The No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) of 2001 requires that public elementary and secondary school systems be held accountable for achieving high levels of educational proficiency for all students. While achievement testing is the central component of state accountability systems under NCLB, these systems must include graduation rates as an academic…

This large-scale evaluation of Indiana's Prime Time, a funding mechanism designed to reduce class size or pupil-teacher ratio (PTR) in grades K-3 examined the academic performance of nearly 11,000 randomly selected third graders on the state mandated standardized achievement test as a function of class size, PTR, and presence of an instructional…

This report summarizes an analysis of the Illinois State Board of Education's (ISBE) Funding and Child Tracking System (FACTS) for students with emotional/behavioral disabilities (EBD) from 1989-1996. The data indicate: (1) the numbers of youth identified with EBD as a primary disability increased by 13 percent; (2) older children, male children,…

A study examined evidence of any labor market payoff for school dropouts and if they acquire cognitive skills, and studied whether the payoff differs by gender and race/ethnicity. It analyzed data containing information on the universe of school dropouts in New York and Florida who took the General Educational Development (GED) exams between…

This book examines the variations in the constitution of female gender in a group of young working-class women of African American, Latina, Puerto Rican, and White European backgrounds who were enrolled in an alternative high school for students at risk of academic failure. It also analyzes the school processes that shape these young women's…

This report is a compilation of four different studies involving kindergartners (N=950) who participated in the "I LIKE ME!" program. I LIKE ME! is a 12-week program that uses a personalized reader with "I" statements as positive inducements for learning and achievement for kindergartners. The goals of the program are to bring home, school, and…

This study examined links between racial diversity on college campuses and positive educational outcomes. Data came from the Cooperative Institutional Research Program database, a longitudinal set of student and faculty surveys and research that assessed the impact of college on students. This study used data from a 1985 freshman survey and the…

This paper describes a crisis that occurred within a course for preservice and inservice teachers, Cultural and Linguistic Diversity. The crisis occurred when students were asked to confront the effects of racism on themselves and the children they teach. It was provoked by a guest presentation by a militant African-American classroom teacher who…

One of the most important indicators of educational performance is the high school dropout rate. Reducing dropout rates and improving high school graduation rates are important goals for both educators and policymakers. Yet there is a great deal of controversy about how best to measure dropout and graduation rates. This issue of EL Facts provides…

Social scientists' assertions in 1954, that desegregation would improve minority student performance by freeing minority children from "pariah" status, and the hypothesis that interracial classroom contact would result in improved minority student achievement, are both unsupported by research. Effective school desegregation programs must…

Utilizing "Social Indicators" (1979), discusses growth and distribution of schooling in the U.S., trends in student test performance, and major organizational changes in elementary/secondary education. Comments on quality of available data and suggests improvements for future reporting of educational indicators. (Reprint of article is available…

Children in kindergarten grade were studied comparing pupils who had previously attended preschool with those who had not. Reading (or reading readiness) and mathematics achievement, academic potential, social and emotional maturity, conformity to successful pupil behaviors, and adjustment to academic and social setting in the classroom were…

Examines Black social scientists' intellectual efforts, starting in the 1920s, to challenge research conclusions about the innate mental inferiority of Blacks, disclaim the validity of intelligence tests used, and demonstrate the influence of environment on test performance. Finds irony in Black intellectuals' use of the mental tests they…

Two studies investigated how social class and race are associated with mathematical thinking. The first study compared poor Black preschoolers with a group of both Black and White middle-class children; the second study compared Black and White children of lower- and middle-class status. Children were drawn from both preschool and kindergarten…

Reports results of a survey of 149 undergraduates (persisters - 73 White, 9 Black) and former undergraduates (nonpersisters - 35 White, 32 Black) indicating how their perceptions of their college environment affected the decision to remain at or leave the Speed Scientific School, University of Louisville. (SK)