This article offers an analysis of how refugee youths from Africa used and shifted languages and discourses in the United States. Drawing on sociocultural theories of language and utilizing ethnographic discourse and classroom observation data, the author illustrates the varied ways in which three high school--aged refugee youths used languages to…

This report presents key findings from "Learning in the Fast Lane: The Past, Present, and Future of Advanced Placement," by Chester E. Finn, Jr. and Andrew E. Scanlan, and published by Princeton University Press in 2019. American education has long been plagued by excellence gaps among the young people who make it into the highest levels…

This National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) First Look report introduces new data for the universe of public elementary and secondary schools and agencies in the United States in school year (SY) 2012-13. Specifically, this report includes statistics that describe: (1) the numbers and types of public elementary and secondary schools and…

Using the G8 countries' (Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Russian Federation, the United Kingdom, and the United States) samples from the 2003 Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), this study aimed to explore the phenomenon of double jeopardy in mathematics achievement for socially disadvantaged students. Double jeopardy…

For decades, educators and researchers have observed practices of educational inequality in U.S. schools. In a multicultural democracy, schooling without educational equality constitutes injustice. This article explores the limitation of the current traditional teacher education in preparing highly competent and socially conscious teachers needed…

Former Baltimore cop and teacher Ed Burns isn't a masochist. The writer-producer for "The Wire," a critically applauded HBO series about life and death on the streets of Baltimore, is just feverishly trying to save public schools. He thinks American education is hopelessly screwed up, but that it's also the country's only hope. So it…

Even before the 2005 "Disaster in the Delta"--as the devastation and loss wrought by the category-three hurricane known as Katrina came to be known--statistics emerged about the aggressive educational neglect of Louisiana's African American schoolchildren. The harrowing data about the inadequacies being as racialized as the distribution…

The policy of open school choice in the Netherlands has increased the isolation of ethnic minority students in urban public schools as white flight occurs. Parents and students tend to separate themselves from those who are different, a finding with implications for school choice in the United States. (SLD)

Many deep-rooted problems in urban areas of the United States--including crime, poverty, and poor health--correlate with illiteracy. The statistics reported by organizations such as the National Alliance for Urban Literacy Coalitions are telling. Urban citizens who cannot read sufficiently are at a clear disadvantage in life. They are more likely…

Teacher education programs throughout the United States are grappling with how to raise the achievement levels of children in diverse communities. The fact that urban schools show a downward trend in achievement levels among their student populations speaks to the gravity of the situation and brings to the forefront the need for more culturally…

The United States is experiencing a wave of immigration unprecedented since the early 1900s. This report examines the schooling needs of immigrant students, assesses how well those needs are being met, and suggests strategies for improving schooling outcomes for immigrants. Immigrant education is examined as a political issue and as a challenge…

Aimed at eliminating the barriers to learning wrought about by poverty, Minneapolis and other urban school districts educate a substantial portion of poor and disadvantaged children and go nearly anywhere to hold parenting classes, homeless shelters, neonatal care units, high schools, and even jails. This article details the early childhood…

This report is the nation's sixth look at how its major city school systems are performing on the state assessments devised to boost standards, measure progress, provide opportunity, and ensure accountability for results. Data are presented on 66 city school systems from 38 states and the District of Columbia. The statistics are presented…

The national supply of teachers has risen to meet the demand, largely because of the growing interest in alternative programs of teacher preparation. An overview is given of alternative teacher certification that has allowed many districts, especially large urban districts, to fill their vacancies. (SLD)

A problem with interpretations of differences in mathematic achievement between students from Asian countries and those from the United States is the seemingly implicit assumption of the cultural homogeneity of Asian societies. Researchers rarely measure the effects of variables within cultures that are hypothesized to be related to differences…