Background/Context: Prior research has linked social engagement, such as peer interaction and participation in school activities, to a host of positive outcomes for youth and adolescents. However, little research considers patterns of social engagement among racial/ethnic minority and immigrant adolescents, despite prior research suggesting…

Background/Context: Increasing teacher retirements and persistently high turnover have ignited interest in teacher recruitment and retention in recent years. Nowhere is the need to understand these issues more urgent than in low-income schools. These schools face especially large challenges in attracting and retaining competent and committed…

Examines racial disparities in education, focusing on those that might be attributable to discrimination. The paper reviews what is known about determinants of achievement and the magnitude of racial discrepancies in such achievement, discusses the most likely sources of discriminatory behaviors by teachers and by school district personnel,…

Describes the legal definitions of race discrimination in education, demonstrating how they apply in various contexts; highlighting the role of social science evidence; offering suggestions for answering complex questions about what currently counts as racial discrimination in education; and highlighting the irony that, under the current…

Compares the problem of social maladjustment addressed during the child guidance movement in the 1920s-30s with the issue of minority overrepresentation beginning in the 1960s. Both exhibit similarities as discourses of educational risk shaping the conception of problems facing youth and influencing professional intervention. The paper examines…

Summarizes the U.S. Department of Education's efforts to implement the mandate of "Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas" and the Civil Rights Act of 1964, examining traditional tools used in enforcing civil rights laws and reviewing new strategies to promote high quality education, equal educational opportunity, and diversity.…

"Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas" called the United States to a new level of moral consciousness. Current efforts to denigrate "Brown" as a failure overlook its effect as a social catalyst for movement toward equality. Six visions of "Brown" examine its contemporary meaning (triumph, aspiration,…

To understand why women attain higher educational levels than men, this study used participant observation data from a predominantly Hispanic New York City public high school to investigate race(ing) and gender(ing) processes in the high school setting. Results found that both formal and informal institutional practices within schools…

Introduces a special section comprised of papers presented at a National Research Council workshop. The four papers focus on: what constitutes racial discrimination in education from a social science perspective and from a legal perspective; what empirical data exist on the sources of discrimination and racial differences in educational outcomes;…

Synthesizes the social science research on racially correlated disparities in education, focusing on biological determinism (behavioral genetics); social structure (e.g., reproduction theory and resistance theory); school organization and opportunities to learn (e.g., resources, racial composition, and tracking); family background (financial,…

The paper recapitulates the flow of a 2-day conference on the 40 years since "Brown v. Board of Education," focusing on 2 general-session presentations that examined "Brown" as promise and discussed visions for the future. "Brown" is viewed as a benchmark of American democracy and an opportunity for redemption. (SM)

Discusses examples of sharp inequalities in school financing. Argues that the goal of educational equality does not confront the basic cause of educational inequality; fear of school integration perpetuates the existence of a multiplicity of school districts, which substantially increases the burden to fund education and ultimately costs society.…

This article reports on the extensive qualitative and quantitative findings of a multi-method participatory study designed to assess urban and suburban youths' experiences of racial class justice or injustice in their schools and throughout the nation. Constructed as a letter to Zora Neale Hurston, who was immediately critical of the Brown…

Describes development of Milwaukee's Parental Choice Program from an alliance of neoliberal reformers and supporters of inner-city community schools enrolling Black and Latino students. Necessary ingredients included the legacy of independent community schools, frustration of many Black school reformers with Milwaukee Public Schools, and political…

Forty years after "Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas" mandated equal education for black students, racial discrimination thrives in public schools. Educators must lead the fight for quality education for black students in racially isolated urban schools and for monitoring the educational offerings provided for minority…