This study addresses the question of how undergraduates with an opportunity to serve as teachers, or "peer facilitators", at the college level think about and approach teaching. Peer facilitators in the "Gateway Science Workshop" Program at Northwestern University serve in a teaching role for one to two years, leading weekly,…

Equality of educational opportunity is threatened by long-standing gaps in student achievement by race, gender, and student poverty, as well as by school sector and school poverty. The true magnitude of these gaps cannot be understood, however, unless these factors are considered simultaneously. While accounting for the effects of demographic…

This article will focus on the efforts of the State of Illinois to desegregate Chicago Public Schools between 1971 and 1979. The article also examines the responsibility taken on by the State of Illinois to desegregate schools and the limits between establishing the mechanisms to desegregate and the ability to accomplish those goals in Chicago.…

In 2009, Excelencia in Education launched the Ensuring America's Future initiative to inform, organize, and engage leaders in a tactical plan to increase Latino college completion. An executive summary of Latino College Completion in 50 states synthesizes information on 50 state factsheets and builds on the national benchmarking guide. Each…

In this article, we argue that preparing and maintaining a cadre of culturally responsive teachers is critical to improving urban education and achieving educational equity. We discuss a collaborative, social-justice-oriented approach to teacher preparation committed to developing a stable and effective teaching force reflective of the student…

Society's failure to educate proportionate numbers of African American students in mathematics is an ongoing problem. The roots of this problem lie in systemic racism and segregated schools. The overwhelming majority of economically disadvantaged African American high school students at segregated schools receive substandard mathematics education.…

This study examines the distribution, change, and impact of the Index of Teacher Academic Capital (ITAC) in all Illinois public schools from 2001 to 2006. The ITAC is a school-level composite of five measures: teacher ACT Composite and English scores, teacher Basic Skills Test results, teacher certification status, and teacher undergraduate…

It's a familiar refrain in American education: African-American children score lower on standardized tests, graduate high school at lower rates, and are considerably more likely to be suspended or expelled than the general population. Two recent reports, one from the Council of the Great City Schools and one from the American Institutes for…

This study explores teachers' perceptions of equity in education for students in four high-poverty elementary schools in Chicago. Teachers in high-poverty schools in Chicago regularly face dilemmas in serving high-need students with limited resources due to significant gaps in funding of metropolitan public schools. Literature on equity in…

This publication reviews 56 bills introduced in the 95th General Assembly that, if signed into law by the Governor, would have the most direct positive and negative impacts on communities of color. The "2007-2008 Illinois Legislative Report Card on Racial Equity" evaluates the Governor and legislators on their responses to these…

This article uses a social justice framework to problematize national and local policies in housing and education which propose to reduce poverty and improve educational performance of low-income students through mixed-income strategies. Drawing on research on Chicago, the article argues mixed-income strategies are part of the neoliberal…

Asa Hilliard has left his mark, and his name belongs in the pantheon of esteemed African American scholars, educational researchers, teachers, and activists. Although his work has served as a clarion call for an Afrocentric orientation in psychology and education to address the needs of African American students, his contributions to the field's…

The purpose of this study will be to examine the policies and practices of two distinguished superintendents of the Chicago Public Schools: Dr. Joseph P. Hannon and the first African American female Superintendent Dr. Ruth Love. Hannon's four year administration extended from 1975 through 1979. Love's administration encompassed the years 1980…

"Lumina Foundation Lessons" is an occasional publication in which the Foundation shares the results of its grantees' work on strategies to increase student access to and success in college. This issue highlights the work of grantees at three distinct postsecondary institutions: Tallahassee Community College in Florida, Harry S. Truman…

When scholars write about their research in writing programs' archives, they often face the ethical question of whether to name the administrators who were involved in documents. The author identifies and provides examples of three basic orientations to this issue, which he calls overt-historical, covert-qualitative, and hybrid-institutional.…