(1984). Legal Aspects of the Brown Decision. In Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas, the Supreme Court outlawed segregation in the nation's public schools. This decision has not eliminated racial segregation, but it fundamentally altered the psychological pattern of race relations in the United States. Brown concerned a form of racial discrimination that has virtually vanished from American life: racial segregation enforced by law. Before Brown, 17 States and the District of Columbia mandated segregated public schools, under the "separate but equal" doctrine generated by the Plessy v. Ferguson case in 1896. In 1930, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) began a campaign that would bring into effect the 14th Amendment's constitutional guarantee of equality for Blacks. The campaign began in States making no provision for the graduate or professional training of its Black citizens. In the first of these cases, the Gaines case of 1938, the Supreme Court eventually ruled that…
(2021). What's Next in New Orleans. The Louisiana City Has the Most Unusual School System in America. But Can the New Board of a Radically Decentralized District Handle the Latest Challenges?. Education Next, v21 n3 p32-40 Sum. In post-Hurricane Katrina New Orleans, control of the public schools was wrested from the seven-member Orleans Parish School Board (OPSB). Unheard-of academic gains followed the city's switch to a near-universal charter-school system, yet returning to failure always felt as close as the next hurricane. Give OPSB power again, people said, and the schools would slide right back where they started. In 2018, the district reunified. Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, academic improvement had stalled in New Orleans. But as schools shuffled students back and forth between in-person and virtual schooling, amid a resurgence in COVID-19 cases and revitalized calls for racial justice, there was turnover in the school board seats. There are now plans to focus on students' mental health and systemic racism along with the usual fretting over test scores and charter renewals. Charter groups have been working together and with the district for several years now, first to develop the… [Direct]
(1996). Welcome to Heights High: The Crippling Politics of Restructuring America's Public Schools. The American public education system seems to be resistant to curative measures. This book is a journalistic account of Cleveland Heights High School's unsuccessful struggle to achieve excellence and equity. The high school, located in a middle-class suburb of Cleveland, implemented the Model School Project in 1988 to address the persistent failure of its minority students. The data were drawn from 4 years of observation and interviews. The story reveals the destructive organizational, political, social, and racial tensions inherent in public school organization and operation. Despite its estimable goals, ample funding, and grassroots leadership by the teaching staff, the project did not gain educational equity for the school's African-American students, nor did it bring about the desired restructuring of the school. Ironically, the teacher-led campaign to reinvent the school was thwarted by the long-simmering frustrations of the very constituency it sought to better serve. The…
(1989). Assessment of the Status of African-Americans. Volume II: Research on the African-American Family: A Holistic Perspective. In 1987 a project was undertaken to assess the status of African Americans in the United States in the topical areas to be addressed by the National Research Council's Study Committee on the Status of Black Americans: education, employment, income and occupations, political participation and the administration of justice, social and cultural change, health status and medical care, and the family. Six volumes resulted from the study. This volume, the second, uses a holistic perspective to examine recent social and economic trends among black families and to describe how a holistic framework can enhance understanding of the causes and cures of the current crisis among black families. The impact of both external and internal factors is assessed, and new research and programmatic insights to facilitate the development of more effective strategies are discussed. Recommendations are made for public and private policymakers and service providers. The following sections are included: (1)… [PDF]
(1996). Racial & Ethnic Diversity in Higher Education. ASHE Reader Series. This text is a resource on racial and ethnic diversity for faculty and students in higher education. It is organized in sections related to the history of racial and ethnic diversity in higher education, curriculum and teaching, students, faculty, administration, leadership and governance, and research issues. The chapters are: (1) \History of American Indian Community Colleges\ (W. Larry Belgarde); (2) \Bricks without Straw: Missionary-Sponsored Black Higher Education in the Post-Emancipation Era\ (Johnetta Cross Brazzell); (3) \Ethnicity in American Life: The Historical Perspective\ (John Hope Franklin); (4) \Indian, Chicano, and Puerto Rican colleges: Status and Issues\ (Michael A. Olivas); (5) \The Ignominious Origin of Ethnic Pluralism in America\ (Stephen Steinberg); (6)\The Minority Student in College: A Historical Analysis\ (Michael Washington); (7) \The 'Untameable Savage Spirit': American Indians in Colonial Colleges\ (Bobby Wright); (8) \Multicultural Literacy and…
