Study: Top college sports jobs lack diversity - Other Sports - MSNBC.com

Study: Top college sports jobs lack diversity - Other Sports - MSNBC.com: ORLANDO, Fla. - White men dominate the leadership positions in college sports, a new study says, with women and minorities making only slow progress moving into the top jobs.

Athletic directors, conference commissioners and university presidents overwhelmingly are white, the study released Wednesday by the University of Central Florida’s Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport found.

“There’s a gradual movement toward positive change both in terms of race and gender, but it’s been very slow,” Richard Lapchick, the institute’s director, said in an interview with The Associated Press. “The situation still remains that people who lead college sports in America are still white, which doesn’t reflect the student athletes on the teams they represent.”

Museum examines black Vietnam experience - Race in America - MSNBC.com

Museum examines black Vietnam experience - Race in America - MSNBC.com: PITTSBURGH - A pair of combat boots. A wristband woven from boot laces with several bullets dangling. A photo of black servicemen standing outside a makeshift African temple.

The items are part of 'Soul Soldiers: African Americans and the Vietnam Era,' a new exhibit at the Senator John Heinz Pittsburgh Regional History Center that examines the black experience in Vietnam in the context of the era's domestic social fabric.

Samuel W. Black, curator of the center's African American Collections, conceived the exhibit, in part because his older brother, Jimmy McNeil, served two years in Vietnam.

Poll: Most Americans see lingering racism -- in others - CNN.com

Poll: Most Americans see lingering racism -- in others - CNN.com: (CNN) -- Most Americans, white and black, see racism as a lingering problem in the United States, and many say they know people who are racist, according to a new poll.

But few Americans of either race -- about one out of eight -- consider themselves racist.

And experts say racism has evolved from the days of Jim Crow to the point that people may not even recognize it in themselves. (Watch how many blacks are still afraid to stop in a Texas town Video)

A poll conducted last week by Opinion Research Corp. for CNN indicates that whites and blacks disagree on how serious a problem racial bias is in the United States.

Almost half of black respondents -- 49 percent -- said racism is a 'very serious' problem, while 18 percent of whites shared that view. Forty-eight percent of whites and 35 percent of blacks chose the description 'somewhat serious.' (See the poll results)

Asked if they know someone they consider racist, 43 percent of whites and 48 percent of blacks said yes.

But just 13 percent of whites and 12 percent of blacks consider themselves racially biased.

The poll was based on phone interviews conducted December 5 through Thursday with 1,207 Americans, including 328 blacks and 703 non-Hispanic whites.

With Subtle Reminders, Stereotypes Can Become Self-Fulfilling - washingtonpost.com

With Subtle Reminders, Stereotypes Can Become Self-Fulfilling - washingtonpost.com: ... Ambady said that drawing attention to the girls' individuality -- by asking about their favorite book or movie, for example, or asking them to list a few things about themselves that they liked and disliked -- caused them to do much better on math tests compared with girls primed with a negative gender stereotype that subtly reminded the girls of their group identity.

In another intriguing study, David Butz, a psychology graduate student at Florida State University, found that displaying the American flag in a room when students are asked to solve math problems or anagrams can influence performance. As with other experiments, the students themselves were not aware that the subtle cue made a difference -- in fact, most said they did not even notice the flag.

Butz designed the study after Florida law mandated that an American flag be hung in public classrooms. He found that the flag boosted the performance of white students but not minorities. White students given a math test in a room without a flag solved 44 percent of the problems. Those shown the flag solved 51 percent. Minorities solved 42 percent of the problems without the flag and 41 percent with it -- no difference.

Makes you wonder, doesn't it, about the hidden power that lies in the ordinary things around you?

"Colorism" Still Thrives

"Colorism" Still Thrives
Over the summer, Matthew Harrison, a doctoral student at the University of Georgia, released the results of a study showing dark-skinned blacks at a significant disadvantage for employment.

Harrison studied 240 psychology students and found that even if they possessed higher educational achievement and had more qualified resumes, dark-skinned blacks were less likely to get the job than their light-skinned counterparts.

