Bebe Moore Campbell, Novelist of Black Lives, Dies at 56 - New York Times

Bebe Moore Campbell, Novelist of Black Lives, Dies at 56 - New York Times: Bebe Moore Campbell, a best-selling novelist known for her empathetic treatment of the difficult, intertwined and occasionally surprising relationship between the races, died yesterday at her home in Los Angeles. She was 56.

Hispanic PR Wire - Nearly 5,000 Hispanic Students Across the Country Earn the Distinction of the College Board’s National Hispanic Recognition Program

Hispanic PR Wire - Nearly 5,000 Hispanic Students Across the Country Earn the Distinction of the College Board’s National Hispanic Recognition Program: New York, NY--(HISPANIC PR WIRE)--November 1, 2006--More than 4,700 Hispanic high school seniors have been recognized by the College Board’s National Hispanic Recognition Program (NHRP)—200 more students than last year. The students and their schools received notification of their status in September.

The NHRP identifies academically outstanding Hispanic high school students based on their junior year PSAT/NMSQT(R) test scores and grade point averages. Students are automatically enrolled in the program when they identify themselves as Hispanic on the PSAT/NMSQT in their junior year of high school. Of the 1.5 million high school juniors who took the PSAT/NMSQT in October 2005, approximately 170,000 identified themselves as Hispanic, and 2.8 percent of those students went on to achieve NHRP status.

Since 1983, the NHRP has provided national recognition of the exceptional academic achievements of Hispanic high school seniors. As a recognition program, there is no monetary award associated with this selection, but the College Board is proud to honor these outstanding students. Including this honor in their r�sum�s and college applications may help NHRP honorees be singled out by colleges that are particularly interested in recruiting students of Hispanic heritage, and it may help them attain scholarship opportunities. More than 200 colleges across the country subscribe to the NHRP list, which enables them to recruit qualified, motivated students of Hispanic heritage.

Christie Kangas, director of undergraduate admissions at Texas State University–San Marcos, said, “The NHRP program has significantly helped Texas State University identify and recruit academically outstanding Hispanic students from Texas and neighboring states.”

The College Board: Connecting Students to College Success

The College Board is a not-for-profit membership association whose mission is to connect students to college success and opportunity. Founded in 1900, the association is composed of more than 5,000 schools, colleges, universities, and other educational organizations. Each year, the College Board serves seven million students and their parents, 23,000 high schools, and 3,500 colleges through major programs and services in college admissions, guidance, assessment, financial aid, enrollment, and teaching and learning. Among its best-known programs are the SAT(R), the PSAT/NMSQT(R), and the Advanced Placement Program(R) (AP(R)). The College Board is committed to the principles of excellence and equity, and that commitment is embodied in all of its programs, services, activities, and concerns.

For further information, visit http://www.collegeboard.com.

The Meaning of Work - washingtonpost.com

The Meaning of Work - washingtonpost.com: ... Far away from the life of Chris Dansby, academics and policymakers debate the reasons that unemployment among black men is consistently and disproportionately high. Are the reasons societal, as some argue, or a matter of individual responsibility, as others argue? Are they a reflection of racism? Of defeatism? Of laziness? ...

But why was his neighborhood's unemployment rate 16.3 percent while at the same moment, in predominantly white Ward 3, the jobless rate was 1.5 percent? Why, last year, as he grew discouraged, were 70 percent of all white men working, 71 percent of all Asian men, 75 percent of all Hispanic men -- and 60 percent of all black men? And only 49 percent of all black men between ages 18 and 24? And only 43 percent of all black men 18-24 with a high school diploma or less?

The unemployed black male: He has been studied and commented upon more than any other any category of American worker, and always to conflicting conclusions. Some academics say the problem traces to what they describe as cultural issues within the black community: Fractured families, demeaning music, sports millionaires as role models, thuggishness as a virtue -- all contribute to a "culture of failure" of which joblessness is a part. The problem, these academics say, is behavioral.