(2004). Chronicle of Higher Education. Volume 50, Number 35, May 7, 2004. Chronicle of Higher Education, v50 n35 May. \Chronicle of Higher Education\ presents an abundant source of news and information for college and university faculty members and administrators. This May 7, 2004 issue of \Chronicle for Higher Education\ includes the following articles: (1) \Athletics Director Caught in 2002 Resume Scandal Gets a Second Chance\ (Suggs, Welch); (2) \NCAA Punishes Auburn U. for Contact with Youth-Team Coach\ (Suggs, Welch); (3) \U. of Washington Report Describes Doped-Up Softball Players and Bullying Coach\ (Managhan, Peter); (4) \A Mission Born of a Sense of Overwhelming Gratitude\ (Farrell, Elizabeth F.); (5) \At the Women's March: 2 Students, 2 Hearts, 2 Minds\ (Jacobson, Jennifer); (6) \UCLA Uses New Software to Block Online Piracy\ (Read, Brock); (7) \Pearson will Offer Online Textbooks at Half Price\ (Carlson, Scott); (8) \Dell's Chairman Faces Campus Critics of Company's Recycling Record\ (Carlson, Scott); (9) \Insecure and Unaware\ (Foster, Andrea L.); (10) \Bush Praises Community Colleges… [Direct]
(1990). Assessment of the Status of African-Americans. Volume VI: Critiques of the NRC Study, "A Common Destiny: Blacks and American Society.". In 1987 a project was undertaken to assess the status of African Americans in the United States in the topical areas to be addressed by the National Research Council's (NRC) Study Committee on the Status of Black Americans: education, employment, income and occupations, political participation and the administration of justice, social and cultural change, health status and medical care, and the family. Six volumes resulted from this study. This volume, the final one in the series, is a set of critiques of the NRC study by some members of the Trotter Institute's study groups. The NRC study has provided much useful data and some important considerations, but it is oriented toward racial discrimination in the dimensions of individual action. No consideration is given to the"extra-individual effect" of institutional racism. The following essays, referring to individual NRC study chapters, are included: (1) "Introduction" (Wornie L. Reed); (2) "Critique of Chapter… [PDF]
(1996). Secret Apartheid. A Report on Racial Discrimination against Black and Latino Parents and Children in the New York City Public Schools. The New York Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) is a grass-roots community organization representing 20,000 mostly low-income residents of New York City. This report presents evidence uncovered by ACORN of institutional racism in the New York City public schools that prevents parents of color from making informed decisions about their children's education. In nearly 100 test visits to schools in 16 community school districts, the ACORN Schools Office discovered that Black and Latino parents were permitted to speak with an educator less than half as often as White parents, and that White parents were given tours of the school two and a half times more often than Black or Latino parents. White parents appeared to receive better treatment, and access to information about gifted programs appeared to vary by the race of the person making the inquiry. Many times discrimination was evident only when the experiences of white and minority parents could be compared…. [PDF]
(1994). Changing College Classrooms: New Teaching and Learning Strategies for an Increasingly Complex World. Jossey-Bass Higher and Adult Education Series. This volume offers 19 papers by college faculty on concrete information and suggestions for the improvement of college teaching, student learning, and the whole education process. The titles and authors are: (1) "Rethinking College Instruction for a Changing World" (Diane F. Halpern); (2) "Inquiry as a Tool in Critical Thinking" (Alison King); (3) "Using Examples to Teach Concepts" (Betsy N. Decyk); (4) "Fostering Creativity Through Problem Solving" (Cris E. Guenter); (5) "Cooperative Learning in the Classroom" (James L. Cooper et al.); (6) "Questioning Techniques for the Active Classroom" (C. Bobbi Hansen); (7) "Cultural Diversity and Curricular Coherence" (Bernard Goldstein); (8) "Experiential Approaches to Enhancing Cultural Awareness" (Ellen N. Junn); (9) "Unmasking the Myths of Racism" (Gale S. Auletta, Terry Jones); (10) "Strategies for Teaching in a Multicultural Environment"…
(2000). Freirean Pedagogy, Praxis, and Possibilities: Projects for the New Millennium. Volume 19, Critical Education Practice. Volume 1417, Garland Reference Library of Social Science. This book contains 15 chapters, each by different authors, commenting and expanding on the educational philosophy and work of Paulo Freire. The following are included: "Paulo Freire's Pedagogy of Possibility" (Peter McLaren); "Studying the Media: What Makes Mainstream Media Mainstream" (Noam Chomsky); "Scientism as a Form of Racism" (Paulo Freire and Donaldo Macedo); "Liberating the Critical in Critical Theory: Marcuse, Marx, and a Pedagogy of the Oppressed. Alienation, Art, and the Humanities" (Charles Reitz); "Multiculturalism and the Politics of Nationalism in the Global Age" (Henry Giroux); "On 'Having Differences' and 'Being Different': From a Dialogue of Difference to the Private Language of Indifference" (George David Miller, Mark Roelof Eleveld); "Politics of Explanation: Ethical Questions in the Production of Knowledge" (Thomas Heaney); "Upstream in the Mainstream: Pedagogy against the Current"…