'The findings in this study are, tragically, not too surprising,' Harrison said when the study was released. 'We found that a light-skinned black male can have only a bachelor's degree and typical work experience and still be preferred over a dark- skinned black male with an MBA and past managerial positions, simply because expectations of the light-skinned black male are much higher, and he doesn't appear as 'menacing' as the darker-skinned male applicant.'

In September, 'A Girl Like Me,' an eight-minute documentary produced by 17-year-old film student Kiri Davis, showed Davis duplicating the 'doll test' used in the Brown vs. Board of Education case that outlawed legal segregation in the schools.

Among children in a Harlem, N.Y., day care center, 15 of the 21 children surveyed in 2005 preferred the white doll over the black one.

History tells us that during slavery, the tone of a black person's skin ultimately affected his or her status.

A Gadget to Acclimate Immigrants - washingtonpost.com

A Gadget to Acclimate Immigrants - washingtonpost.com: ... They were acclimating themselves to a new world of high-tech academic tools. For many of the students in the program, Dominion High offers more than a meal and additional help with geometry assignments. It also offers Palm handheld computers.

The devices act as music players, pocket translators, alarm clocks, planners, word processors and, for some, their first personal computer. In Loudoun County, where the high-tech corridor gives way to rolling hills studded with the homes of affluent families, many students leave well-equipped computer labs at school to find bedrooms stocked with video games and laptops.

But that is not true for everyone.

Report -More students getting free breakfast - CNN.com

Report:�More students getting free breakfast - CNN.com: WASHINGTON (AP) -- Students from low-income families are eating more free and reduced-price breakfasts at school, an anti-hunger group said Thursday.

The federal breakfast program feeds only two in five who need it. Still, it reached a record 7.7 million low-income children in the 2005-2006 school year, according to a report from the Food Research and Action Center.

New Mexico posted the biggest increase, with 58 children getting breakfast for every 100 getting free and reduced-price lunches, up from 53 a year earlier.

State officials there spent nearly half a million dollars to boost breakfast participation in schools struggling to meet standards under President Bush's No Child Left Behind program, said James Weill, the center's president.

Kids learn better when they're not hungry, Weill said.

'It's not a solution to the problems in America's schools, but it's the fastest, easiest, cheapest way of boosting school performance that we have,' he said. 'It's the closest thing schools have to a magic bullet.'

New Mexico moved to second place in the rate of participation, behind West Virginia and ahead of South Carolina, Kentucky, Oregon, Vermont, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Georgia and Mississippi.

States with the lowest participation rates were Pennsylvania, Nebraska, New Jersey, Colorado, Connecticut, New Hampshire, Alaska, Utah, Illinois and Wisconsin.

World Bank Reports Poverty Programs Ineffective - washingtonpost.com

World Bank Reports Poverty Programs Ineffective - washingtonpost.com: NEW YORK, Dec. 7 -- Despite an intensified campaign against poverty, World Bank programs have failed to lift incomes in many poor countries over the past decade, leaving tens of millions of people suffering stagnating and even declining living standards, according to a report released Thursday by the bank's autonomous assessment arm.

Among 25 poor countries probed in detail by the bank's Independent Evaluation Group, only 11 saw reductions in poverty between the mid-1990s and the early 2000s, while the other 14 suffered the same or worse rates over that term. The group said the sample was representative of the global picture.

"Achievement of sustained increases in per capita income, essential for poverty reduction, continues to elude a considerable number of countries," the report declared, singling out as particularly ineffective programs aimed at the rural poor. Roughly half of such efforts from 2001 to 2005 "did not lead to satisfactory results." During that period, new World Bank loans and credits aimed directly at rural development totaled $9.6 billion, or about one-tenth of total bank lending, according to the group.

Poverty shifts to the suburbs - U.S. Business - MSNBC.com

Poverty shifts to the suburbs - U.S. Business - MSNBC.com: WASHINGTON - As Americans flee the cities for the suburbs, many are failing to leave poverty behind.