Others, however, say it's structural, and point to a 2004 study in which employers were found to be as willing to hire a white man with a criminal record as a black man with a clean record. It was a finding that echoed the results of earlier studies, including a 1991 survey of hiring practices in Chicago in which employers said blacks were worse hires than whites because "they don't want to work," "they don't know how to work," "they come late and leave early," "they've got an attitude problem" and they are "just not as good."

New Focus on Affirmative Action - washingtonpost.com

New Focus on Affirmative Action - washingtonpost.com: The number of minorities -- particularly black Americans -- winning government contracts and being admitted to public colleges and universities in California has dwindled since a ballot measure was passed 10 years ago outlawing preferential treatment for minorities in those areas, according to a study released yesterday.

The report comes as the longtime controversy over affirmative action is gaining new attention. Michigan voters last week adopted a constitutional amendment essentially taking the same action as California, and the American Bar Association is facing criticism from some groups for strengthening its diversity requirements for accreditation of law schools.

A Chance To Get Into The Room - washingtonpost.com

A Chance To Get Into The Room - washingtonpost.com: ... Ford's anxiety about image is common among black businessmen who are barreling into territory where relatively few of them have established ownership: information technology, construction, real estate, financial management. Many bring with them advanced degrees, years of corporate experience, and cultural and emotional complexities that can both enrich and burden their lives as business owners. Many struggle with whether they must sacrifice their identity to be successful. In Ford's case, that means questioning whether Enlightened should even promote that it is black-owned.

'The dilemma is you don't know whether doing this or not will help,' says Barron H. Harvey, dean of Howard University's School of Business and a long-time consultant to minority businesses. 'There are some firms that have decided they are going to be who they are and not downplay that they are black-owned. But then they question if they had done it differently, would they have been more successful? You never know.'

Racial inequality in top Medicare plans - Health Care - MSNBC.com

Racial inequality in top Medicare plans - Health Care - MSNBC.com: The extent to which patients have their blood pressure, cholesterol and blood sugar under control is considered a key indicator of health plan quality. Studies have long pointed to health disparities between white and black Americans, but the new research shows that this is not because black Americans are more often stuck in lower-quality health plans.

Of the 151 Medicare health plans Trivedi's team analyzed, racial disparities were seen within individual plans, including 'high-performing' ones where a relatively high percentage of patients had their high blood pressure, cholesterol or blood sugar in check.

Overall, the proportion of African Americans who had these conditions under control was 6.8 to 14.4 percentage points lower compared with whites.

'We know that people who have their blood pressure, cholesterol and blood sugar controlled are less likely to have a heart attack, stroke or die prematurely,' Trivedi told Reuters Health.

UCLA Researchers Identify Race-based Discrimination as a Critical Contributor to Health Disparities in African Americans

The experience of racial discrimination may be a key factor in explaining why African Americans have higher rates of obesity and suffer at higher rates from such diseases as diabetes and cardiovascular disorders, according to UCLA researchers.

Repeated responses to such discrimination — which include elevated blood pressure and heart rate — can cause enormous stress on a person's mental and physical health, according to research scheduled to be published in Volume 58 of the Annual Review of Psychology.

Race-based discrimination may help explain why African Americans, despite gains in civil rights and targeted health programs, continue to have the highest rates of diabetes, cardiovascular heart disease, hypertension and stroke as compared to all other racial or ethnic groups in the United States.

"This is not to say that every African American has poor health," said Vickie Mays, the report's lead author, a UCLA professor of psychology and health services and director of the Center for Research, Education, Training and Strategic Communication on Minority Health Disparities. "However, African Americans — as a group of people — have not been able to gain as much ground as other ethnic groups. That's when you need to worry and look at missing factors that can explain these health disparities."

When a person experiences discrimination, the body develops a cognitive response in which it recognizes the discrimination as something that is bad and should be defended against, Mays said. She said this response occurs for the most part even if the person merely perceives that discrimination is a possibility.

