Against a formidable national discourse that emphasizes academic standardization, accountability, and high-stakes testing in educational policy, "Character and Moral Education: A Reader" seeks to re-introduce and revive the moral mission of education in public conversation and practices in America's schools. With contributions from a…

The Students and Technology in Academia, Research, and Service (STARS) Alliance is a nationally-connected system of regional partnerships among higher education, K-12 schools, industry and the community with a mission to broaden the participation of women, under-represented minorities and persons with disabilities in computing (BPC). Each regional…

This article shares the experiences of two colleges, Paul D. Camp Community College (Franklin, Virginia) and Durham Technical Community College (Durham, North Carolina), in achieving their dreams. Administrators at Paul D. Camp Community College decided that it was necessary to improve the skills of their adjunct faculty. In 2006, they began…

Graduation rates are a fundamental indicator of whether or not the nation's public school system is doing what it is intended to do: enroll, engage, and educate youth to be productive members of society. Since almost 90 percent of the fastest-growing and highest-paying jobs require some postsecondary education, having a high school diploma and the…

Ethnic minority students traditionally pursue degrees and careers in the food and agricultural sciences at rates lower than their non-minority counterparts. To help improve upon this situation, the Food and Agricultural Sciences Institute (FASI) was created to expose academically talented high school students to opportunities within the food and…

The purpose of this study was to gauge the perceptions of North Carolina secondary agricultural educators regarding the benefits and barriers to diversity inclusion in North Carolina secondary agricultural education programs. Additionally, the perceived solutions to increasing diversity inclusion in North Carolina secondary agricultural education…

Public education in America continues to be viewed as being worthy of major investments to improve the county's economic position in the world. But quality education for many Americans is still not within their reach. Fifty years after the 1954 U.S. Supreme Court decision in "Brown v. Board of Education" eliminating legal segregation of…

This article reports on analyses examining contextual influences on parenting with an ethnically and geographically diverse sample of parents (predominantly mothers) raising 387 children (49% ethnic minority; 51% male) in high-risk communities. Parents and children were followed longitudinally from first through tenth grades. Contextual influences…

This paper describes a one-and-a-half day Distinguished Scholar Symposium during which undergraduate underrepresented minorities (URMs) from nearby schools visit the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC-CH) to learn about advanced degree programs in the biological sciences. The symposium created an environment that inspired URMs to…

When North Carolina native Evan Raleigh was in search of the perfect college, he had three things in mind: (1) the strength of the school's academic reputation; (2) the size of the school; and (3) the school's location and proximity to home. He found all three in the form of Wake Forest University. But Raleigh, who received a full academic…

Background/Context: Considerable controversy surrounds the issue of whether high-stakes statewide accountability programs have led to more equitable educational opportunities for all students. Some researchers suggest that these programs have focused attention on improving the achievement of students of color from low socioeconomic backgrounds.…

This qualitative action research study investigates the common barriers encountered by successful undergraduate ethnic minority students enrolled in majors that serve as a pipeline for professional health sciences. Through specialized focus group interviews and individual interviews, this study explores the perceived barriers to student success…

This paper identifies family characteristics associated with use of autism-related services. A telephone or in-person survey was completed during 2003-2005 by 383 North Carolina families with a child 11 years old or younger with ASD. Access to care is limited for racial and ethnic minority families, with low parental education, living in…

"Moving the Needle on Poverty" is designed to provide Colorado leaders with an up-to-date picture of the diverse strategies that states across the nation are pursuing to lift individuals, families, and communities out of poverty. As the report indicates, many states are choosing to set specific and measurable goals for poverty reduction,…

This report examines how well minority students are achieving in North Carolina schools. It is intended to inform parents, education leaders, policymakers, and the public about the crisis in North Carolina's public education system. Data show that too many minority students continue to be unprepared for high stakes testing. Scholastic Assessment…