The suburban poor outnumbered their inner-city counterparts for the first time last year, with more than 12 million suburban residents living in poverty, according to a study of the nation’s 100 largest metropolitan areas released Thursday.

“Economies are regional now,” said Alan Berube, who co-wrote the report for the Brookings Institution, a Washington think tank. “Where you see increases in city poverty, in almost every metropolitan area, you also see increases in suburban poverty.”

Systems Struggling to Address Student Health - washingtonpost.com

Systems Struggling to Address Student Health - washingtonpost.com: In urban school systems across the country, children who live in poverty suffer from higher rates of health problems -- asthma, malnutrition, obesity and mental disorders -- than the more affluent, and the academic consequences are very real, according to researchers who have studied how health affects academic achievement.

'Good dental care doesn't make you a good student, but if your tooth hurts, it's hard to be a good student,' said Geoffrey Canada, president and chief executive of the Harlem Children's Zone, a large-scale initiative designed to improve the social, health and educational conditions in entire neighborhoods of Harlem.

Asian-American Teens More Likely Than Whites, Latinos To Learn Healthier Lifestyles

Asian-American Teens More Likely Than Whites, Latinos To Learn Healthier Lifestyles: Adolescents whose families emigrated from Asia improve their health habits with every generation born in the United States, more than their white and Latino peers, new research suggests.

'We were pleased by the marked improvement in physical activity and use of bicycle helmets, seat belts and sunscreen for Asian adolescents across the generations,' said lead author Michele Allen, M.D. 'This suggests that public health messages are reaching this population,' said Allen, currently an investigator in the health disparities research program at the University of Minnesota.

Allen and former colleagues at the UCLA/RAND Center for Adolescent Health Promotion examined data from a 2001 California-wide survey and included responses from 5,801 adolescents, age 12 to 17, who were asked about their preventive health habits including wearing bicycle helmets, using seat belts, physical activity and nutrition.

United Press International - Consumer Health - More mental-health risk for immigrant children

United Press International - Consumer Health - More mental-health risk for immigrant children: SEATTLE, Dec. 4 (UPI) -- Recent studies have shown that immigrants to the United States may experience lower rates of mental-health problems, but their children may be at higher risk.

The children and grandchildren of immigrants may actually be more likely than their parents to suffer such mental-health woes, according to a study published in The American Journal of Public Health.

The study looked at the prevalence of depressive, anxiety and substance disorders in relation to ethnicity, nativity, generational status, English proficiency, length of time in the United States and age at migration to the United States for Latinos.

The researchers found the lifetime prevalence estimate for any psychiatric disorders was 28.1 percent for Latino men and 30.2 percent for Latina women. Puerto Ricans had the highest overall prevalence rate among the Latino ethnic groups for any disorder. There were higher rates of psychiatric disorders among U.S.-born, English proficient and third-generation Latinos, according to David T. Takeuchi of the University of Washington.

abc7news.com: Literacy Program Showing Strong Results

abc7news.com: Literacy Program Showing Strong Results: Dec. 4 - KGO - Studies show that for every 100 Latino students entering Kindergarten, fewer than eight will graduate from college. In this ABC7 Focus On Solutions, Karina Rusk reports on a program that's changing those odds in San Jose.

Ninety-seven percent of the students at McKinley Elementary School in San Jose are learning English as a second language. But just listen as Mario Morales tells us about his reading skills.

Mario Morales, sixth grade student: 'If I'm finished with a book I will get up and get another one and keep on reading because I know it will be easy because I can read.'

Study: Racial graduation divide at BCS schools - CNN.com

Study: Racial graduation divide at BCS schools - CNN.com: ORLANDO, Florida (AP) -- College football teams headed for the five major bowls this year performed better academically on the whole than the national average, according to a study released Monday.

At these top programs, however, the disparity between black and white graduation rates grows by nearly double.

The nation's best football teams are generally improving in the classroom, according to an analysis by Richard Lapchick, director of the Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport at the University of Central Florida.

