The Minnesota Department of Education (MDE) ensures educational equity for multilingual learners through supporting school districts and charter schools to develop, implement and evaluate research-based language instruction education programs so that multilingual learners, including students with English learner status, attain academic language…

The focus on the achievement gap has overshadowed ways in which school systems constrain student achievement through trends of racial disproportionality in areas such as school discipline, special education assignment, and juvenile justice. Using Critical Race Theory, we reframe these racial disparities as issues of institutionalized racism.…

Educational opportunities and outcomes for California's Latino students have improved over the last half century. Even so, Latino students continue to face barriers in opportunity that make it harder for them to achieve college, career, and future success. The goal of this report is to describe what Latino students currently experience in…

The purpose of this study is to address differences in states' capital spending between public four-year historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) and their predominantly White institutions (PWIs) counterparts located in the southeastern and bordering regions of the United States. This investigation was viewed through nine academic…

This article uses descriptive analyses of data from the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System to examine the status of equity for Hispanic students in public higher education institutions in Florida and Texas. The analyses show substantial inequities for Hispanics in enrollment, full-time faculty, and executive, administrative, and…

This book is organized into nine chapters. First the authors provide a historical overview of historically black colleges or universities (HBCUs), examining their founding as well as the role of African Americans, missionaries, and industrial philanthropists in their development. They also look at how these institutions have changed over time,…

The current year, 2004, marks a monumental year in higher education for students of color. This year, we celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Brown v. Board of Education decision, which declared racial segregation in public education settings unconsitutional. Despite the gains that have been made in increasing access to higher education for…

The Illinois High School Class of 2002 is part of the third generational wave of American students following the landmark Supreme Court decision in "Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka," which outlawed segregation in public education. This longitudinal study allows the authors to examine the long-term impacts of this monumental…

In this paper we review the research evidence on the effects of affirmative action in employment, university admissions, and government procurement. We consider effects on both "equity" (or distribution) as well as "efficiency." Overall, we find that affirmative action does redistribute jobs, university admissions, and…

"Straight A's: Public Education Policy and Progress" is a biweekly newsletter that focuses on education news and events both in Washington, DC and around the country. The following articles are included in this issue: (1) Graduation for All, A Right and a Responsibility: National Campaign to Focus on Increasing High School Graduation…