First Woman Elected President In Brazil : NPR

First Woman Elected President In Brazil : NPR: A former Marxist guerrilla who was tortured and imprisoned during Brazil's long dictatorship was elected Sunday as president of Latin America's biggest nation, a country in the midst of an economic and political rise.

A statement from the Supreme Electoral Court, which oversees elections, said governing party candidate Dilma Rousseff won the election. When she takes office Jan. 1, she will be Brazil's first female leader.

With nearly 95 percent of the ballots counted, Rousseff had 55.6 percent compared to 44.4 percent for her centrist rival, Jose Serra, the electoral court said.

Rousseff, the hand-chosen candidate of wildly popular President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, won by cementing her image to Silva's, whose policies she promised to continue.

Retention Program Engages Latino Families in Helping Children Finish Community College

Retention Program Engages Latino Families in Helping Children Finish Community College: When Consuelo Arellano got a postcard from South Texas College this summer about freshman orientation week for her daughter, it wasn’t by accident. The notice advised Arellano, a mother of two adult children, that student attendance was mandatory and that parents should attend.

The unusual request for parental participation was part of a stepped-up effort by the predominantly Hispanic community college in McAllen to enhance the retention and graduation prospects for its first-generation college students by making the college experience more of a family affair from the beginning.

Such parent orientations are not unusual at four-year schools, but the strategy is fairly new for open-access institutions that serve such disparate constituents as first-time undergraduates and adult learners. Like their four-year counterparts, community colleges focus on college completion, experts say, and South Texas is among those colleges that discovered the importance of demystifying the higher education process for Latino parents who’ve never traveled that path.

Nearly two-thirds of U.S. Latinos detect bias, poll finds

Nearly two-thirds of U.S. Latinos detect bias, poll finds: The poll also found that 70 percent of foreign-born Latinos think they are being held back by discrimination, and half of all Latinos think the United States has become less welcoming toward immigrants than it was just five years ago.

'More Latinos are seeing discrimination against Hispanics as a major problem,' said Mark Hugo Lopez, associate director of the center, which released the findings Thursday.

The results of the survey - which was conducted in English and Spanish among 1,375 native- and foreign-born Latinos from Aug. 17 through Sept. 19.

Education Week: Pathways Seen for Acquiring Languages

Education Week: Pathways Seen for Acquiring Languages: New studies on how language learning occurs are beginning to chip away at some long-held notions about second-language acquisition and point to potential learning benefits for students who speak more than one language.

“We have this national psyche that we’re not good at languages,” said Marty Abbott, the director of education for the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages, in Alexandria, Va. “It’s still perceived as something only smart people can do, and it’s not true; we all learned our first language and we can learn a second one.”

New National Science Foundation-funded collaborations among educators, cognitive scientists, neuroscientists, psychologists, and linguists have started to find the evidence to back up that assertion. For example, researchers long thought the window for learning a new language shrinks rapidly after age 7 and closes almost entirely after puberty. Yet interdisciplinary research conducted over the past five years at the University of Washington, Pennsylvania State University, and other colleges suggest that the time frame may be more flexible than first thought and that students who learn additional languages become more adaptable in other types of learning, too.

Education Week: Bullying May Violate Civil Rights, Duncan Warns Schools

Education Week: Bullying May Violate Civil Rights, Duncan Warns Schools: Certain types of harassment rooted in sex-role stereotyping or religious differences may be a federal civil rights violation, according to new guidance from the U.S. Department of Education’s office of civil rights aimed at putting school districts on notice about their responsibilities to address bullying.

“Simply put, we think in this country bullying should not exist,” U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan told reporters Tuesday during a conference call to discuss the guidance, which was written as a 10-page letter to school officials. “Students simply cannot learn if they feel threatened, harassed, or in fear.”

Title VI of the Civil Rights Act already prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, or national origin; Title IX prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex; and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as well as the Americans with Disabilities Act, prohibit discrimination based on disability status.

2 schools' students 'integrated' after 50 years

2 schools' students 'integrated' after 50 years: It's been 50 years since Peggy Robinson Roberts and her classmates in Leesburg graduated from segregated high schools, in separate ceremonies. Back then, teens at all-black Douglass High knew little about their counterparts at all-white Loudoun County. They didn't sit in the same classes, play on the same football fields or sing in the same glee clubs.

Now, after almost a lifetime apart, their shared history of racial segregation has taken an unexpected turn. They have met, traded memories and struck up the kind of friendships they might've enjoyed five decades ago had America been a different place.

'It's never too late,' Roberts, 68, said the other day, showing a few of her new friends around Douglass, now an alternative school. 'People may ask, 'Why now?' But I don't care why now. The important thing is it's happened.'

A month earlier, white and black members of the Class of 1960 gathered in Purcellville for dinner - a get-acquainted evening for about 40 people born through an e-mail exchange between two white alumni.

The belated coming-together is a rare occurrence, say school experts, noting that many schools are becoming resegregated because of housing patterns and school district boundaries.

College Completion Movement Helps Spur Academic Intervention Program Innovations

College Completion Movement Helps Spur Academic Intervention Program Innovations: ...While Coppin State has offered summer bridge programs for years as an optional tool for students seeking a leg up, this year was the first time the administration mandated attendance for remedial students. Coppin State’s new initiative, an effort to improve its 20 percent graduation rate, contributes to a growing national trend among colleges to boost their retention and graduation efforts. They are acting on research that shows students have a greater likelihood of staying in school and graduating if deficiencies—academic and financial—are addressed early and vigorously. The efforts are at various schools but especially at those with low graduation rates and those that have traditionally focused on low-income, first-time college students with academic achievement deficiencies dating to high school or earlier.

Capitol Hill Club, GOP's Hangout Spot, Sued For Racial Discrimination

Capitol Hill Club, GOP's Hangout Spot, Sued For Racial Discrimination: The Capitol Hill Club, a top hangout spot and frequent official business locale for elected Republicans and their campaign committees, is being sued for racial discrimination.

A former employee for the club filed a suit this week after having been fired in late July. The plaintiff, Kim Crawford, claims that she was passed over for raises for more than eight years. In her suit, she seeks $3 million in compensatory and punitive damages -- a fairly large sum though not an unprecedented total.

The club, known formally as the 'National Republican Club of Capitol Hill,' is a separate organization from the Republican National Committee. But it is the committee's next-door neighbor. And having it find its way to the center of a racial controversy is, undoubtedly, an unwanted (even if minor) headache in the election's closing week.

Ayers Funding To Drop Off in 2012

Ayers Funding To Drop Off in 2012: JACKSON, Miss.— Mississippi's three historically Black universities will begin receiving less money from the settlement of the decades-old desegregation lawsuit in 2012.

Officials tell The Clarion-Ledger that the state is unlikely to have the funds to make up the difference.

Settlement of the lawsuit, named after the late Jake Ayers Sr. who filed it in 1975, provided $503.2 million for the benefit of Jackson State, Alcorn State and Mississippi Valley, including new programs and infrastructure.

It also provided that the funding would be trailing off on July 1, 2012.

Higher Education Commissioner Hank Bounds has asked the three colleges for business plans that would examine the viability of the programs and look for ways to substitute the settlement funds.

Miss. University Conference Focuses on Civil Rights History

Miss. University Conference Focuses on Civil Rights History: HATTIESBURG, Miss. – From a Ku Klux Klan firebomb attack on a Black storeowner to frequent marches on Main Street by Blacks pushing for voting rights, the city of Hattiesburg was a pivotal scene of racial unrest in the 1950s and 1960s.

A University of Southern Mississippi conference late last week highlighted the role of key activists and local foot soldiers who helped change the racial landscape of the South during the civil rights movement.

The academic conference, which began Thursday and concluded Saturday, included panel discussions by many veteran activists, including Lawrence Guyot, Marilyn Lowen, and Martha Noonan, members of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee.