(1994). Rural Schooling and Educational Disadvantage: A Case Study. This report evaluates school-based initiatives aimed at eliminating educational disadvantages at a small, rural state primary school in Meiki, New South Wales (Australia). Meiki is a small impoverished community of approximately 850 Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people. The community has a history of racial tension that directly affects the school environment. Because of the impoverished status of the community, the school is eligible for social justice funding and extra resources. In June 1989, the New South Wales Department of Education implemented the Renewal Plan, which gave schools control of developing a plan for on-going school improvement and professional development. In response to this, the Meiki school implemented several initiatives including the Homework Centre. The Homework Centre is open to all students two afternoons a week and is coordinated by a member of the Aboriginal community. The program involves a supervised play period, afternoon tea, and individualized… [PDF]
(2000). Trends & Issues in Secondary English, 2000 Edition. This publication contains journal essays and book chapters (from publications of the National Council of Teachers of English) dealing with trends and issues in secondary English education. The publication's first section, "The World Wide Web in the Classroom," contains the following articles: (1) "Journey into Cyberspace" (Judith L. Scott); (2) "Using the Web for High School Student Writers" (Ted Nellen); (3) "Surfing the Net: Getting Middle School Students Excited about Research and Writing" (Jean Boreen); (4) "Oh, What a Tangled Web We've Woven! Helping Students Evaluate Sources" (Susan A. Gardner, Hiltraut H. Benham, and Bridget M. Newell); and (5) "Poetry and the Internet" (Albert B. Sommers). Articles in the second section, "The Reemergence of Critical Literacy," are: (6)"Critical Literacy: Teaching Reading, Writing, and Outrage" (Linda M. Christensen); (7) "Reading Practices/Readings"… [PDF]
(1992). Learned Effectiveness: An Empirical Validation. All too often when issues arise concerning the "underclass," African Americans, and more specifically African American males are disproportionately represented in that description. Black males have been referred to as endangered in areas of education, economics, health and overall self-efficacy. This data would suggest hopelessness in the black male's ability to overcome the multiple obstacles which an oppressive society have placed before him. However, it may be argued that within the context of oppression there are strengths, within the individual and community, which serve as mediating factors and all the African American male to overcome the obstacles which put him at risk. This has been thought of in contemporary terms as self-efficacy. Though this construct is useful, it is limited in scope. By definition, it involves the capability to organize and integrate cognitive, social and behavioral skills into courses of action to serve innumerable purposes. A more… [PDF]
(1992). The Mexican American Heritage: With Writing Exercises. Written by a Los Angeles history teacher frustrated by the lack of culturally relevant materials, this book covers some of the most interesting events in the history of Mexico and the heritage of Mexican Americans. Chapters are: (1) Indian Mexico (Teotihuacan, the Maya, the Toltecs, and the Aztecs); (2) La Conquista (Cortes and Moctezuma, conquest of Tenochtitlan, and the Colonial Era); (3) The Loss of Aztlan (independence of Mexico from Spain, Mexican-American War, loss of northern lands to the United States, and Mexican Americans in the U.S. Southwest); (4) The Mexican Revolution, Part I–The Era of Porfirio Diaz (Juarez, the Diaz dictatorship, hacienda system, and modernization of Mexico and its costs); (5) The Mexican Revolution, part II–Revolutionary Decade (1910-1920) and Beyond (Madero presidency, Huerta dictatorship, Pancho Villa, Emiliano Zapata, Mexican Constitution of 1917, Carranza presidency, Zapatismo lives on, Lazaro Cardenas, nationalization of the oil industry, and…
(2022). Teaching and Learning at 31 Schools during the COVID-19 Pandemic. CRESST Report 870. National Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards, and Student Testing (CRESST) COVID-19 changed the experiences of K-12 students and teachers in ways that are not yet well-documented. This report provides initial insights into teaching and learning during the pandemic from the perspectives of teachers and students at 31 public schools in three states. The analyses indicate that about two thirds of the teachers surveyed thought their students learned less than they had prior to the pandemic. In contrast, the majority of the students surveyed reported that they learned as much as or more than before the pandemic, except for students at one school. Additional analyses should provide valuable information for policymakers and educators on successes and challenges experienced by teachers and students in magnet schools during the pandemic. [Support for this report was provided by Capitol Region Education Council, LEARN Regional Educational Service Center, the School District of Lee County, Napa Valley Unified School District, New Haven Public Schools, and Pasadena… [PDF]