Public Agenda was asked by the Nebraska State Board of Education and the Nebraska Department of Education (referred to hereafter as the State Board and the NDE) to help design and implement a public engagement process that would allow a cross-section of the state's citizens to comment on the central ideas contained in the document "Equitable…

Investigates the relationship between educational attainment and curriculum reform in Scotland's secondary schools. In the mid-1980s Scotland attempted to reduce social and educational stratification by simultaneously changing their curriculum and opening it to all students. Details the changes and presents statistical information showing the…

Reviews the research on access to and persistence within higher education among women, minorities, older, and part-time students. Discovers that, although participation among these groups has risen dramatically since 1960, enrollment among blacks and Latinos dropped during the 1980s. Discusses causes and implications of these developments. (MJP)

Online education may help address the challenges of growing student enrollment, overcrowded schools, outdated buildings, teacher shortages, scheduling conflicts, limited educational opportunities (especially advanced-placement classes), and other equity concerns. Snapshots of virtual high schools in Florida, Kentucky, and West Virginia are…

American educators are achieving much success in their efforts to enable a wider and more diverse group of U.S. students than ever before to succeed in college-level studies in high school. Yet individuals must also gaze clear-eyed at the inequities that remain and the challenges that accompany success in expanding access to the Advanced Placement…

The Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights (OCR) is charged with protecting fundamental rights to equal educational opportunity. During fiscal year (FY) 1990, OCR received 3,382 discrimination complaints, the highest number (as of that year) in the agency's history. OCR's National Enforcement Strategy, announced in 1990, was to focus…

Twenty-five years after it was enacted by Congress in 1972, Title IX of the Education Amendments (the federal mandate against sex discrimination in education) has opened doors previously closed to women and girls. This report by the National Coalition for Women and Girls in Education (NCWGE) celebrates the progress made to date but also identifies…

Educational finance reforms and desegregation have both sought to address inequities in educational opportunities for minorities and low income families. The recent methods of addressing desegregation issues have tended to focus on attaining racial balance rather than educational quality, however. This paper explores how desegregation goals can be…

Texts of two documents adopted by the World Conference on Education for All, held in Jomtien, Thailand, are contained in this handbook. The "World Declaration on Education for All" and the "Framework for Action To Meet Basic Learning Needs" represent a worldwide consensus on an expanded vision of basic education and a…

Many education reformers criticize the mediocre state of learning in high schools in the United States. In order to insure that all students have equal access to high quality teaching, it is argued that educators must explore the potent connections among school setting, ability grouping, teaching methods, and student opportunity to learn. The…

Based on the realization that the rapid worldwide growth of educational systems over the last two decades has not produced the expected eradication of social inequality, an international seminar was held for educational policy-makers, planners from developing countries, research workers in the area, and representatives of aid agencies from 33…

This discussion of how the effectiveness of federal student aid can be evaluated is framed in terms of three questions: (1) Has federal student aid expanded educational opportunity; that is, has it encouraged the enrollment and broadened the educational choices of disadvantaged students? (2) Has federal student aid made the distribution of higher…

Programs must be designed to remove barriers to equitable vocational education. Barriers to such programs are erosion of public and special interest group confidence in the educational system; lack of systematic student services; and lack of mutual awareness, communication, and cooperation between vocational and general educators. To remove…

This report examines the status of women in Minnesota's schools, with emphasis on the effect of education on women's economic status. Educational attainment for Minnesota women is above the national average. Thirty-two percent of women in the state, compared with 28 percent of American women generally, have some post-secondary education. In…

Some of the faults and values implied by present methods of financing higher education are examined, and new financial arrangements are proposed. Problems with the current system include: the price to the consumer of higher education in relation to its cost of production, tuition gaps among schools, and evaluating the price in relation to value of…