Starting with the brain's recognition of discrimination, the body sets into motion a series of physiological responses to protect itself from these stressful negative experiences, Mays said. These physiological responses include biochemical reactions, hyper-vigilance and elevated blood pressure and heart rate. With many African Americans, these responses may occur so frequently that they eventually result in the physiological system not working correctly.

According to Mays, the experience of race-based discrimination for some African Americans is akin to the response a person's body mounts when it experiences significant life-threatening danger, such as fear for a person's life or of a possible attack. She said that if the body mounts a response to protect itself against a "life-threatening" experience on a regular basis, after awhile it is strained and overworked. Many of the chemicals that come to its rescue can damage systems in the body that are associated with disease and obesity.

According to the report's authors, there has been much focus on the emotional impact of discrimination. But other critical factors — such as identifying how the brain recognizes and determines what racial discrimination is and how the body responds biochemically — may help researchers understand why African Americans are not benefiting from protections against negative health outcomes in the same manner as whites.

Health disparities in African Americans may even be passed down from one generation to the next. For example, even middle- and upper-class African American women are at a higher risk of delivering pre-term babies as compared to other ethnic minority and white women of the same social class.

"What may be occurring is that despite having a great education and prenatal care, your body may be programmed to deliver early because of the stresses experienced by your mother during her pregnancy," Mays said. Research suggests that African American women produce a hormone activated in response to stress that is often associated as a time-clock for birth.

"This results in the placenta separating itself a little bit early and, that may be one of the reasons for a preterm delivery," Mays said.

Another key factor is that African Americans faced with constant discrimination may experience high levels of stress that cause an "allostatic load." The term refers to the cumulative wear and tear of stress as the body responds to an overload of challenges and demands.

When the stress challenge to the cardiovascular system is prolonged and excessive to the point of allostasis, the immune system is suppressed, blood pressure increases and, over time, atherosclerosis can develop, resulting in coronary vascular disease.

Persistent Race Disparities Found - washingtonpost.com

Persistent Race Disparities Found - washingtonpost.com: Decades after the civil rights movement, racial disparities in income, education and home ownership persist and, by some measurements, are growing.

White households had incomes that were two-thirds higher than those of African Americans and 40 percent higher than those of Hispanics last year, according to data released yesterday by the Census Bureau. White adults were also more likely than black and Hispanic adults to have college degrees and to own their own homes. They were less likely to live in poverty.

"Race is so associated with class in the United States that it may not be direct discrimination, but it still matters indirectly," said Dalton Conley, a sociology professor at New York University and the author of "Being Black, Living in the Red."

"It doesn't mean it's any less powerful just because it's indirect," he said.

Home ownership grew among white middle-class families after World War II when access to credit and government programs made buying houses affordable. Black families were largely left out because of discrimination, and the effects are still being felt, said Lance Freeman, assistant professor of urban planning at Columbia University and the author of "There Goes the 'Hood."

Home ownership creates wealth, which enables families to live in good neighborhoods with good schools. It also helps families finance college, which leads to better-paying jobs, perpetuating the cycle, Freeman said.

"If your parents own their own home they can leave it to you when they pass on or they can use the equity to help you with a down payment on yours," he said.

Three-fourths of white households owned their homes in 2005, compared with 46 percent of black households and 48 percent of Hispanic households. Home ownership is near an all-time high in the United States, but racial gaps have increased in the past 25 years.

Espanol, English Mingling in Md. Classroom - washingtonpost.com

Espanol, English Mingling in Md. Classroom - washingtonpost.com: In most Washington area schools, non-English speakers are placed in classrooms where the majority of the instruction is done in English. They may receive some support from an aide who speaks their language or from a specially trained teacher who knows of strategies to use with non-English speakers. Some may receive instruction in reading or other topics in smaller groups with other students who don't speak English. And although a such students might maintain some of their native language, the goal is toward classes conducted in English as soon as possible.

The number of dual-language programs has grown steadily since established in the 1960s. Today, there are 329 such programs across the country, more than double the number 10 years ago. Two of the most well-known programs are in the D.C. region: Oyster Bilingual Elementary School in the District and Key Elementary School in Arlington.

