The history of SAT® score scales is summarized, and the need for realigning SAT score scales is demonstrated. The process employed to produce the conversions that take scores from the original SAT scales to recentered scales in which reference group scores are centered near the midpoint of the score-reporting range is laid out. For the purposes of…

Throughout the United States, schools most frequently punish the students who have the greatest academic, social, economic, and emotional needs. An examination of which students are most likely to be suspended, expelled, or removed from the classroom for punishment, reveals that minorities (especially Blacks and Latinos), males, and low achievers…

Many community colleges have pursued aggressive initiatives to serve students on welfare, creating new academic programs or expanding existing ones. This chapter highlights case studies of best practices that illustrate how institutional initiatives targeting welfare students have resulted in an expanded capacity to educate and serve mainstream…

Fifty years ago, the Supreme Court ruled in "Brown v. Board of Education" that: "Segregation of white and Negro children in the public schools of a State solely on the basis of race, pursuant to state laws permitting or requiring such segregation, denies to Negro children the equal protection of the laws guaranteed by the Fourteenth…

This report summarizes the postsecondary plans and scholarship monies of graduates of Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA) high school seniors in SY07-08. Postsecondary plans represent the intentions of seniors the year after graduation. Students indicate whether they plan to attend a 4-year college/university, junior/community…

"Harvard Education Letter" is published bimonthly at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. This issue of "Harvard Education Letter" contains the following articles: (1) Beyond the Gap: What Educators and Researchers Are Learning from High-Achieving African American and Latino Students (Michael Sadowski); (2) Aiming for AYP:…

The high school diploma is no longer the credential for a lifetime and it has not been for decades. Since the 1970s, there has been a growing consensus that training or education beyond high school is necessary to qualify for "family wage" jobs, jobs that pay enough for a family to live reasonably comfortably. Despite this widespread…

Analysis by the Civil Rights Project has shown that the isolation of Latino and black students from white students in public schools has substantially increased since the l980s. These findings have been criticized recently in a report by the Mumford Center at the University at Albany, "Resegregation in American Public Schools? Not in the 1990s"…

Created through Woodrow Wilson's Responsive Ph.D. initiative, "Diversity and the Ph.D." looks at a range of mechanisms through which foundations, government agencies, and nonprofits have sought to recruit and retain more minority students in U.S. doctoral programs. Drawing on interviews with the leaders of 13 such programs, the report also points…

We describe the process of relationship-based intervention and associated changes in children and teachers' relationships and behaviors within center-based child care and examine the circumstances under which changes were most likely to occur. The relationship-based intervention had three components: research partners in each participating…

The USA is undergoing tremendous cultural changes as we open the first decade of the 21st century. In this paper the author discusses the need to close the performance gap that exists between White, African American, and Latino/a students. To do so, educators must carefully consider several important cultural forces. The author examines the shift…

In response to the national push to raise academic performance of all students, most states have adopted policies designed to raise academic standards, monitor progress toward those standards, and hold schools and students responsible for attaining them. Given the complex nature of the educational process, these policies are likely to have mixed…

This study examined the influence of racial/ethnic dynamics on the process of social and academic integration. Students of diverse racial/ethnic and academic backgrounds were interviewed throughout their first-year and again at the beginning of their sophomore year about their pre-college and in-college experiences. Results yielded a qualitative…

Increased numbers of minority students as well as increased numbers of Florida high school graduates entering higher education in Florida have influenced Florida SUS [State University System] enrollment and graduation characteristics. This study of 510,952 undergraduate students shows that between the years 1996 and 2003, the number of entering…

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…