Educational thought and research often operates with whole-race ("Black", "White", and "Asian") and whole-class ("low-income") categories. For both explaining disparities and assessing them normatively, it is essential to pay attention to subdivisions within those groups. Regarding affirmative action, on…

The National Art Education Association (NAEA) has failed to recognize the talents, skills, and aspirations of Afro-American art educators. There needs to be greater participation of ethnic minorities in the NAEA. (RM)

Education has long been the focal point for the debate over black claims to a special relationship with American society. Some recent works dealing with the situation of blacks in American society and education are reviewed in the context of current concerns with multiculturalism. Among the issues considered is that of affirmative action in higher…

The economic state of black America has never been healthier, yet persistent racial gaps leave African American unemployment at levels more typical of recession for whites in the United States. By challenging the predominant use of race, this compilation refocuses attention on the effects of discrimination and on the lost term "institutional…

In a test of affirmative-action policies, a white teacher, Sharon Taxman, filed reverse discrimination charges when her downsizing district terminated her and kept a black teacher of nearly identical qualifications. The case was settled out of court. If the U.S. Supreme Court had heard the case under either the Equal Protection or Title VII…

This report presents the Austin Independent School District's (AISD) Affirmative Faculty/Staff Recruitment Plan 1983 evaluation findings. The plan has two long range goals: (1) to have male and female representation at all employment levels whenever possible; and (2) to attain ethnic percentages for all levels of the professional personnel…

Evaluation findings concerning six Austin Independent School District (AISD) Assessment Centers are presented. The report describes the AISD assessment center, summarizes the evaluation findings, and provides conclusions and recommendations. The AISD assessment center is one of seven components which make up the District's Administrative…

Race is only one of the prisms through which to examine the political and social life of Americans, but it is one in which there has been insufficient determination of contemporary dynamics. For this discussion, the most important issue is the debate within the black community regarding the nature and causes of the crisis facing African Americans…

Evaluates the justifications for affirmative action and rebuts current arguments against it. Focuses on the major rationales that underlie arguments for affirmative action: compensatory justice, distributive justice, and social utility. (Author/MJL)

Data from the Current Population Survey of the U.S. Census show that black educational attainment, net of family background, became higher than that of whites in the 1950s, too early to be attributable to affirmative action. Other possible explanations, including a favorable orientation toward education in the African-American community are…

Argues that African Americans, other people of color, and those committed to democracy must counter Anglohegemony by using liberatory and emancipatory pedagogy in learning institutions. Examples of interpretive lenses of "the other" are given, and implications of using these lenses are examined. The importance of educational research is…

Drawing mainly on cross tabulations of some variables from the General Social Survey of the Roper Center for Public Opinion Research at the University of Connecticut, this paper reports black and white Americans' opinions on key issues of policy debate in the United States. In some cases, opinions are reported over a span as long as 22 years. When…

The 26 brief notes of this feature provide a snapshot of the status of blacks in higher education. Admissions policies, black enrollment, affirmative action, and actions with the potential for detrimental effects on blacks in higher education are among the issues considered. (SLD)

This paper examines the position of the African American male in three categories identified as critical indicators in assessing important sociological trends. For each of the following indicators, the report gives a general, comparative, and projective analysis: (1) economics and labor; (2) education; and (3) incarceration. The section on…

Decisions on busing, racial quotas and affirmative action made since 1954 are reviewed. It is shown that while progress has been made, full equality for Blacks has not yet been achieved. (MC)