Scholar Captures Stories of Undocumented Students

Scholar Captures Stories of Undocumented Students: With the Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act sitting on Congress’ to-do list, Dr. William Perez, assistant professor of education at Claremont University, hopes that legislative body pays close attention to the experiences of undocumented students struggling to get a higher learning.

In his book, We ARE Americans: Undocumented Students Pursuing the American Dream, Perez tells the tale of illegal immigration through firsthand accounts of undocumented high school and college students. Their perseverance, achievement and social consciousness, despite the negativity they face, may impress the reader. They certainly surprised the author.

College Inc. - Study: Racial harmony begins in the dorm room

College Inc. - Study: Racial harmony begins in the dorm room: A new study finds that randomly assigned roommates are equally likely to become friends regardless of their race.

Researchers studying roommate assignments at Berea College in Kentucky found that roommates of different races were just as likely to become friends as roommates of the same race. The finding, published in the October issue of Journal of Labor Economics, suggests that racial harmony on campus might begin with innovative dorm assignments.

The study also found that white students assigned black roommates tended to befriend more black students in college than white students assigned white roommates.

'We find that, while much sorting exists at all stages of college, black and white students are, in reality, very compatible as friends,' write the authors, Braz Camargo of Sao Paulo School of Economics and the University of Western Ontario, Ralph Stinebrickner of Berea College and Todd Stinebrickner of the University of Western Ontario.

'The Forgotten Hero' Of The Civil Rights Movement : NPR

'The Forgotten Hero' Of The Civil Rights Movement : NPR: A century before the civil rights protests in Selma and Birmingham, a 27-year-old African-American named Octavius Catto led the fight to desegregate Philadelphia's horse-drawn streetcars.

He did it in 1866 with the help of other prominent activists, including Lucretia Mott and Frederick Douglass. Catto raised all-black regiments to fight in the Civil War; he pushed for black voting rights; and he started an all-black baseball team — all before the age of 32.

And if you visit Octavius Catto's grave at Eden Cemetery, just outside Philadelphia, his epitaph reads: 'The Forgotten Hero'

It was that forgotten history that prompted two reporters, Dan Biddle and Murray Dubin, to dig deeper. They talked to NPR's Guy Raz about their new book, Tasting Freedom: Octavius Catto and the Battle for Equality in Civil War America.

11 Tucson teachers sue Arizona over new 'anti-Hispanic' schools law - CNN.com

11 Tucson teachers sue Arizona over new 'anti-Hispanic' schools law - CNN.com: Tucson, Arizona (CNN) -- Eleven Tucson, Arizona, educators sued the state board of education and superintendent this week for what the teachers consider an 'anti-Hispanic' ban looming on Mexican-American studies.

The suit comes in a state already roiled by a controversial immigration law that is being challenged in court.

On Tuesday, state Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne defended the new law, which will go into effect December 31. The law authorizes the superintendent to stop any ethnic studies classes that 'promote the overthrow of the United States government ... promote resentment toward a race or class of people ... (or) advocate ethnic solidarity instead of treatment of pupils as individuals.'

Horne said he would seek the first-ever ban in Tucson for its 'raza studies' program, now called Mexican-American studies. Raza means 'the race' in Spanish.

Opinion: Meeting the Needs of Diverse Students In U.S. Higher Education

Opinion: Meeting the Needs of Diverse Students In U.S. Higher Education: It was every administrator’s dream: two conferences in one week. One focused on measuring student-learning outcomes, the other on effective leadership in community colleges. In both meetings, the question of who can, does and should have access to higher education arose. Many assume the answer is that all students deserve a college education. This is a fraught assumption. Higher education in the United States was transported from Europe and was a system that served to control which social classes had access to knowledge and the opportunity to contribute to the generation of knowledge.

Scholar Documents Purported Tale of a 19th Century Body Snatcher

Scholar Documents Purported Tale of a 19th Century Body Snatcher: Amid the stacks of books, exams to grade, lecture notes and meeting agendas in the office of Dr. Shawn Utsey, chairman of Virginia Commonwealth University’s Department of African American Studies, is a box of bones that are more than 100 years old. The bones, he believes, are part of a dark history few know.

After completing his award-winning documentary “Meet Me In The Bottom,” chronicling the effort to identify and memorialize a slave burial ground in Richmond, Va., Utsey began investigating claims that the slave burial site had been looted for corpses for medical training purposes.

Raul Grijalva's Office On Lockdown After Swastika-Covered Suspicious Package Arrives

Raul Grijalva's Office On Lockdown After Swastika-Covered Suspicious Package Arrives: The office of Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-Ariz.) has been locked down due to the presence of a suspicious package covered with swastikas, according to reports. KVOA reports that an 'envelope containing white powder' was mailed to Grijalva's Tuscon office. Bomb technicians are reportedly on hand.

Grijalva told KVOA that the substance is toxic and Keith Olbermann tweeted that the Congressman would confirm that durring an appearance on 'Countdown.'

According to the Arizona Daily Star, the envelope was decorated with multiple swastikas and included a 'white powdery substance' inside. No one at the office has been injured, Politico reports, which also claims that the FBI is now involved in the investigation.

Fewer black males are dropping out of school in Baltimore - baltimoresun.com

Fewer black males are dropping out of school in Baltimore - baltimoresun.com: Black male students in Baltimore are staying in school and receiving their diplomas in higher numbers, school officials said on Wednesday, raising hope that future generations of city youths will gain skills needed for success in life.

District officials said that the performance of black male students over the past three years has been the driving force behind the improved statistics for Baltimore schools. In 2007, for every black male student who graduated from high school, one dropped out. Now, three are graduating for every one who leaves school.

'This is a major accomplishment that deserves the attention of all of the city,' said Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake. 'Baltimore schools continue to improve because we set higher expectations.'

While the graduation rate is still considered far too low, the data offer a remarkable portrait of a population long considered vulnerable. Education leaders have worried about how to rescue African-American male students in urban school districts, and have said that their lack of success leads to joblessness, crime and poverty.

United Nations Report Focuses on Global Lot of Women - NYTimes.com

United Nations Report Focuses on Global Lot of Women - NYTimes.com: UNITED NATIONS — American men who maintain they are doing more housework have a second source to back their claim — a United Nations report released Wednesday — although it would be premature to argue that the sexes had reached parity on domestic chores or nearly any other issue.

Housework statistics are perhaps the lightest slice from a welter of numbers in the report, which focused on the global lot of women. The latest in a series of compilations published every five years, the World’s Women 2010 was released to mark World Statistics Day. (When the United Nations wants to draw attention to an issue, it usually gets a day. For a particularly intractable problem, it often gets a year.)

Statistics Day is being honored in 100 countries to underscore the need for data as a development tool. (The list of events started with Afghanistan, where President Hamid Karzai was to participate in a statistical celebration that was presumably not the disqualification of a quarter of the votes from the recent polls.)

Education Week: White House Renews Attention to Hispanic Education

Education Week: White House Renews Attention to Hispanic Education: The Obama administration has renewed its commitment to key priorities in the education of Hispanic students, including reduction of the dropout rate, improved connections between pre-K-12 and postsecondary education, and passage of the “DREAM Act,” which would provide a path to legalization for some undocumented students.

All of those topics were touched on at the Oct. 18 White House summit on Hispanic education, hosted by the White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for Hispanics. The event was the culmination of a listening tour by White House officials over the last 18 months to more than 90 communities that focused on how to improve the education and lives of Latinos.

Today, President Obama signed an executive order to renew the initiative, which was started by an executive order signed by President George H.W. Bush in 1990. President Obama’s order calls for the establishment of a presidential advisory commission on Hispanic education and a federal interagency working group on how to improve the education and lives of Latinos.