Of the 64 teams invited to bowls this year, 86 percent graduated at least half their players. And 40 of this year's top programs -- 62 percent -- matched or beat the NCAA's new Academic Progress Rate standard, which is intended to more accurately gauge grades and graduation rates.

The statistics Lapchick used are preliminary and don't include the most recent school year.

Perhaps most strikingly, white athletes in the Bowl Championship Series -- the top five bowls, including the BCS title game -- beat their counterparts among the 119 NCAA Division I-A schools by graduating 81 percent of the time, compared with 62 percent division-wide. The black athlete graduation rate was 56 percent among those schools, also better than the 49 percent overall rate.

But the discrepancy between white and black players' graduation rates for top bowl teams -- a 25 percentage point difference -- was nearly twice the 13-point divide within the NCAA average.

Supreme Court Weighs Race in Public School Admissions - washingtonpost.com

Supreme Court Weighs Race in Public School Admissions - washingtonpost.com: Several hundred demonstrators, many of them college or high school students, gathered on the steps of the U.S. Supreme Court early this morning to proclaim support for using skin color as a factor in admissions in order to maintain racially diverse public schools.

The court is hearing arguments today in two high-stakes school desegregation cases-- the first test on the issue Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. and Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. since they were appointed to the court last term. Both justices in the past have been skeptical about the use of racial classifications.

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.

Whites challenged Katrina settlements more - U.S. Business - MSNBC.com

Whites challenged Katrina settlements more - U.S. Business - MSNBC.com: Though poor and minority neighborhoods suffered the brunt of Katrina’s fury, residents living in white neighborhoods have been three times as likely as homeowners in black neighborhoods to seek state help in resolving insurance disputes, according to an Associated Press computer analysis.

The analysis of Louisiana’s insurance complaints settled in the first year after Katrina highlights a cold, hard truth exposed by Katrina’s winds and waters: People of color and modest means, who often need the most help after a major disaster, are disconnected from the government institutions that can provide it, or distrustful of those in power.

In Louisiana, more than 8,000 residents have filed Katrina-related complaints with the state insurance office. Using open records law, AP obtained the files of more than 3,000 complaints that have already been settled and analyzed the outcomes by the demographics of the victims’ current zip code neighborhood.

Nearly 75 percent of the settled cases were filed by residents currently living in predominantly white neighborhoods. Just 25 percent were filed by households in majority-black zip codes, the analysis found.

The analysis also suggests income was a factor. The average resident who sought state help lives in a neighborhood with a median household income of $39,709, compared with the statewide median of $32,566 in the 2000 Census.

Schools May Offer More Single-Sex Classes Under New U.S. Regulations - washingtonpost.com

Schools May Offer More Single-Sex Classes Under New U.S. Regulations - washingtonpost.com: New federal regulations announced yesterday give school systems around the nation more flexibility in offering single-sex public education, even though the Department of Education concluded a year ago that there was not enough evidence to definitively evaluate single-sex classes.

Critics contended that the move was an invitation to schools to violate laws prohibiting sex discrimination in federally funded education programs.

The American Civil Liberties Union said the new regulations are an open invitation to schools to violate Title IX, the federal law that prohibits sex discrimination in educational programs that receive federal funding.

"The regulations allow schools to separate girls and boys for virtually any reason they can dream up -- including outdated and dangerous gender stereotypes," Emily Martin, deputy director of the ACLU Women's Rights Project, said in a statement. "And although the administration's regulations claim to make these programs optional, sex segregation can never be truly voluntary."

Studies Look for Reasons Behind Racial Disparities in Health Care - washingtonpost.com

Studies Look for Reasons Behind Racial Disparities in Health Care - washingtonpost.com: Racial minorities are less likely to undergo major surgeries at the hospitals where those operations are done best, and black patients at Medicare HMOs fare worse than whites on several health measures regardless of plan quality, according to studies being released today.

The two studies in today's issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association, plus a third showing that black women are less likely than their white counterparts to survive breast cancer, add to the voluminous evidence that the U.S. health-care system works differently for minorities than for whites despite years of efforts to erase racial disparities.

