In spring 2001, the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges passed a resolution whose aim is to narrow the digital divide among California community college students. The digital divide is defined as the disparity between those who have access to technology and those who do not. The resolution suggests two questions: (1) How has…

In this report, teacher educators scrutinize the relationships between the standards and assessment movement in education and the United States' increasingly multicultural population. The papers include: "Foreword" (Jacqueline Jordan Irvine); (1) "Diversity and Standards: Defining the Issues" (Norvella P. Carter); (2) "Accountability and…

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…

The National Science Foundation funded Rural Systemic Initiatives (RSI), a set of systemic reforms created to enhance math, science, and technology education in economically disadvantaged, rural areas. Central to RSI efforts are the implementation of six drivers of educational system reform: 1) standards-based curricula, instruction, and…

A survey of state Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) policies toward postsecondary training or education (PSE) shows that at least 40 states allow more access to PSE than would be countable under the House-passed reauthorization bill (H.R.4737). If it were enacted, these states would likely have to change their policies to reduce…

This book uses extensive interviews and statistical data to examine the failed desegregation efforts in Louisiana as a case study to illustrate how desegregation has followed the same unsuccessful pattern across the United States. It shows that the practical difficulty with desegregation is that academic environments are created by all the…

This paper addresses the role community colleges can play in moving the working poor toward economic independence. Since Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) was enacted in 1996, there have been many new job openings in the country. But, employment and earnings prospects for job seekers leaving the welfare system are dismal. TANF clients…

The Llano Grande Center for Research and Development started as an oral history experiment in two of Texas's poorest school districts. Since the 1920s, when this arid region in the southernmost tip of Texas was first transformed into the orchards and farmlands of the "Magic Valley," workers of Mexican descent have worked the land. Over…

The Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee's (BRAC) Non-Formal Primary Education (NFPE) Program is a nongovernmental rural development organization founded, managed, and staffed by Bangladeshis. In 1985 BRAC began a primary education program for the poorest rural children untouched by the formal school system. BRAC has developed well known and…

Often funding agencies and donor governments face the question of whether should they support information and communication (ICT) technologies activities in their development projects. Should the money be invested in computers and communication devices or will it be better spent on food, shelter, health, and education? The choice need not be…

National Education Goal One, "All children in America will start school ready to learn," seems simple, but being ready for school requires meeting certain needs related to physical, social, emotional, cognitive, and language development. Families, schools, and communities each have responsibilities in these areas. Families in…

This study used internationally comparable household datasets to investigate the interaction of gender and wealth in generating within-country inequalities in educational enrollment and attainment. Data from 57 Demographic and Health Surveys in 41 countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Caribbean, and the Pacific were used to carry out…

This paper, which focuses on community colleges and job placement, is part of a series published by the Center for Community College Policy, designed to support state and local policymakers, as well as educational leaders who are interested in policy issues related to the two-year postsecondary sector. The current emphasis on…

This paper focuses on contextual issues arising during an ethnographic study of mathematics instruction for Aboriginal children in New South Wales, Australia. Conversational interviews with Aboriginal children in grades 5-6, Aboriginal parents, and Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal teachers and staff identified context as 1 of 17 core categories of…

Beyond the nine years of compulsory education, Taiwan has the following two additional streams in the educational system: general academic education (GAE) and technological and vocational education (TVE). TVE has the two key features of a complete system to ensure students' horizontal and vertical mobility and a main schooling stream, parallel to…