Colleges more diverse, but racial gaps persist | Washington Examiner

Colleges more diverse, but racial gaps persist | Washington Examiner: While U.S. colleges have grown more racially diverse in recent years, minority students — especially Hispanics — still lag behind on key measures of academic progress, a new report says.

Those findings were released Wednesday in a biannual report card on minority educational attainment by the American Council on Education, with financial backing from the GE Foundation.

Overall, postsecondary educational achievement has flat-lined, meaning today's young adults are no better educated than the baby-boomer generation, the report concludes.

'Equality in education for all Americans remains a somewhat elusive goal that we must strive to reach,' said ACE president Molly Corbett Broad.

The report pays special attention to the nation's estimated 47 million Hispanics, including what it describes as an overlooked population in education policy — Hispanic immigrant adults.

NPR Ends Williams' Contract After Muslim Remarks : NPR

NPR Ends Williams' Contract After Muslim Remarks : NPR: NPR News has terminated the contract of longtime news analyst Juan Williams after remarks he made on the Fox News Channel about Muslims.

Williams appeared on 'The O'Reilly Factor,' Monday and host Bill O'Reilly asked him to comment on the idea that the nation was facing a dilemma with Muslims.

O'Reilly has been looking for support for his own remarks on a recent episode of ABC's 'The View,' in which he directly blamed Muslims for the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks. Co-hosts Joy Behar and Whoopi Goldberg walked off the set in the middle of his appearance.

Williams responded: 'Look, Bill, I'm not a bigot. You know the kind of books I've written about the civil rights movement in this country. But when I get on the plane, I got to tell you, if I see people who are in Muslim garb and I think, you know, they are identifying themselves first and foremost as Muslims, I get worried. I get nervous.'

Obama Signs Hispanic Education Executive Order

Obama Signs Hispanic Education Executive Order: President Barack Obama signed an executive order Tuesday intended to boost Hispanic education achievement, a priority for a key voting bloc two weeks ahead of critical midterm elections.

The measure is intended to widen the scope of a long-standing White House initiative on Latino education by increasing partnerships with the private sector and soliciting more input from the community. The objective is to focus on the educational challenges faced by the Hispanic community in order to increase enrollment and outcomes.

In a ceremony in the East Room, Obama noted that Latinos make up the largest minority group in the country's public schools, accounting for more than 1 in 5 students, but are likelier to attend low-performing schools and drop out.

ACE Report: Colleges More Diverse, but Racial Gaps Persist

ACE Report: Colleges More Diverse, but Racial Gaps Persist: While U.S. colleges have grown more racially diverse in recent years, minority students especially Hispanics still lag behind on key measures of academic progress, a new report says.

Those findings were released Wednesday in a biannual report card on minority educational attainment by the American Council on Education (ACE), with financial backing from the GE Foundation.

Overall, postsecondary educational achievement has flat-lined, meaning today's young adults are no better educated than the baby-boomer generation, the report concludes.

'Equality in education for all Americans remains a somewhat elusive goal that we must strive to reach,' said ACE president Molly Corbett Broad.

Education Week: More Intellectually Disabled Youths Go to College

Education Week: More Intellectually Disabled Youths Go to College: ...Eight years ago, disability advocates were able to find only four programs on university campuses that allowed students with intellectual disabilities to experience college life with extra help from mentors and tutors. As of last year, there were more than 250 spread across more than three dozen states and two Canadian provinces, said Debra Hart, head of Think College at the Institute for Community Inclusion at the University of Massachusetts Boston, which provides services to people with disabilities.

That growth is partly because of an increasing demand for higher education for these students and there are new federal funds for such programs.

The federal rules that took effect this fall allow students with intellectual disabilities to receive grants and work-study money. Because details on the rules are still being worked out, the earliest students could have the money is next year. Hart and others expect the funds to prompt the creation of even more programs.

Virginia 4th-grade textbook criticized over claims on black Confederate soldiers

Virginia 4th-grade textbook criticized over claims on black Confederate soldiers: A textbook distributed to Virginia fourth-graders says that thousands of African Americans fought for the South during the Civil War -- a claim rejected by most historians but often made by groups seeking to play down slavery's role as a cause of the conflict.

The passage appears in "Our Virginia: Past and Present," which was distributed in the state's public elementary schools for the first time last month. The author, Joy Masoff, who is not a trained historian but has written several books, said she found the information about black Confederate soldiers primarily through Internet research, which turned up work by members of the Sons of Confederate Veterans.

PBS News Guests Overwhelmingly White, Male: FAIR Study

PBS News Guests Overwhelmingly White, Male: FAIR Study: A multi-part FAIR exposé of PBS's most prominent news and public affairs programs demonstrates that public television is failing to live up to its mission to provide an alternative to commercial television, to give voice to those 'who would otherwise go unheard' and help viewers to 'see America whole, in all its diversity,' in the words of public TV's founding document.

Purdue Naming Library After Black Alumnus

Purdue Naming Library After Black Alumnus: WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Purdue University is renovating a library that will become the first major campus facility to be named for a Black alumnus.

The Journal & Courier of Lafayette reports that Roland Parrish gave $2 million toward the renovation of the Management and Economics Library in the Krannert School of Management. Parrish owns Parrish McDonald's Restaurants Ltd., which owns 25 restaurants in north Texas.

Parrish attended Purdue on a track and field scholarship but says he spent more time in the libraries than athletic facilities. He earned a master's degree in management in 1976.

Purdue officials say naming the library for Parrish could help with diversity recruitment and could inspire current students.

White House Initiative Spearheads Summit on Latino Academic Excellence

White House Initiative Spearheads Summit on Latino Academic Excellence: Hispanic students are the fastest growing population in U.S. public school systems, representing one in five students in grades K-12 and one in four in kindergarten. Yet they also have a drop-out rate that is close to 50 percent. How to reverse that statistic and help these students enter and graduate from college was the theme of a two-day National Summit and Call to Action hosted by the White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for Hispanics. Education leaders gathered in Washington on Monday and Tuesday to share best practices and strategize about ways to increase education access for Hispanic-Americans and help reach President Barack Obama’s goal to significantly increase college graduation rates by 2020. Obama will sign an executive order on Tuesday aimed at helping raise Hispanic academic achievement.

ETS Achievement Gap Conference Focuses on Families and Academic Development

ETS Achievement Gap Conference Focuses on Families and Academic Development: At a time when a national debate rages over whether charter schools are better than traditional public schools in abating the achievement gap, a conference on Monday sought to refocus attention on strengthening the family.

“(Family) is a stronger correlate of achievement than any of the other factors,” said Dr. Michael Nettles, senior vice president of the Policy Evaluation and Research Center at the Educational Testing Service (ETS). The Princeton, N.J.-based ETS hosted the event titled “The Family: America’s Smallest School.”

“So the socioeconomic status and condition of people’s lives is the biggest predictor of performance on assessments and tests that are administered to gauge achievement,” Nettles said. “It’s also the biggest predictor of gaps in achievement and quality of life.”

Housing crisis hits blacks hardest - CNN.com

Housing crisis hits blacks hardest - CNN.com: The foreclosure crisis has hit blacks harder than any other group in America and it will be tough for them to regain their footing in the housing market.

Blacks' homeownership rate has plummeted nearly 6 percent to 46.2 percent since its peak in 2004. That's more than twice that of any other racial or ethnic group, as well as the nation's rate as a whole, which fell only 2.3 percent, according to U.S. Census data.

Also, among recent borrowers, nearly 8 percent of blacks have lost their homes to foreclosure, compared to 4.5 percent of whites, according to the Center for Responsible Lending. Latinos, who have also been pummeled by the mortgage meltdown, came in a close second behind blacks in foreclosure losses.

The consequences are devastating. Fewer blacks own their home now than any other racial or ethnic group and that makes it even more difficult for them to achieve financial security and attain wealth.