Studies have demonstrated that blacks and other minorities are far less likely than whites to receive many types of care, such as appendectomies, heart bypass surgery, or basic tests and drugs for heart disease and diabetes. Minorities on average are more prone to illness, have more complications and recover more slowly. They also are more likely to die from their illnesses, and to die younger.

But while the persistent disparities are well-documented, the causes remain the focus of research and debate. One explanation is that minorities tend to be poorer and less educated, with less access to care. And they tend to live in places where doctors and hospitals provide lower quality care than elsewhere. Others suspect cultural or biological differences play a role, and there is a long-running debate about whether subtle racism infects the health-care system.

Major medical organizations, private foundations and government health agencies have begun a host of studies, programs and initiatives in the past decade to try to close the gap.

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

Racial inequality in top Medicare plans - Health Care - MSNBC.com: NEW YORK - Older black adults are less likely than whites to have their blood pressure, cholesterol and blood sugar under control, even if they belong to a high-quality Medicare plan, researchers reported Tuesday.

The findings, published in Wednesday's Journal of the American Medical Association, show that racial disparities are common throughout the Medicare system.

'This is not a limited problem within a few health plans,' said lead study author Dr. Amal N. Trivedi of Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island. 'It's something they'll all have to address.'

Recent Research on the Achievement Gap, an interview with Ronald Ferguson, Harvard Education Letter, November/December 2006

Recent Research on the Achievement Gap, an interview with Ronald Ferguson, Harvard Education Letter, November/December 2006: Recent Research on the Achievement Gap

How lifestyle factors and classroom culture affect black-white differences

An Interview with Ronald Ferguson

For more than a decade, economist Ronald Ferguson has studied achievement gaps. In 2002, he created the Tripod Project for School Improvement, a professional development initiative that uses student and teacher surveys to measure classroom conditions and student engagement by race and gender. The findings inform strategies to raise achievement and narrow achievement gaps. A senior research associate at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, Ferguson is director and faculty cochair of the Achievement Gap Initiative at Harvard University. He spoke with the Harvard Education Letter about the most recent findings from the Tripod Project surveys.

How do you define “achievement gap”?

There are a lot of different achievement gaps. The achievement gap that I focus the most on is the gap between students of different racial groups whose parents have roughly the same amount of education. It concerns me that black kids whose parents have college degrees on average have much lower test scores than white kids whose parents have college degrees, for example. You can take just about any level of parental education and we have these big gaps.

How much progress has been made in closing black-white achievement gaps?

Huge progress since 1970, not much progress since 1990. Sixty-two percent of the overall black-white reading-score gap for 17-year-olds disappeared between 1971 and 1988. About one-third of the math-score gap disappeared during the same period. Over the last several years the gap has narrowed significantly for both 9- and 13-year-olds, but there’s been a bit of backsliding for the older teens.

There’s been enough progress to establish firmly that these gaps are not written in stone. Even IQ gaps are narrowing. Measurements of the intelligence of kids less than one year old show virtually no racial or social-class differences, yet racial and social class achievement gaps are firmly established by the time students start kindergarten. Something happens before kindergarten that produces differences in proficiency.

Achievement gaps are not facts of nature. They are mostly because of differences in life experience. We’ve got to figure out how to get all kids the kinds of experiences that really maximize access to middle-class skills. That’s the challenge.

Study: Expectations matter when it comes to math - CNN.com

Study: Expectations matter when it comes to math - CNN.com: WASHINGTON (AP) -- Telling women they can't do well in math may turn out be a self-fulfilling statement.

In tests in Canada, women who were told that men and women do math equally well did much better than those who were told there is a genetic difference in math ability.

And women who heard there were differences caused by environment -- such as math teachers giving more attention to boys -- outperformed those who were simply reminded they were females.

The women who did better in the tests got nearly twice as many right answers as those in the other groups, explained Steven J. Heine, a psychology professor at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver.

Expectations, it turns out, really do make a difference.

