation and the need to maximize educational opportunities. How lawyers and educators have brought their unique perspectives to bear on three issues is examined. (Author/MLW)

The greatest effect of Brown v. Board of Education is that it removed race as a factor in making governmental decisions. Minority groups found greater solidarity and demanded their rights. This resulted in the myth of the melting pot being submerged by the myth of pluralism. Group identity can be mixed with society's ideals, which can then…

The "Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas" decision was a crucial 20th century civil rights event. However, civil rights leaders underestimated the depth of racism and the enormity of the task of getting all black agricultural workers into the mainstream economy. That task, left over from slavery, still faces the American…

Since 1954, the force of law has been required to achieve much of America's school desegregation. Though "Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas" (1954) provided a legal basis for equal education, many inequalities still exist. In order to fulfill "Brown"'s mandate, the education community must accept its leadership…

Although many school districts and classrooms have desegregated since the 1954 Brown decision, desegregation is neither complete nor uniform. Moreover, racial isolation is growing in some regions and cities, and new forms of separation are arising within desegregated schools. New desegregation strategies and policies are needed, but these will be…

Two addresses presented at a conference of top administrators of traditionally black colleges are presented. In "The Clarion Call: Imperatives for the Pursuit of Excellence," Robert J. Albright discusses urgent issues in the survival and strengthening of historically black institutions. The paper begins by examining the significance of…

This article traces back to the time when virtually no educational research or policymaking takes integration seriously, when the courts regularly declare segregated districts unitary, when the rhetoric of race-blind social justice has been abandoned by the left and appropriated by the opponents of equality. This leads students' and other…