'I Love My Hair': A Father's Tribute To His Daughter : NPR

'I Love My Hair': A Father's Tribute To His Daughter : NPR: A little Muppet girl has started a sensation. The unnamed puppet with an afro sings a love song to her hair.

'I Love My Hair' debuted on the Oct. 4 episode of Sesame Street. It was posted on the show's YouTube page — and then women began posting the video on their Facebook pages.

African-American bloggers wrote that it brought them to tears because of the message it sends to young black girls.

Joey Mazzarino, the head writer of Sesame Street, is also a Muppeteer who wrote the song for his daughter. Mazzarino is Italian. He and his wife adopted their 5-year-old daughter, Segi, from Ethiopia when she was a year old.

Mazzarino says he wrote the song after noticing his daughter playing with dolls.

D.C. schools dinner program aims to fight childhood hunger

D.C. schools dinner program aims to fight childhood hunger: D.C. public schools have started serving an early dinner to an estimated 10,000 students, many of whom are now receiving three meals a day from the system as it expand efforts to curb childhood hunger and poor nutrtition.

Free and reduced-price breakfast and lunch long have been staples in most urban school systems. But the District is going a step further in 99 of its 123 schools and reaching nearly a quarter of its total enrollment. Montgomery and Prince George's Country also offer a third meal of the day in some schools but not on the scale undertaken in the city.

The program, which will cost the school system about $5.7 million this year, comes at a time of heightened concern about childhood poverty in the city. Census data show that the poverty rate among African American children is 43 percent, up from 31 percent in 2007 and significantly higher than national rates.

Scholars Return to ‘Culture of Poverty’ Ideas - NYTimes.com

Scholars Return to ‘Culture of Poverty’ Ideas - NYTimes.com: For more than 40 years, social scientists investigating the causes of poverty have tended to treat cultural explanations like Lord Voldemort: That Which Must Not Be Named.

The reticence was a legacy of the ugly battles that erupted after Daniel Patrick Moynihan, then an assistant labor secretary in the Johnson administration, introduced the idea of a “culture of poverty” to the public in a startling 1965 report. Although Moynihan didn’t coin the phrase (that distinction belongs to the anthropologist Oscar Lewis), his description of the urban black family as caught in an inescapable “tangle of pathology” of unmarried mothers and welfare dependency was seen as attributing self-perpetuating moral deficiencies to black people, as if blaming them for their own misfortune.

Moynihan’s analysis never lost its appeal to conservative thinkers, whose arguments ultimately succeeded when President Bill Clinton signed a bill in 1996 “ending welfare as we know it.” But in the overwhelmingly liberal ranks of academic sociology and anthropology the word “culture” became a live grenade, and the idea that attitudes and behavior patterns kept people poor was shunned.

Navajo Closer Than Ever To Electing Woman Leader

Navajo Closer Than Ever To Electing Woman Leader: ...No woman has served as Navajo president, although the matriarchal society has strong reverence for women as caretakers and heirs to everything from home site leases to sheep. When introducing themselves, Navajos start with their mother's clan name.

With Lovejoy garnering twice as many votes as any of the 10 men and a second woman in a recent primary, the Navajo Nation appears closer than ever to electing a woman as its leader. But that doesn't mean Lovejoy's candidacy is widely accepted as she and Shelly approach the Nov. 2 election.

The New Mexico state senator has been called an outsider who lacks experience in tribal government. More to the point, she's been told she'll ruin a tradition in which all previous top leaders have been men and that her presidency could portend an ominous future for the tribe.

With Record Gift to Saint Leo University, Latino Businessman Gives New Meaning to Online Donation

With Record Gift to Saint Leo University, Latino Businessman Gives New Meaning to Online Donation: As a youth in 1940s Detroit, Don Tapia encountered domestic violence outside his doorsteps, sported one pair of shoes and sold magazines to provide household necessities for his mother and sister.

Today, the 72-year-old grandfather of six is a retired businessman who recently donated $4 million to his alma mater, Saint Leo University, to build a new School of Business center with nine classrooms, computer labs and technology suite.

Tapia’s donation, the largest single gift in the school’s history, is also a campus-improvement gift from an online alumnus who never stepped foot on campus until graduation.

Texas Southern Launches Maritime Degree Program — A First for an HBCU

Texas Southern Launches Maritime Degree Program — A First for an HBCU: ...Texas Southern University planned to launch a new Bachelor of Science degree in Maritime Transportation Management and Security — the first undergraduate degree program of its kind at a HBCU.

“I was so excited,” says Rodriguez, who received a full scholarship in the amount of $18,000 per year to participate in the program. “I loved the industry and was pleased to see this new program offered.”

TSU established the program in collaboration with $2 million in start-up funds from the Port of Houston Authority — one of the nation’s largest ports — to respond to the dearth of minorities in managerial positions and an aging maritime industry work force that will need to be replaced over the next decade.

Obituary: William Arthur “Buddy” Blakey

Obituary: William Arthur “Buddy” Blakey:  William Arthur “Buddy” Blakey, 67, whose contributions to and advocacy for public and private Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) spanned more than five decades, died Oct. 13, nearly one year after succumbing to an illness that left him incapacitated. He spent the last three months of his life at the Marley Neck Health & Rehabilitation Center in Glen Burnie, Md., according to the administrator of the facility.

The stalwart Washington, D.C., attorney, who began his professional career in public service, played a key role in conducting background research leading to the conceptualization, creation and legislative enactment of a number of key legislative programs that have benefited the nation’s Black colleges and universities, specifically, and Minority Serving Institutions, in general.

More youths with mental disabilities going to college - USATODAY.com

More youths with mental disabilities going to college - USATODAY.com: ...In years past, college life was largely off-limits for students with such disabilities, but that's no longer the case. Students with Down syndrome, autism and other conditions that can result in intellectual disabilities are leaving high school more academically prepared than ever and ready for the next step: college.

Eight years ago, disability advocates were able to find only four programs on university campuses that allowed students with intellectual disabilities to experience college life with extra help from mentors and tutors. As of last year, there were more than 250 spread across more than three dozen states and two Canadian provinces, said Debra Hart, head of Think College at the Institute for Community Inclusion at the University of Massachusetts Boston, which provides services to people with disabilities.

That growth is partly because of an increasing demand for higher education for these students and there are new federal funds for such programs.

Discipline rate of black students in Del., elsewhere is probed - USATODAY.com

Discipline rate of black students in Del., elsewhere is probed - USATODAY.com: The U.S. Department of Education's office of civil rights is investigating whether black male students are punished disproportionately in the Christina School District in Wilmington and Newark, one of five districts nationwide under scrutiny for its discipline record.

Federal investigators are in the process of visiting all of Christina's schools and have requested detailed discipline data for at least the last two academic years.

Education Secretary Arne Duncan first mentioned districts were being investigated at a conference in late September hosted by the Department of Education's civil rights office and the Department of Justice's civil rights division. Besides Delaware, the school districts under review are in New York, North Carolina, Utah and Minnesota.

Education Dept. sees 11% spike in civil rights complaints - USATODAY.com

Education Dept. sees 11% spike in civil rights complaints - USATODAY.com: African American boys who are suspended at double and triple the rates of their white male peers. English language learners who, for years, remain in separate classes, falling behind their peers and scoring poorly on standardized tests. Disabled students and those with illnesses who are shortchanged at school because of their impairments.

The U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights received nearly 7,000 complaints this fiscal year, an 11% increase and the largest jump in at least 10 years, according to data provided by the department. The increase comes as the office proceeds with 54 compliance reviews in districts and institutions of higher education nationwide, including cases involving disparate discipline rates and treatment of students with disabilities.

Black D.C. firefighters allege widespread discrimination in federal lawsuit

Black D.C. firefighters allege widespread discrimination in federal lawsuit: A lawsuit Friday by about 30 black firefighters alleges systematic racial discrimination within the D.C. Department of Fire and Emergency Medical Services, claiming that black employees face harsher discipline, are promoted less often and confront a hostile work environment imposed by white supervisors.