'The findings suggest that people tend to accept genetic explanations as if they're more powerful or irrevocable, which can lead to self-fulfilling prophecies,' said Heine.

The math study is the latest since Harvard University's president ignited controversy last year by suggesting that innate gender differences may partly explain why fewer women than men reach top university science jobs. The comment eventually cost him his job.

hearusnow.org: Latino

hearusnow.org: Latino: Latinos are the largest minority in the United States. Yet, even with their rising numbers and ever increasing purchasing power, Latinos are struggling to find a voice in media. Not only is the largest U.S. minority missing from television shows, movies, and radio programming, Latinos are also missing in the boardrooms of the entertainment industry. This has detrimental effects not only for the Latino community, but for all Americans who deserve access to many different media viewpoints.

RACE - The Power of an Illusion . Background Readings | PBS

RACE - The Power of an Illusion . Background Readings | PBS: Hispanics who identify themselves racially as black take on economic and social characteristics that more closely mirror those of African-Americans than of other Hispanics, according to a study on the often overlooked group released Monday.

The findings by the Lewis Mumford Center of SUNY Albany said that the nearly 1 million black Hispanics identified by the 2000 U.S. Census are more educated than other Hispanics, less likely to be immigrants and less likely to speak a language other than English.

Yet their economic performance is worse, with a lower median household income than other Hispanics, as well as higher unemployment and poverty rates.

John R. Logan, the author of the study and director of the Mumford Center, attributed the economic disparity between black Hispanics and other Hispanics to the 'very strong color line in the United States.'

'The opportunity structure here is that when people decide who to hire, or to rent to, when it comes right down to it, race does make a difference,' he said.

Report: Brown University should examine slavery ties - CNN.com

Report: Brown University should examine slavery ties - CNN.com: PROVIDENCE, Rhode Island (AP) -- Brown University should invite fresh reflection of its history involving the slave trade, a panel studying the issue said Wednesday in recommending the creation of a memorial and an academic center focused on slavery and justice.

The 17-member Steering Committee on Slavery and Justice offered several recommendations on how the university should take responsibility, including a commitment from the school to recruit and retain minority students, especially those from Africa and the West Indies.

'We cannot change the past,' according to the 106-page report, released on the university's Web site. 'But an institution can hold itself accountable for the past, accepting its burdens and responsibilities along with its benefits and privileges.'

In 2003, Brown President Ruth Simmons, the first black president of an Ivy League school and a descendant of slaves herself, appointed the committee of students, faculty and administrators to study the university's centuries-old ties to the slave trade.

Brown, the nation's seventh oldest university, was formally chartered in 1764 as the College of Rhode Island. Its founder, the Rev. James Manning, freed his only slave but accepted donations from slave owners and traders, including the Brown family of Providence. One family member, Nicholas Brown Jr., is the university's namesake.

The panel said there was no question that much of the money used to create Brown and ensure its early growth came either directly or indirectly from the slave trade.

A Two-Way Street for Immigrants - washingtonpost.com

A Two-Way Street for Immigrants - washingtonpost.com: Maha Abdelkader, a teacher at Bryant Woods Elementary School, stood before the roughly 100 teachers, administrators and community members. She passed around a work sheet in Arabic and began delivering a short lecture, also in Arabic.

After a few minutes, she stopped and looked around the room. 'Got it?' she asked. The room was silent.

"That's how our ELLs feel during their first week of school," she said, referring to English language learners.

The focus of Monday night's seventh annual Korean Education Seminar was to help Korean students and their parents better understand the education system. But the event also was designed to help educators better understand them.

Being a Black Man - washingtonpost.com

Being a Black Man - washingtonpost.com: "In their new book 'Deconstructing Tyrone,' journalists Natalie Hopkinson and Natalie Y. Moore dissect black masculinity through examinations of Detroit's 'Hip-Hop Mayor' Kwame Kilpatrick, NBA poet Etan Thomas, political prisoner Debo Ajabu, as well as babydaddies, strippers and their dads, gay Black men and the 'down low' phenomenom, Black male professionals and convicts.

