The rise of accountability policies during the early 1990s coincided with an increase in the achievement gap between white and minority students, reversing decades of steady improvement in outcome equity. This article explores the policies that helped to reduce the achievement gap before 1990, the effects of the subsequent shift toward…

"The Achiever" is a monthly newsletter designed expressly for parents and community leaders. Each issue contains news and information about school improvement in the United States. Highlights of this issue include: (1) Fifth Anniversary for "No Child Left Behind"; (2) Empowering Parents: Response Soars for Supplemental…

Demonstrating persistence and resilience, increasing numbers of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander early childhood teachers are gaining university qualifications. This paper explores factors that support and constrain these students on the path to their degrees. Investigated through a cycle of interviews and focus groups, otherwise perceived as…

This paper reports on research in progress to create a new framework for looking at the public education of youth. The term "experiential education" applies to a variety of programs that engage participants intellectually, physically, socially, and emotionally with the primary goals of: (1) promoting student health, motivation, and self…

Large segments of the African-American population lack the educational and financial resources to participate fully in building a high-technology economy and in consuming its products. Maintaining large undereducated and unproductive segments of society is a recipe for collective social unrest. The United States today requires a highly educated…

Originally presented in newspaper format, this report consists of 13 articles on American Indian education in Montana, written by journalism students at the University of Montana. The articles include: (1) "The Relentless Killing of a Culture" (David Zelio) which discusses the cultural genocide committed at boarding schools with the aim…

Serious confrontation of the problems facing education requires a reform of the organizing principles of learning: a shift from an instrumental purpose to the moral and political purpose of cultural renewal, from learning for economic purposes to learning for citizenship. This book focuses on the work of secondary schools in the contexts of…

A 1995 General Accounting Office (GAO) study found that about one-third of schools nationwide serving 14 million students reported needing extensive repair or replacement of one or more buildings. This document presents findings of a GAO followup study that identified the differences in the: (1) condition of schools; (2) amount of funding needed…

This report describes a program designed to encourage minority and financially, socially, or educationally disadvantaged incoming, freshman students to pursue health profession career goals. Sixteen at-risk students were selected to participate in a summer intervention program in West Virginia; a control group of 16 pre-medicine or pre-dentistry…

The 1988 Hawkins-Stafford Elementary and Secondary School Improvement Amendments to Chapter 1 (now Title I) have enabled broad expansion of Title I schoolwide projects. The regulatory changes provide funding to entire schools, rather than targeting services to meet the needs of the most disadvantaged subpopulations. This paper reviews what is…

Since the passage of legislation requiring Illinois colleges to develop plans for increasing the participation and advancement of underrepresented groups, the state's community colleges have used both special population grant funds and local college funds to address the needs of these groups. This report summarizes statewide initiatives and…

The study reported in this book was designed to address the experiences of educationally disadvantaged young people in English cities. The study, called "Changing Lives," involved a survey of over 3,000 inner-city 16-year-olds from 34 schools in 6 urban areas of England. The young people surveyed were eligible to leave school in spring…

Title I, the largest federal aid program for elementary, middle, and high schools, is introduced in this publication, which includes both English and Spanish versions. Through Title I, the Federal government gives money to school districts around the country based on the number of low-income families in each district. Each district uses Title I…

It is possible that the materials presented in this manual were used in implementing community action projects supported by the American Association of University Women (AAUW) Educational Foundation. These projects, part of the Girls Can! initiative, were intended to address the disparity between the educational experiences of girls and boys in…

This document describes a project conducted in Pennsylvania to develop a model for exemplary cross-training among various community agencies and service providers in order to serve educationally disadvantaged adult students. Training was provided to adult educators in five areas: social issues, families and legal issues, education issues, health…