The 31-page suit, which lawyers say was filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, contains information potentially embarrassing to the department. It refers by name to at least 10 white firefighters accused or convicted of various misconduct. It also refers to black firefighters who committed similar offenses.

In a virtual rap sheet, the suit describes cases in which firefighters have been arrested for stalking, assault and illegal handgun possession; disciplined for fighting or injuring fellow firefighters with knives and plates; and investigated for e-mailing images of their sexual organs to female colleagues and cooking naked in firehouses.

Tribal leaders tell feds road funding needs a fix

Tribal leaders tell feds road funding needs a fix: Road fatalities on Indian reservations are three times the national average because road projects in Indian Country are inadequately funded, tribal leaders told federal officials Friday.

In a field hearing of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee in Polson, committee representative Sen. Jon Tester heard from government officials and tribal representatives from as far as California and Arizona who said more money was needed for reservation roads and the system needed to be better administered.

Some 73 percent of the 28,000 miles of roadways under the Bureau of Indian Affairs are unpaved and considered inadequate, Assistant Secretary of Indian Affairs Larry Echo Hawk said.

While road fatalities across the nation are going down, such deaths in Indian Country are skyrocketing. The annual fatality rate on Indian roads is three times the national average, said John Baxter of the Federal Highway Administration.

Breast cancer care 'race gap' not explained by insurance, income - USATODAY.com

Breast cancer care 'race gap' not explained by insurance, income - USATODAY.com: The so-called racial gap in breast cancer care has long been known by researchers, with African-American and Hispanic women less likely to get recommended breast cancer treatments than white patients.

'Less well known is what the issue is — is it race itself or something else contributing?' said Dr. Rachel Freedman, a medical oncologist at Dana Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, and an instructor in medicine at Harvard Medical School.

Her team's new study suggests that financial factors such as economic and social class or access to insurance alone can't explain the 'gap': Even after accounting for those differences, racial disparities in breast cancer care still showed up.

The study, published online Oct. 11 in the journal Cancer, 'was unique because it included adult women of all ages, and included (those with) insurance,' Freedman said.

2 found guilty of hate crimes related to death of immigrant - CNN.com

2 found guilty of hate crimes related to death of immigrant - CNN.com: Two men on trial in a Pennsylvania federal court in connection with the beating death of an undocumented Mexican immigrant have been found guilty on all counts, including hate crimes.

Derrick M. Donchak, 20, of Shenandoah, and Brandon J. Piekarsky, 18, of Shenandoah Heights, had previously been acquitted of murder charges in state court and convicted of simple assault.

But Donchak and Piekarsky were charged in federal court with hate crimes and depriving Luis Ramirez of his civil rights. Donchak also was accused of trying to cover up the July 12, 2008, crime.

'Four people attacked one person because of his race and because they didn't want people like him living in their town,' prosecutor Myesha K. Braden said during her closing argument.

Controversy Over Mascots at Ole Miss - NYTimes.com

Controversy Over Mascots at Ole Miss - NYTimes.com: On Thursday, the University of Mississippi announced the successor to its former mascot, a white-goateed, cane-toting Southern plantation owner that many have criticized as racist and anachronistic. The new mascot? The Rebel Black Bear.

Supporters of the old mascot were quick to find flaws. For one, an artist’s design shows a brown bear, not a black one. The animal was chosen based on the short story “The Bear” by William Faulkner, himself a former student, in which a bear is killed. Not exactly inspiring on the football field. And how original is a bear mascot?

“There are many, many other schools with bears — U.C.L.A., Maine, Brown,” said Brian Ferguson, a 2007 graduate and the director of the Colonel Reb Foundation, a group that supports bringing back the old mascot, which was retired from sporting event sidelines in 2003. “We might as well be called P.C.U. — Politically Correct University.”

CDC: 1 in 22 blacks will get HIV - USATODAY.com

CDC: 1 in 22 blacks will get HIV - USATODAY.com: Health officials estimate that 1 in 22 black Americans will be diagnosed with the AIDS virus in their lifetime — more than twice the risk for Hispanics and eight times that of whites.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported the numbers Thursday. The report says the lifetime risk is 1 in 52 for Hispanics, and 1 in 170 for whites.

Asian-Americans had the lowest lifetime risk, at about 1 in 222.

The data is not considered surprising. Earlier research has shown blacks, especially, have a high risk of HIV infection.

The estimates are based on 2007 death certificates, population figures and HIV surveillance data from 37 states and Puerto Rico. They update similar calculations reported two years ago.

The Million Man March 15 Years Later

The Million Man March 15 Years Later: First, the day: It was a brilliant autumn morning 15 years ago this coming Monday when nearly a million black men assembled peacefully and purposefully on the National Mall in Washington D.C., to talk, show our mutual support and urge one another on. An almost cloudless sky, I remember, was bluer than reality; the air was crisp and cool and crackling with energy; and the mood was joyous, almost triumphant, as though we were gathered in a huge, roofless church. Even now, the Million Man March remains as magically perfect as any single event I've ever witnessed.

But then there is this: The 5,475 days that have followed the Million Man March have been as dark and bleak for African-American men and their families as any in my lifetime.

Study of Montgomery County schools shows benefits of economic integration

Study of Montgomery County schools shows benefits of economic integration: Low-income students in Montgomery County performed better when they attended affluent elementary schools instead of ones with higher concentrations of poverty, according to a new study that suggests economic integration is a powerful but neglected school-reform tool.

The debate over reforming public education has focused mostly on improving individual schools through better teaching and expanded accountability efforts. But the study, to be released Friday, addresses the potential impact of policies that mix income levels across several schools or an entire district. And it suggests that such policies could be more effective than directing extra resources at higher-poverty schools.

The idea is easier to apply in areas with substantial middle-class populations and more difficult in communities, such as the District, with large concentrations of poverty. Yet it lends fresh support to an idea as old as the Supreme Court's Brown v. Board of Education ruling in 1954: Segregated schools - in this case, separated by economics, not law - are rarely as good as diverse ones at educating low-income students.

Georgia Regents Approve Restrictions for Undocumented Students

Georgia Regents Approve Restrictions for Undocumented Students: ATLANTA – The state Board of Regents voted Wednesday to tighten policies governing illegal immigrant applicants to Georgia colleges and universities, acting on complaints that the university system has been swamped by undocumented students.

The regents approved the stricter policy over the protests of a coalition of immigrant rights activists urging that it be rejected.

Under the new policies, to take effect with the fall 2011 semester, University System of Georgia schools will be barred from accepting undocumented immigrant applicants if the school has rejected any academically qualified applicants in the two most recent academic years.

That includes five Georgia colleges and universities: the University of Georgia, Georgia Tech, Georgia State University, Medical College of Georgia, and Georgia College & State University.

Latino Men See Dramatic Jump as First-year Medical School Students

Latino Men See Dramatic Jump as First-year Medical School Students: When Luis Godoy earned his associate’s degree and became a radiological technician in 1999, he soon found himself being called upon to do more than just take X-rays.

“I was able to bridge a gap between physicians that don’t speak Spanish and patients that don’t speak English,” Godoy said during a recent interview. “I found that very fulfilling.”

So fulfilling, in fact, that the experience of working alongside physicians and serving patients who told Godoy they thought he’d make a good physician himself ultimately led Godoy, now 31, to enter the UC Davis School of Medicine this fall in Sacramento, Calif.

U.S. Hispanics living longer than white and black Americans – The Chart - CNN.com Blogs

U.S. Hispanics living longer than white and black Americans – The Chart - CNN.com Blogs: Hispanics in the United States live longer than non-Hispanic whites and blacks, according to new data from the Center for Disease Control's National Center for Health Statistics.