The authors will be online Wednesday, Oct. 18 at noon ET to discuss their book and the issues it tackles. Submit your questions and comments early or during the discussion.

You can find stories, video, photographs and other interactive features from the ongoing 'Being a Black Man' series on washingtonpost.com/blackmen.

NCCRESt - National Art Contest 2007

NCCRESt - National Art Contest 2007: The National Center for Culturally Responsive Educational Systems (NCCRESt) is sponsoring a national art contest, in conjunction with its National Forum: Leadership for Equity and Excellence: Transforming Education. NCCRESt works to raise awareness of the impact of race, class and culture in our schools.

Education World School Issues: Why the Achievement Gap Refuses to Close

Education World School Issues: Why the Achievement Gap Refuses to Close: While more people are talking about the achievement gap among students of different ethnic backgrounds, progress on providing all students with a quality education remains slow, according to the authors of the book Unfinished Business. Included: Strategies for helping all students succeed.

For years, the achievement gap between different ethnic groups was the footnote to student performance many schools like to keep hidden. But with the No Child Left Behind Act's emphasis on analyzing how different subgroups of students perform, is the gap closing?

No, but awareness of the problem is more widespread, according to Drs. Pedro A. Noguera and Jean Yonemura Wing, authors of Unfinished Business: Closing the Racial Achievement Gap in Our Schools. Dr. Noguera and his assistants spent four years studying race and achievement at Berkeley High School in Berkeley, California, a large school with an ethnically diverse student population. What the research team found in reviewing everything from the school's organizational structure to after-school activities is that attitudes, organizations, and polices often 'sort' students onto different paths that can result in them finding success in school and beyond -- or getting a sub-par education.

Negro League Great Buck O'Neil Dies - washingtonpost.com

Negro League Great Buck O'Neil Dies - washingtonpost.com: KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Buck O'Neil, the goodwill ambassador for the Negro Leagues who fell one vote shy of the Hall of Fame, died Friday night. He was 94.

Bob Kendrick, marketing director for the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, said O'Neil died at a Kansas City hospital.

A star in the Negro Leagues who barnstormed with Satchel Paige, O'Neil later became the first black coach in the majors. Baseball was his life -- in July, he batted in a minor league All-Star game.

O'Neil had appeared strong until early August, when he was hospitalized for what was described as "fatigue." He was released a few days later, but readmitted on Sept. 17. Friends said that he had lost his voice along with his strength. No cause of death was immediately given.

His Last, Best Cause - washingtonpost.com

His Last, Best Cause - washingtonpost.com: Smith, 54, like many other black men, died before his time. Black men have a life expectancy of 69 years, six years less than white men and far shorter than men of other ethnic group. They are more than twice as likely to die from cancer as white men, according to the National Cancer Institute, and nine times as likely as white men to die of AIDS. They suffer from lung disease, heart disease, hypertension, stroke, diabetes and other chronic illnesses in disproportionate numbers that alarm health-care professionals.

'From cradle to grave, African Americans have the worst statistics in almost every area of health,' said Khan Nedd, founder of the Grand Rapids African American Health Institute in Michigan.

CNN.com - Some historically black colleges see declining enrollment - Sep 25, 2006

CNN.com - Some historically black colleges see declining enrollment - Sep 25, 2006: RICHMOND, Virginia (AP) -- When Jessica Page visited Hampton University in March, she considered the trip a formality. She had already made up her mind to attend the school, considered by many a jewel among the nation's historically black institutions.

Then she saw the campus.

The dorms weren't as sleek as she had pictured. Buildings seemed antiquated. Was this 'The Real HU' she had heard about?

'I wasn't impressed,' said Page, who later enrolled at the University of Virginia at Charlottesville. 'Hampton was my No. 1 choice -- until I visited.'

Page is part of a steady trickle of talented young blacks slipping away from the nation's most prestigious black colleges.

