Congress's role in defining and promoting equality of educational opportunity has evolved over the past 55 years since "Brown v. Board of Education." Most recently, all three branches of the federal government have focused more on equality of educational opportunity for "individual" students rather than for protected classes.…

Raising academic standards and eliminating achievement gaps between advantaged and disadvantaged students are America's prime national educational goals. Current federal and state policies, however, largely ignore the fact that the childhood poverty rate in the United States is 21%, the highest in the industrialized world, and that poverty…

The assistant secretary for the Office of Educational Research and Improvement of the U.S. Department of Education presents a brief review of approaches to school finance issues. Cites the Clinton administration's goal to target the bulk of Title I (formerly Chapter 1) funds to the neediest schools in the neediest districts. (MLF)

"Short Route to Chaos" criticizes the Goals 2000 program, related educational reforms, and the agenda of the Religious Right from the viewpoint of the secular Left. Arons supports school choice, school and teacher independence from government regulation of instructional content, publicly funded schools, and equity in funding. (SLD)

National standards and assessments (President Clinton's Goals 2000 Act) are being proposed to improve schools. This article reviews the bill and examines equity issues, including disparities in instructional conditions among racial/ethnic groups. Using tests to change teaching and learning reflects overreliance on top-down policy, distrust of…