The statistics, which were collected in 2006 from death certificates reported in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and outlying U.S. territories, found Hispanic people on the average, outlive both non-Hispanic whites and non-Hispanic blacks by almost eight years.

The report noted life expectancy for Hispanic men at birth was almost 78 and if they reached 65, their life expectancy shot up to 84. For women it was a little higher: From birth, 83 years, and after 65, to 87 years. In non-Hispanic white males, life expectancy from birth was almost 76 years of age and 82 years if they reached the age of 65. For non-Hispanic black males, those numbers dropped significantly to 69 years of age at birth and 80 years after they reach 65.

Number of Education Civil Rights Complaints on the Rise

Number of Education Civil Rights Complaints on the Rise: African-American boys suspended at double and triple the rates of their White male peers. English language learners who, for years, remain in separate classes, falling behind their peers and scoring poorly on standardized tests. Disabled students and those with illnesses who are shortchanged at school because of their impairments.

The U.S. Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights received nearly 7,000 complaints this fiscal year, an 11-percent increase and the largest jump in at least 10 years, according to data provided by the department. The increase comes as the office proceeds with 54 compliance reviews in districts and institutions of higher education nationwide, including cases involving disparate discipline rates and treatment of students with disabilities.

Perspectives: Time for Community Colleges To Lead on Diversifying Faculty

Perspectives: Time for Community Colleges To Lead on Diversifying Faculty: Community colleges like to tout the fact that so many culturally diverse and minority students are enrolled in our institutions. Something else we are proud of is our mission, so succinctly described by Dr. George Boggs, president of the American Association of Community Colleges, in a 2009 Community College Journal article: “Among America’s institutions of higher education, community colleges have the greatest potential to advance true egalitarianism and to prepare the country’s future educated work force.”

So, given our talking points about the value of diversity in community colleges, why aren’t we doing a better job of diversifying our faculty? Minority faculty hiring has not kept pace with increases in minority student enrollment at public two-year colleges. While underrepresented minorities make up 39 percent of community college student enrollment, just 16.3 percent of faculty are of color, according to 2009 Digest of Education statistics.

Insurance, Income Don't Explain 'Race Gap' in Breast Cancer Care

Insurance, Income Don't Explain 'Race Gap' in Breast Cancer Care: The so-called racial gap in breast cancer care has long been known by researchers, with black and Hispanic women less likely to get recommended breast cancer treatments than white patients.

'Less well known is what the issue is -- is it race itself or something else contributing?' said Dr. Rachel Freedman, a medical oncologist at Dana Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, and an instructor in medicine at Harvard Medical School.

Her team's new study suggests that financial factors such as economic and social class or access to insurance alone can't explain the 'gap': Even after accounting for those differences, racial disparities in breast cancer care still showed up.

The study, published online Oct. 11 in the journal Cancer, 'was unique because it included adult women of all ages, and included [those with] insurance,' Freedman said.

The Associated Press: Nordics lead in eliminating gender inequality

The Associated Press: Nordics lead in eliminating gender inequality: Four Nordic countries lead the world in eliminating inequality between men and women and the United States entered the top 20 nations for the first time, according to a survey of 134 nations released Tuesday.

But France fell to 46th place — a loss of 28 places — because it has fewer women in ministerial posts, the survey said. Many Arab and predominantly Muslim countries remain near the bottom of the list, including Egypt, Turkey, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Yemen.

The four Nordic countries — Iceland, Finland, Norway and Sweden — have topped the Global Gender Gap Index since it was first released in 2006 by the Geneva-based World Economic Forum, and Iceland remained in first place for the second straight year.

'Low gender gaps are directly correlated with high economic competitiveness,' Klaus Schwab, the forum's founder and executive chairman, said in a statement. 'Women and girls must be treated equally if a country is to grow and prosper.'

D.C. employment and pay gaps widening, study shows

D.C. employment and pay gaps widening, study shows: The employment gaps between black and white, educated and uneducated, and wealthy and low-income residents in the District are continuing to widen, with some conditions at their worst levels in 30 years, according to a new study by a local think tank.

The report, which will be released Wednesday by the D.C. Fiscal Policy Institute, shows that the inequalities have been exacerbated by the recession but have been mounting for decades.

In recent years, the city's narrative has been the gentrification of neighborhoods through condominiums, dog parks and restaurants, but the report shows that the shift has spread to the city's workforce.

Founded as a ‘Colored Institute,’ W.Va. State University Celebrates 120th Anniversary

Founded as a ‘Colored Institute,’ W.Va. State University Celebrates 120th Anniversary: INSTITUTE, W.Va. – West Virginia State University, which first opened its doors in March 1891, is celebrating its 120th academic year this 2010-2011 school yearThe Institute school, which now has more than 5,200 students and more than 80 academic programs, has experienced four name changes, a changing student population and an ever-growing faculty and curriculum.

Charles Byers, West Virginia State's vice president of academic affairs and a 1968 alumnus, said he considers the university the Mountain State’s “best-kept secret.”

'I think citizens of West Virginia probably do not understand the unique history of West Virginia State,” he said. “We're trying to let the people of West Virginia know about this institution.”

Black College Graduate Excels as UNCF Special Programs Leader

Black College Graduate Excels as UNCF Special Programs Leader: It’s no surprise that Aaron Andrews has been fond of historically Black colleges and universities all his adult life. He credits the mentoring he received at Morgan State University, where he earned a bachelor’s in physical education, for transforming “an insecure, inner-city kid” into a first-generation college graduate now bringing education to another generation of disadvantaged minorities.

As president and chief executive officer of the United Negro College Fund Special Programs Corporation (UNCFSPC) since 2004, Andrews heads an organization spun off from UNCF a decade ago to provide minority-serving institutions, including Hispanic-serving and tribal colleges, with services and programs focused on capacity building, training and workforce development.

Lauded Harlem Schools Have Their Own Difficulties - NYTimes.com

Lauded Harlem Schools Have Their Own Difficulties - NYTimes.com: ...But back home and out of the spotlight, Mr. Canada and his charter schools have struggled with the same difficulties faced by other urban schools, even as they outspend them. After a rocky start earlier this decade typical of many new schools, Mr. Canada’s two charter schools, featured as unqualified successes in “Waiting for ‘Superman,’ ” the new documentary, again hit choppy waters this summer, when New York State made its exams harder to pass.

A drop-off occurred, in spite of private donations that keep class sizes small, allow for an extended school day and an 11-month school year, and offer students incentives for good performance like trips to the Galapagos Islands or Disney World."

Lincoln's Evolving Thoughts on Slavery, And Freedom : NPR

Lincoln's Evolving Thoughts on Slavery, And Freedom : NPR: In 1854, Sen. Stephen Douglas forced the Kansas-Nebraska Act through Congress. The bill, which repealed the Missouri Compromise of 1820, also opened up a good portion of the Midwest to the possible expansion of slavery.

Douglas' political rival, former Illinois Congressman Abraham Lincoln, was enraged by the bill. He scheduled three public speeches in the fall of 1854, in response. The longest of those speeches — known as the Peoria Speech — took three hours to deliver. In it, Lincoln aired his grievances over Douglas' bill and outlined his moral, economic, political and legal arguments against slavery.

But like many Americans, Lincoln was unsure what to do once slavery ended.

More black people jailed in England and Wales proportionally than in US | Society | The Guardian

More black people jailed in England and Wales proportionally than in US | Society | The Guardian: The proportion of black people in prison in England and Wales is higher than in the United States, a landmark report released today by the Equality and Human Rights Commission reveals.

The commission's first triennial report into the subject, How Fair is Britain, shows that the proportion of people of African-Caribbean and African descent incarcerated here is almost seven times greater to their share of the population. In the United States, the proportion of black prisoners to population is about four times greater.

