This paper describes efforts to improve education in a poor rural Mississippi school district that failed to meet minimum state educational standards. Part of the Mississippi Delta, the county school district is rural and agricultural, contains no large towns or cities, and is characterized by declining population and pervasive poverty. African…

Sites in the San Diego (California) City school system that receive integration funds through their magnet, Voluntary Ethnic Enrollment Program, or Academic Enrichment Academy Program are accountable for their progress toward integration goals. Selection of the 23 study sites for this report was based on their inclusion in the 1995-96 schedule for…

This study examined the role of mentoring for mature African American women during their reentry college experience. In-depth interviews were conducted with 19 women (mean age 41.7 years) about their current educational experiences, occupational and professional goals, support networks, and family commitments, multiple roles, and concerns about…

This study was a secondary analysis of data from the Prenatal/Early Infancy Project (PEIP), a randomized clinical trial of nurse home visits for socially disadvantaged families in a semi-rural community in upstate New York. A sample of 141 primiparous women between 13 and 21 years, unmarried and from lower socioeconomic backgrounds, was selected…

Undergraduate sociology students at Rust College, Mississippi, an historically black college, have been given the opportunity to connect with the lives of others in institutional settings, thus making a generational connection between the college and a local nursing home. During the 1995-96 academic year, students in three sociology courses…

Parent involvement in schools is related to children's increased academic achievement and can be an important resource for school personnel. Parents of racial and ethnic minority groups, however, have been found to be less likely to become involved in their children's schools. This study investigated whether white and racial and ethnic minority…

Using 400 autobiographical accounts offered by third graders, this study examined children's inner lives. Subjects were a stratified (by gender and by ethnicity at each school) random sample from eight elementary schools in a large urban Midwestern school district. The autobiographical sample analyzed consisted of information from 144 African…

Racial and ethnic identity must be understood as an important determinant of the creative process and social dynamics, as well as understood as individual psychology. This collection of papers examines identity issues in the following chapters: (1) "Roots and Routes: Black Identity as an Outernational Project" (Paul Gilroy); (2) "Identity as…

This staff report presents data on tenured and non-tenured female faculty employment in Kentucky's university system and an analysis of employment patterns of the state-supported institutions of higher learning. Among the findings are the following: (1) the addition of 306 women teachers to the tenure system lifted both the number and percentage…

This paper presents the findings of a committee at the University of Maryland (College Park) charged with studying the effectiveness of programs on campus aimed at achieving higher rates of participation and success for black faculty. Fourteen sections present results of the committee's survey and interviews, examination of specific issues, and…

This collection attempts to broaden understanding of how to magnify circumstances known to enhance development and education in order to advance opportunities for all children, especially children and youth of the inner cities. Focuses are on raising consciousness about opportunities available to foster resilience and on synthesizing the knowledge…

Efforts to reform and improve the nation's schools have encountered serious roadblocks, often in the form of parental opposition. This document describes findings of a study that investigated parents' expectations of America's public schools. Data were derived from a national telephone survey with over 1,100 Americans, including 550 White,…

This unit is one of a series that presents specific moments in history from which students focus on the meanings of landmark events. The lessons included in this unit attempt to make slavery comprehensible to students, showing its oppressiveness and yet explaining how white Southern culture rationalized and sustained it. The unit also explains how…

This report summarizes and analyzes a 5-year initiative undertaken by the Council of Independent Colleges (CIC) and the United Negro College Fund (UNCF) to provide: first, comprehensive leadership development programming to presidents, administrators, and faculty of private historically black colleges and universities; and, second, a series of…

This study compares college student-athlete graduation rates before and after implementation of National Collegiate Athletic Association Proposition 48, which reformed initial-eligibility rules for college athletes, requiring that they have achieved minimum high school grade point averages (at least 2.0 on a 4.0 scale) in core courses and minimum…