This essay revisits an iconic yet now languishing phrase in United States political culture--"Forty Acres and a Mule"--to clarify the meaning of freedom and to assess the contemporary meaning of its betrayal by the U.S. government immediately after the Civil War. Among the few citizens for whom the phrase still retains a semblance of…

With the No Child Left Behind Act in limbo, the time is right for big thinking on intergovernmental collaboration in the ways we measure and report results in our schools. The Rockefeller Institute convened 40 experts including former New York education commissioner Gordon Ambach, Chester E. Finn, Jr., of the Thomas B. Fordham Institute,…

International governments are increasingly comparing their educational outcomes to the best in the world, not just to see how they rank, but to identify and learn from top performers and rapid improvers. This process, known as "international benchmarking," has become an important tool for governments striving to create world-class…

The purpose of the United States Department of Education's (the Department) FY 2013 "Agency Financial Report" (AFR) is to assist Congress, the President, and the American people to assess the Department's stewardship over resources with which it is entrusted. This annual report is required by legislation and complies with the…

The internet continues to provide new and interesting solutions to age-old problems; this paper explores how education could benefit from online solutions. The history of public education in the U.S. is fractured at best, based on a system reliant on state and local control. As new legislation came into place to meet the needs of civil rights…

The Senate Select Committee on Equal Educational Opportunity held hearings on the role in school desegregation in Pennsylvania on August 4, 1971. The testimony of several witnesses is recorded. Among those who testified are superintendents of Pennsylvania public schools and experts on human relations. In the appendix, material submitted by the…

In August 2005, Hurricane Katrina displaced the largest number of public school children ever affected by any disaster. Approximately 370,000 children, including 15,000 Latino/Hispanic children from Louisiana, were scattered throughout the 48 U.S. states (Landrieu, 2010; Louisiana Department of Education, 2004). Although much of the media…

E-Rate is a U.S. federal funding program for providing discounts for telecommunications, Internet access and internal networking costs for schools and libraries to ensure access equity across poor and rich, rural, urban and suburban areas, and highly served and underserved areas. This paper examines the impact of the E-Rate program on social…

The Australian higher education system has experienced significant changes since the mid-1980s. Notable are introduction of an income-contingent loan (the Higher Education Contribution Scheme) for "government" funded places; changing from aid to trade with respect to international students, including introduction of full fees for such…

Although Canada has committed herself to a policy of equalization of economic and educational opportunity, she lacks the necessary data to develop programs that will achieve these goals. It is the responsibility of the central government to furnish funds to research institutions throughout the country so that they can study the factors causing…

This essay outlines the federal role through Congress, the executive branch, and the judiciary in increasing equality of educational opportunity in the United States. Special emphasis is placed on government efforts of the 1960s and 1970s. (CT)

This article reports on the U.S. Supreme Court's hearing of arguments on the constitutionality of using race as a tool in assigning students to public schools, in two cases in which advocates on both sides claim to be defending the legacy of "Brown v. Board of Education" and the nation's commitment to equality. The court's conservative…

The United States Department of Education's (the Department's) "Agency Financial Report" (AFR) for fiscal year (FY) 2012 provides an overview of the Department's financial performance and results and detailed information about the Department's stewardship over the financial resources entrusted to it. Additionally, as required by the…

The 1960's were a time of constantly growing federal support for higher education, a trend which has not continued into the 1970's. From a feeling that the university could do no wrong, there is now a sense of public disenchantment. The growth of university revenues has slowed, students are disinterested and even alienated, and there is a sense of…

Money for schools is growing scarcer in the cities and states. There is ample evidence, says the author, that Uncle Sam is rich enough to pay for schools from which the nation benefits. (Editor)