The report, which aims to set out how to measure 'fairness' in Britain, says that ethnic minorities are 'substantially over-represented in the custodial system'. It suggests many of those jailed have 'mental health issues, learning disabilities, have been in care or experienced abuse'.

Ruling Limits State’s Power in School Suspensions - NYTimes.com

Ruling Limits State’s Power in School Suspensions - NYTimes.com: ...The case was brought on behalf of two girls who were suspended for five months in 2008 after a brief fistfight at their high school in Beaufort County that involved no weapons or injuries. The suit did not question the district’s right to suspend them, but protested the additional, harsher step the district took, denying them access to the county’s alternative school for troubled students or help with study at home.

Legal experts said the decision, in a case that had drawn national attention from civil rights groups, children’s advocates and school leaders, was likely to be cited as a precedent as other states confront similar issues. The ruling affects one aspect of the zero-tolerance discipline policies that spread throughout the country over the last two decades, a policy originally intended to weed out dangerous children but one that critics say is used too readily for lesser infractions, derailing the lives of black children in particular.

Obama signs technology access bill for disabled

Obama signs technology access bill for disabled: WASHINGTON -- Blind and deaf people will be able to more easily use smart phones, the Internet and other technologies that are staples of life and work under a bill signed into law on Friday.

Such a step has been a priority of advocates for the millions of people who cannot see or hear.

In the East Room of the White House, where he was flanked on stage by lawmakers and Stevie Wonder, President Barack Obama portrayed the occasion as another step in guaranteeing equal access, opportunity and respect for all Americans.

He recalled celebrating this year's 20th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act, banning workplace discrimination against qualified people with disabilities and requiring improved access to public places and transportation.

How to fix our schools: A manifesto by Joel Klein, Michelle Rhee and other education leaders

How to fix our schools: A manifesto by Joel Klein, Michelle Rhee and other education leaders: As educators, superintendents, chief executives and chancellors responsible for educating nearly 2 1/2 million students in America, we know that the task of reforming the country's public schools begins with us. It is our obligation to improve the personal growth and academic achievement of our students, and we must be accountable for how our schools perform.

All of us have taken steps to move our students forward, and the Obama administration's Race to the Top program has been the catalyst for more reforms than we have seen in decades. But those reforms are still outpaced and outsized by the crisis in public education.

Fortunately, the public, and our leaders in government, are finally paying attention. The 'Waiting for 'Superman' ' documentary, the defeat of D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg's $100 million gift to Newark's public schools, and a tidal wave of media attention have helped spark a national debate and presented us with an extraordinary opportunity.

But the transformative changes needed to truly prepare our kids for the 21st-century global economy simply will not happen unless we first shed some of the entrenched practices that have held back our education system, practices that have long favored adults, not children. These practices are wrong, and they have to end now.

NAACP wants council oversight on achievement gap - baltimoresun.com

NAACP wants council oversight on achievement gap - baltimoresun.com: The Anne Arundel County branch of the NAACP has asked the County Council to put pressure on the county school system, in hopes of accelerating an agreement to close the achievement gap between white and black students.

Jacqueline Allsup, president of the county National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, said in testimony before the council Monday that while the school system is 'moving in the right direction' progress is coming 'way too slowly.' Allsup said the school system should concentrate its efforts on elementary school education.

In a 2005 agreement, the county school system and the U.S. Justice Department signed a memorandum of agreement to address inequalities after local civil rights groups and parents filed a complaint to the Office for Civil Rights about disparities in county schools.

The county Board of Education agreed to close the achievement gap by 2012 in several areas: graduation and dropout rates; Maryland school assessments; high school assessments; access and success in more rigorous instruction; special-education identification and placement; discipline referrals; suspensions and expulsions; and community engagement.

Historian Researches Berkshires for Black History Project

Historian Researches Berkshires for Black History Project: NORTH ADAMS, Mass. – Mississippi-born Frances Jones-Sneed moved to western Massachusetts feeling like a foreigner in the snowy hamlets of the Berkshire Mountains. She and her husband, who had taken a teaching job there, were one of the area's few Black families.

Then Jones-Sneed was hired as a history professor at the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts in North Adams. There, she stumbled upon lost figures of the area's rich Black history.

With the help of students, she found a slave who sued for freedom, a late 19th-century baseball player who later ended up in the Baseball Hall of Fame, and a Civil War chaplain who challenged Lincoln over discrimination against Black soldiers.

Now her work has gained national attention, and she has won a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities to bring 25 scholars from around the country for training on how to find Black figures in rural areas.

Conference Highlights Helping Students With Timely Degree Completion

Conference Highlights Helping Students With Timely Degree Completion: Colleges and universities must find ways to help their increasingly diverse student bodies earn their degrees on time and accept responsibility if large numbers of students persistently take too long to graduate, a series of panelists here said Wednesday.

“This is going to take such a massive effort,” said Dr. David Spence, president of the Southern Regional Education Board (SREB), speaking at a conference titled “Time to Completion: How States and Systems are Tackling the Time Dilemma.”

The event was sponsored by SREB, an organization that works with 16 member states to improve public pre-K-12 and higher education, and Jobs for the Future, a Boston-based organization that works on developing new education and workforce strategies.

Wis. law lets residents challenge race-based mascots - USATODAY.com

Wis. law lets residents challenge race-based mascots - USATODAY.com: The homecoming pep rally Friday at Kewaunee High School will have extra drama this year: Everyone in town will learn whether they'll be rooting for the River Bandits or the Storm to beat the Valders Vikings in the big football game.

The selection of a new nickname is the culmination of a sometimes painful few months in this town of 2,745. Under a new state law meant to eliminate race-based nicknames, logos and mascots, a complaint prompted the Kewaunee School District to drop the 'Indians' name that had been in use here since 1936.

'This has been a tough time,' says Sandi Christman, who chaired a committee that got the whole community involved in the selection of a new name and mascot. 'It's like losing a friend.'

To ease the sting, the school board decided to seek suggestions from students and residents. Almost 200 ideas were submitted. The 13-member committee, which included four students, narrowed the list to six: River Bandits, Storm, Cougars, Hawks, Knights and Huskies.

Black Judge Rejects Plea Deal for White Man Accused of Fighting With Cops

Black Judge Rejects Plea Deal for White Man Accused of Fighting With Cops: Judge Joseph K. Williams is mad as hell, and he's not going to take it anymore! The Allegheny County, Pa., judge made headlines Tuesday when he denied a plea deal for a white defendant accused of trying to fight with cops after a traffic stop because he said the prosecutor who offered it negotiates plea deals only for 'white boys.' Williams, who is black, claimed the prosecutor, Assistant District Attorney Brian Catanzarite, 'comes up with, I think, ridiculous pleas whenever it's a young white guy ... if this had been a black kid who did the same thing, we wouldn't be talking about three months' probation.' Cantarazite said another prosecutor came up with the plea deal in question, and that he 'comes up with offers based on facts.' Well, that argument is going in circles. It probably wasn't wise for Williams to take out his anger on a first-time offender who might have deserved a plea deal, but just imagine the kinds of things he sees on the bench day in and day out. Can you blame him for being frustrated?

More U.S. women pull down big bucks

More U.S. women pull down big bucks: The number of women with six-figure incomes is rising at a much faster pace than it is for men.

Nationwide, about one in 18 women working full time earned $100,000 or more in 2009, a jump of 14 percent over two years, according to new census figures. In contrast, one in seven men made that much, up just 4 percent.

The legions of higher-income women have grown even faster in the Washington region, further burnishing its reputation as a land of opportunity for ambitious professional women.

n the metropolitan region, one in six women earned more than $100,000 last year, the second highest ratio in the nation behind No. 1 San Jose. But Washington women had the highest median pay among all full-time working women, almost $54,000 compared with the national median of nearly $37,000.

