A study of 6 low-achieving and 5 high-achieving minority-isolated elementary schools in San Diego, California, identified 28 factors that appeared to make a difference in achievement levels. Thirteen were associated with time-on-task, focus, and structure, i.e. variables within the schools' control. The remainder were miscellaneous background…

Asserts that Black education in South Africa is inferior in every way, the result of apartheid. In a 1983-84 study of the reasons for poor academic performance in Blacks' schools, students blame the situation on the following: (1) teachers; (2) themselves; (3) the facilities and equipment; (4) unfair marking; (5) poor home conditions; and (6)…

Criticizes James Coleman's study, "Public and Private Schools," and points out methodological weaknesses in sampling, testing, data reliability, and statistical methods. Questions assumptions which have led to conclusions justifying federal support, especially tuition tax credits, to private schools. Raises the issue of ethical standards…

Analysis of data on over 42,000 Louisiana 10-graders and their scores on the Louisiana Graduation Exit Examination revealed that the proportion of African American students in a school was powerfully and negatively related to achievement, this influence was not explained by socioeconomic factors, and achievement of both Whites and African…

Discusses the history of the Washington public school system from pre-1945 to the present to show how its problems have evolved. Discusses why the system's bad image developed and why it has been so slow to change. Student achievement and segregation are discussed extensively. (JS)

Measured the wealth redistribution effected by southern schools and the taxes that supported them using data from a large sample of southern states for 1880 through 1910. When taxes and expenditures are considered, the separate but equal school system appears to have provided a net transfer to black students. Public schooling in the South was a…

Ng suggests that a funding scheme that is dramatically unequal in direct spending can still be fair, but his measure of fairness, net subsidy, flies in the face of all government public-good spending practices. Politicians trying to avoid the issue of unequal funding should not take comfort from Ng's analysis. (SLD)

Uses survey data from 1,833 high school students in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, North Carolina, to study the direct and indirect negative effects of segregation on academic achievement in the context of the "Swann" court decision. Demonstrates how whites retain privileged access to greater opportunities to learn and how segregated…

Schooling and the state of student achievement will receive intense scrutiny this year during the observance of the 50th anniversary of "Brown v. Board of Education" (2004). In "Brown" the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the "separate but equal" doctrine that had been established under "Plessy v. Ferguson" (1896) and the legal foundation under which…

TESTIMONY WAS PRESENTED BEFORE THE U.S. SUPREME COURT WHICH INDICATED THAT RACIAL SEGREGATION AND DISCRIMINATION DAMAGE THE PERSONALITIES OF ALL CHILDREN. ALTHOUGH THIS TESTIMONY WAS PRESENTED IN REFERENCE TO DE JURE SCHOOL SEGREGATION, IT IS REASONABLE TO ASSUME THAT THE SAME KIND OF DAMAGE IS DONE TO THOSE CHILDREN WHO ATTEND DE FACTO SCHOOLS,…

Tacoma School District's Exemplary Magnet Program had three main goals as its focus: (1) to increase student achievement in three elementary schools in the District; (2) to maintain or improve the racial-cultural balance in three elementary schools in the District; and, (3) to improve intergroup attitudes and behaviors among students and teachers…

Contests the State of Texas argument in the Texas Assessment of Academic Skills (TAAS) case that historical discrimination against African Americans and Mexican Americans is unrelated to their TAAS outcomes. Examines contemporary de facto school segregation, distribution of substandard teachers, and the relationship of these factors to student…

This essay describes significant legal and policy system changes in America's 50-year crusade to curtail or eliminate racially segregated public school. In hindsight, a more forceful initial policy system stance regarding judicial enforcement might well have resulted in greater desegregation success. However, after 5 decades of judicial and…

From 1997 the New Labour government was eager to affirm a commitment to social justice and racial equality, and initially there were moves to address some long-standing educational grievances. But a continuation of Conservative market policies of choice and diversity in schooling and a targeting of 'failing' schools exacerbated school segregation…

Fifty years after the "Brown" decision, it is timely to examine whether society has supported middle level educators in creating schools where young adolescents living in poor communities do indeed attend schools that are socially just, diverse, democratic, and culturally relevant. In this article, the authors explore the significance of race and…