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…

Discusses seven of the most common myths and misconceptions about students at risk, and argues that the Goals 2000 educational reform movement could result in negative consequences for this group unless policymakers and practitioners develop a more accurate and comprehensive understanding of this population. (SLD)

Magnet schools were created as a result of the failure of mandatory desegregation plans, but the magnet schools concept has spawned the ideas of controlled parent choice of schools and the chartering of public education. Implementation of the Goals 2000 Act could jeopardize trends magnet schools have set in motion. (SLD)