HIV-positive muppet to star in Nigeria's 'Sesame Street' - CNN.com

HIV-positive muppet to star in Nigeria's 'Sesame Street' - CNN.com: Miss Piggy and Kermit the Frog have some new friends, but they're a long way from 'Sesame Street.'

One of America's best-loved children's shows, which began life on a fictional New York street over 40 years ago, is about to land in Nigeria under the title of 'Sesame Square' -- bringing with it some distinctly West African twists.

The show stars Kami, a girl Muppet who is HIV-positive, has golden hair and a zest for adventure; and Kobi, an energetic, furry, blue Muppet whose troublesome escapades help others learn from his mistakes.

In a country with a population of over 150 million -- where nearly half are under the age of 14 -- the show will address some of the biggest challenges faced by young people in the region: AIDS, malaria, gender inequality, religious differences -- as well as many positive aspects of Nigerian life. In the case of Zobi, this is characterized by an obsessive love of yams -- a staple food in the Nigerian diet.

Why Sunday morning remains America's most segregated hour – CNN Belief Blog - CNN.com Blogs

Why Sunday morning remains America's most segregated hour – CNN Belief Blog - CNN.com Blogs: “Sunday morning is the most segregated hour of Christian America.”

That declaration, which has been attributed to Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., used to startle listeners. Now it’s virtually become a cliche. For years, various academic studies and news articles have reported what many churchgoers already know: most American congregations are segregated.

In the latest issue of the academic journal Sociological Inquiry, two professors dug deeper into why Sundays remain so segregated.

The article, “Race, Diversity, and Membership Duration in Religious Congregations,’ said that nine out of ten congregations in the U.S. are segregated - a single racial groups accounts for more than 80 percent of their membership.

Kevin Dougherty , a sociology professor at Baylor University in Texas, and a co-author of the article, says churches haven't kept pace with other institutions.

Linguists discover new language in India - USATODAY.com

Linguists discover new language in India - USATODAY.com: In the midst of a period of rapid language extinction, with a language estimated to die every two weeks, linguists have found a small ray of hope, a language previously unknown to science in far northeastern India.

A team of linguists working with National Geographic's Enduring Voices project uncovered this hidden language, known as Koro, in the state of Arunachal Pradesh. A member of the Tibeto-Burman language family, it has only 800 to 1,200 speakers and is unwritten.

The team was led by Gregory Anderson, who directs the Living Tongues Institute for Endangered Languages in Salem, Ore., and K. David Harrison, an associate professor of linguistics at Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania. They videotaped speakers telling stories and talking, and made extensive word lists using the English alphabet to help classify the language.

Koro is very distinct from other languages spoken nearby, and the researchers hypothesize it may have originated from a group of people enslaved and brought to the area, though more research is needed.

Baltimore shows how Hispanics' influence grows - USATODAY.com

Baltimore shows how Hispanics' influence grows - USATODAY.com: BALTIMORE — In this city's Greektown, home to generations of Greek families, you are just as likely to see Latino-owned bakeries, grocery stores and restaurants as Greek coffee houses.

The Roman Catholic Archdiocese started its first bilingual English and Spanish program this year to attract more Hispanic families.

And City Hall set up a commission two years ago to determine the education, job, public health and social needs of the growing Hispanic population, which increased 45% to 16,000 in 2008 from 11,000 in 2000.

'They live in every community. ... We're seeing more restaurants, stores and shops that are just sprouting up,' says Baltimore Councilman Jim Kraft. 'It's creating a new identity.'

In cities like Baltimore across the USA, the impact of Hispanics is wide-reaching and growing. The number of Hispanics in the U.S. is expected to reach 133 million by 2050, when the group is projected to make up almost a third of the nation's population.

Hispanic Scholarship Fund Launches “Generation 1st Degree” Campaign

Hispanic Scholarship Fund Launches “Generation 1st Degree” Campaign: The Hispanic Scholarship Fund (HSF) organization on Tuesday convened its Education Summit 2010 in New York and launched the ‘Generation 1st Degree’ program, which aims to fulfill the foundation’s goal of helping Hispanic families attain a college degree in every household.

Summit attendees included representatives of the corporate world, foundations, HSF alumni and students. HSF President Frank D. Alvarez said a significant intention of the summit was to actively engage corporations in the program’s mission.

“To arrive at 14 million degrees is a monumental undertaking,” said Alvarez. “We want them to carry the message into stores, into their services … to invest back into the community.”

The 'Disintegration' Of America's Black Neighborhoods : NPR

The 'Disintegration' Of America's Black Neighborhoods : NPR: Writer Eugene Robinson grew up in a segregated world. His hometown of Orangeburg, S.C., had a black side of town and a white side of town; a black high school and a white high school; and 'two separate and unequal school systems,' he tells NPR's Steve Inskeep.

But things are different now. Just look at the nation's capital — home to the first black U.S. president, a large black middle class and many African-Americans who still live in extreme poverty.

Robinson details the splintering of African-American communities and neighborhoods in his new book, Disintegration: The Splintering of Black America.

His story starts in America's historically black neighborhoods, where segregation brought people of different economic classes together. Robinson says that began to change during the civil rights era.

College Inc. - Will USC be next to join the Common Application?

College Inc. - Will USC be next to join the Common Application?: ...The lure of the Common Application is the promise of more apps. Industry wisdom dictates a one-time, permanent jump of 5 to 10 percent in the applicant pool for a college that adopts the Common App, simply because the gesture makes it that much easier for each student to apply.

Mind you, no admission dean I interviewed for today's Post article cited 'more apps' as a significant reason for going Common. The deans -- along with their presidents -- say they are drawn to the Common App by the promise of a more diverse and democratic applicant pool.

Think of a first-time college attender in a public urban high school. Admission deans picture that kid in the office of her college guidance counselor, completing a Common Application. Admission officials have come to regard the signature application as a vain indulgence for a university trying to reach the broadest possible pool.

Game Delay: Latinos Not Yet Scoring With College Athletics

Game Delay: Latinos Not Yet Scoring With College Athletics: Collegiate sports, and athletic scholarships in particular, have served as portals to higher education for generations of African-Americans who may have not otherwise attended college. That’s not the case for Latinos.

Hispanic men and women represented just 4.5 and 3.9 percent, respectively, of student-athletes in the NCAA during the 2008-09 academic year. Between 1999 and 2008, the number of Hispanics playing college sports grew at a glacial pace, from 3 to 4.2 percent, even as Hispanic students have become more prevalent on college campuses — 12 percent of students were Hispanic in 2007, according to Census data. Hispanics account for 15.8 percent of the U.S. population.

Southern University Faculty Bristles Over Faculty Appointment

Southern University Faculty Bristles Over Faculty Appointment: Dr. Lisa Delpit is beginning a professorship at Southern University’s Baton Rouge campus in the middle of a rancorous dispute between faculty and administrators.

The debate has centered on the chancellor’s appointment of the renowned scholar and author to a $120,000-a-year position that was supposed to have been funded by a $2 million endowment.

Problem is: No money was raised for the endowment, so state funds will pay her salary in the College of Education as dozens of employees are being laid off amid budget cuts.

Reports: Some states charge poor for public defenders - USATODAY.com

Reports: Some states charge poor for public defenders - USATODAY.com: States increasingly are imposing fees on poor criminal defendants who use public defenders even when they can't pay, causing some to go without attorneys, according to two reviews of the nation's largest state criminal justice systems.

A report out Monday by New York University School of Law's Brennan Center for Justice found that 13 of the 15 states with the largest prison populations imposed some charge, including application fees, for access to counsel.

'In practice, these fees often discourage individuals from exercising their constitutional right to an attorney, leading to wrongful convictions, over-incarceration and significant burdens on the operation of courts,' the Brennan report concludes.

In Michigan, the report says, the National Legal Aid and Defender Association found the 'threat' of having to pay the full cost of assigned counsel caused misdemeanor defendants to waive their right to attorneys 95% of the time.