This paper describes some of the issues of fairness for Hispanic English Language Learners (ELLs) taking the Stanford 9 (SAT 9) achievement test, a norm-referenced standardized achievement test administered annually to California students in grades 2-11. Until a student is at ease in English, a process that may take as long as 7 years, an…

This fact sheet presents data about educational attainment in the United States. The educational attainment of people aged 25 to 29 years increased between 1971 and 1998, and the percentage with a high school diploma or equivalency certificate rose from 78 to 88%. The percentage of high school completers with some college rose from 44% to 66%, and…

This paper uses data from the October Current Population Surveys, which involved 167,400 youth age 14-24 years who were subject to the risk of high school dropout, to examine the effects of race, ethnicity, and social background on high school students' dropout rates. Research indicates that between 1972 and 1998, the dropout rate was least among…

This study investigated leadership development among immigrant Latino parents of children with disabilities. Nineteen members of grassroots organizations in the Chicago area participated in the study. Naturalistic inquiry was used as the research approach that included a combination of inductive and deductive analysis. The inductive analysis…

This report describes achievement gaps found in the Wake County Public School System (WCPSS), North Carolina, compares the status of the WCPSS to achievement in the past, and compares WCPSS to other similar school systems and national data when available. On almost all academic measures, white females were the most successful students in the…

This paper reviews the policy context of school retention and shows that age-grade retardation has been common and growing in American schools from the 1970s-90s. The paper focuses on the period from 1972-98 and on grade retardation at ages 6, 9, 12, 15, and 17 years. By age 9 years, the odds of grade-retardation among African American and…

A study used data from the 1998 Current Population Survey to document job growth in the public and private sectors and examine the quality of jobs in terms of wages and benefits. Findings indicated public sector employment declined for both women and men during the period from 1979-98 with a somewhat sharper decline among men. In 1998, median…

Thirty years after the enactment of civil rights legislation, the meaning of race has become a problem in the United States, largely because the legacy of centuries of white supremacy lives on. Monolithic white supremacy is over, but in a more concealed way, white power and privilege linger. Ethnic under-representation creates a host of problems…

The Faculty Mentoring Program (FMP) at California State University, Dominguez Hills, provides faculty mentors to students defined as "at-risk." FMP aims to encourage faculty-student interaction through a mentoring relationship that will lead to improved student achievement, retention, and graduation and to better faculty understanding of…

This study investigated the instructional grouping practices utilized by teachers in two sixth grade classrooms in a southern California elementary school, noting how Hispanic American students in the classrooms perceived those grouping practices and how perceptions of grouping practices compared across Latino students in different ability groups.…

This collection of articles on school choice profiles five Hispanic and Black families who were not willing to wait for promised improvements in local schools. The articles begin with a discussion of minority parents who are quietly embracing school choice, examining their restlessness with the public schools, the charter school push, mixed public…

This report presents revised birth and fertility rates for 1991-1999, plus previously published rates for 2000-2001, based on populations consistent with the April 1, 2000 census. Revised rates for Hispanic subgroups are also included. Rates are presented by age, race, and Hispanic origin of mother; by age, race, Hispanic origin, and marital…

This report examines patterns of poverty using seven different measures: average monthly poverty, episodic poverty, chronic poverty, annual poverty, poverty spells, poverty entry rates, and poverty exit rates. Data come from the 1996 panel of the Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP) and reflect the dynamics of poverty from 1996-1999.…

Between 1990 and 2000, the Hispanic population of the West increased by 54 percent, compared to a 13 percent increase for non-Hispanics. The Hispanic population now represents 25 percent of the West's population, up from 19 percent in 1990. This information brief describes the increase in Hispanic populations in the West from 1990 to 2000 and…

This report is the second in a series of periodic updates on the achievement gap among various demographic groups in the Wake County Public School System (WCPSS). For this report, students academic success in WCPSS was studied, based on outcomes such as achievement test scores, dropout rates, and course enrollment. In some areas, the gaps in…