Dual-language and bilingual education programs have their critics, however.

Black colleges extend hand to Hispanics - USATODAY.com

Black colleges extend hand to Hispanics - USATODAY.com: Some historically black colleges and universities are recruiting Hispanics, hoping to boost their enrollments, diversify their student bodies and educate a fast-growing segment of the population.

Among their approaches:

•Central State University in Wilberforce, Ohio, targets high schools that are largely Hispanic.

•Hampton University in Virginia placed an ad in a college guide for Hispanics.

•Tennessee State in Nashville hired a Spanish-speaking recruiter.

Enrollment gains so far are modest, and Hispanics still make up a small percentage of the student population. But 'these institutions have realized that students are not going to migrate to them simply because they have to. They have other choices,' says Charles Greene of the White House Initiative on Historically Black Colleges and Universities. Black schools 'have to look at some non-traditional students as potential candidates.'

Making Up for Lost Time - washingtonpost.com

Making Up for Lost Time - washingtonpost.com:Virginia has created a scholarship program to give African American adults from Prince Edward County something they were denied as children: public education

In the fall of 2005, Virginia began issuing academic scholarships to repair even a small portion of the harm done to at least 2,000 African American schoolchildren who suffered a particularly acute form of deprivation during the hard-fought transition to integrated schooling. The fund, known as the Brown v. Board of Education Scholarship Program, is an attempt to atone for the damage that Prince Edward -- with profound complicity from the state itself -- inflicted upon its most vulnerable citizens. The program pays the costs of a GED program or high school diploma for those who found jobs during the closings and may never have returned to school at all; it also pays for community college or an undergraduate or master's degree, up to $7,200 a year.

For Hispanic Parents, Lessons on Helping With the Homework - New York Times

For Hispanic Parents, Lessons on Helping With the Homework - New York Times: Hispanic children now make up 18.6 percent of the nation’s public and private school children, and many of those are immigrants or children of immigrants. Their dropout rates and test scores trouble policy makers, so educators have been focusing on what parents can do to help their children thrive in school and what obstacles they face, among other approaches.

It’s a huge issue,” said Dr. Pedro A. Noguera, director of the Metropolitan Center for Urban Education at New York University. “Many Latino parents are working a lot, so their ability to get involved is limited. There’s the language barrier. In many Latin American countries there’s a tendency to defer to authorities in school, an assumption that educators know what they’re doing.”

Long-established middle-class American parents, he said, take for granted that they are “critical consumers, making sure their kids are getting the right teachers and the right classes.” But, he said, “many immigrants parents don’t understand that this is a role they need to play.” For those who immigrated without proper papers, the problem is “compounded by legal status; any time you engage public officials there’s anxiety that you can be discovered.”

Jobs, News and Views for All of Higher Education - Inside Higher Ed :: Minority Gains and Gaps

Jobs, News and Views for All of Higher Education - Inside Higher Ed :: Minority Gains and Gaps: Minority enrollment at colleges and universities rose by just over 50 percent, to 4.7 million students, between 1993 and 2003, according to the American Council on Education.

The council is today releasing its annual report on the status of minority groups in higher education — a compilation of the most recent data published by the Education Department and other agencies, along with data gathered by the association. As is usually the case, an optimist could find plenty of signs of progress — this year with gains in college enrollment rates, graduation in key programs, and graduate degree attainment, among other categories.

A pessimist could note the many gaps between black and Hispanic students and their white and Asian counterparts. In particular, figures for black and Latino males remain far behind not only white and Asian men but also behind black and Hispanic women.

“I think this report speaks to the work that’s yet to be done,” said James C. Renick, senior vice president for programs and research at the council and former chancellor of North Carolina A&T State University. With Michigan voters about to consider a proposal to bar affirmative action at public colleges and universities, he said that the data show the need for continued efforts to diversify higher education.

“I think some people are looking for very simple answers to very complicated problems,” he said.