Public Law 107-110, the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, represents the most sweeping reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act since it was enacted in 1965. The goal of the No Child Left Behind Act is to improve the academic achievement of "all" American students so that they "all" meet their own state's…

This presentation summarizes two products of the ongoing work the authors are doing for the Campaign for Educational Equity. Part 1 of this presentation is a summary of "A Report Card on Comprehensive Equity: Racial Gaps in the Nation's Youth Outcomes." This report estimates the black-white achievement gaps in each of these aspects of…

Whenever international assessments of student achievement are conducted, in which tests of subject matter knowledge are given to students around the world, the United States scores poorly. In this issue of "The Claremont Letter," the author identifies three mistakes American educators make that undermine student learning, and suggests…

In 2007, the Pittsburgh Public Schools (PPS) requested that the RAND Corporation monitor implementation of year 2 (2007-2008) of the district's Excellence for All (EFA) initiative and provide feedback to district staff, the PPS board, and other stakeholders. In 2008, RAND expanded to a more comprehensive focus on effective implementation of EFA's…

Whatever else might be said about the No Child Left Behind Act, it has the potential to be one of the most important pieces of education civil rights legislation in a generation. Its goals are an indispensable component of a renewed commitment to promoting racial and ethnic justice. The emphasis on accountability gives essential urgency and…

New DEEL does not refer to a specific policy or reform, but rather to an ideology, unencumbered by international borders and domestic politics. In this paper, we first endeavor to identify the rhetoric of New DEEL and social justice, and the reality of its implementation in schools today; spending time on the NCLB Act which we postulate is a major…

The NSF-funded Integrating Data Analysis (IDA) Project undertaken by the American Sociological Association (ASA) and the Social Science Data Analysis Network sought to close the quantitative literacy gap for sociology majors. Working with twelve departments, the project built on lessons learned from ASA's Minority Opportunities through School…

Commission reports show that females outnumber males in college enrollment and graduation, both nationally and in California--a gap that continues to widen, especially for males in underrepresented racial and ethnic groups. Recent Commission research described this disparity and how it varies by race/ethnicity, academic discipline, and…

A diverse, Midwestern, high-poverty urban school district, under the guidance of a university reading professor with expertise in research-based instruction and reading intervention, began a professional-development initiative that resulted in improved reading achievement for its students. This article presents the background, rationale, and…

This is the 2nd "New Jersey City Kids Count," a snapshot of child well-being in New Jersey's largest and poorest cities. The report serves to measure progress and challenges in the cities where most of New Jersey's poorest children are growing up. The Association for Children of New Jersey, with funding from the Annie E. Casey…

Public schools can be considered a form of workforce development, and thus it is important to measure the "work product" of the schools. The Public Policy Forum's annual analysis of public schools in the 50 districts serving southeastern Wisconsin measured absenteeism as educational opportunities lost because children were not in class.…

Hispanics account for over one-fifth of newborns in the United States, and Hispanic children, on average, achieve at much lower levels from kindergarten forward than the non-Hispanic white majority and Asian Americans. One of the most important educational challenges for the U.S. is to increase markedly the percentage of Hispanic children who…

This report takes a look at the issues concerning racial segregation and educational outcomes in Metropolitan Boston. Despite the fact that metro Boston is overwhelmingly white, its public schools are highly segregated by race and language. Segregated minority schools in metro Boston are profoundly unequal, with high poverty levels, with lower…

The nation's culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) classrooms face a critical shortage of high-quality teachers. Representatives from dozens of major national educational associations and institutions convened September 24-26, 2003, at the Wingspread Conference Center in Racine, Wisconsin, to grapple with this issue. The conference marked…

This year people celebrate the 50th anniversary of the landmark Supreme Court decision, "Brown v. the Board of Education." A half-century after the Supreme Court found that segregated schools are "inherently unequal," there is much research to support the Court's decision. However, 2004 finds the U.S. educational system becoming more segregated…