Experts say aging campuses are one reason. But other reasons cited include increasing competition from predominantly white schools that are trying to become more diverse; changes in black students' desires; and the greater opportunities available to them in a society more integrated than that of their parents.

CNN.com - Boston school district wins top education award - Sep 19, 2006

CNN.com - Boston school district wins top education award - Sep 19, 2006: WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Boston public school system won the nation's largest prize in public education Tuesday, earning $500,000 in college scholarships for making steady gains in the classroom.

The Boston district won the biggest share of the $1 million Broad Prize for Public Education. The award annually honors urban districts that make notable academic progress, particularly by reducing the test-score 'achievement gap' among poor and minority students.

This year, 100 districts were eligible. The other four finalists were Bridgeport Public Schools in Connecticut, Jersey City School District in New Jersey, Miami-Dade County Public Schools and the New York City Department of Education. They will all receive $125,000.

Boston has been a finalist for five straight years. It won this year's top honor by posting impressive gains among poor and minority kids when compared with other Massachusetts districts.

'Boston has consistently shown that stable leadership in the school district and the city, as well as data-driven teaching, leads to strong student performance,' said Eli Broad, the philanthropist who created the Broad Foundation in 1999, with his wife, Edythe.

'While it is discouraging that there is not more success in this country's public school systems,' he said, 'other large urban districts can learn from Boston's sustained progress.'

Boston's district has about 58,000 students, and almost 75 percent of them are eligible for free or reduced-price school lunches, an indication of a district's poverty level.

Women Aren't Good in Math . . . or Are They?

Women Aren't Good in Math . . . or Are They?: Strange but true: Women score much lower on math tests if they are first asked unrelated questions about gender issues. The phenomenon is called 'stereotype threat' -- a kind of performance anxiety discovered in 1995 when psychologists found that black students at Stanford University did significantly worse on intelligence tests if they were first asked to identify their race on the test form.

Since then, dozens of other experiments have confirmed that subtly cuing women or minorities to think subconsciously about their sex or race causes them do poorly in areas where the stereotype suggests they are weak.

Digital divide separates white, minority students - The Boston Globe

Digital divide separates white, minority students - The Boston Globe: WASHINGTON -- Many more white children use the Internet than do Hispanic and black students, a reminder that going online is hardly a way of life for everyone, a federal study has found.

Two of three white students, or 67 percent, use the Internet, but less than half of blacks and Hispanics do, according to federal data released yesterday. For Hispanics the figure is 44 percent; for blacks, it's 47 percent.

``This creates incredible barriers for minorities," said Mark Lloyd, a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress and a specialist on how communications influence civil rights.

Not using the Internet ``narrows their ability to even think about the kind of work they can be doing," Lloyd said.

The new data come from the National Center for Education Statistics, an arm of the Education Department. It is based on a national representative survey of households in 2003.

Overall, 91 percent of students in nursery school through 12th grade use computers; 59 percent use the Internet.

Almost all US schools are connected to the Internet. The gaps in Internet usage between whites and minorities, though sizable, are smaller during the school day.

A total of 54 percent of white students use the Internet at home, compared with 26 percent of Hispanic and 27 percent of black children. Limited access can erode a student's research on assignments or college scholarships.

Bloomberg.com: Japan

Bloomberg.com: Japan: U.S. Has Life Expectancy Gaps as Wide as 20 Years (Update2)

By Theresa Barry

Sept. 11 (Bloomberg) -- Asian-American women have the top life expectancy in the U.S., while black men in some urban areas have the worst, a gap of almost two decades, scientists said.

The life expectancy of Asian women was 86.7 years and for black men living in high-risk urban areas, it was 68.7 years, according to a national study in today's PLoS Medicine online. Hawaii led 50 states and Washington, D.C., with life expectancy of 80 years, while D.C. ranked last, with 72 years.

The differences are driven by injury and preventable risk factors for long-term disease such as smoking, alcoholism and obesity, especially in Americans ages 15 to 59, said lead investigator Christopher Murray. He said most health-policy initiatives currently focus on children and the elderly.

``The evidence is really quite clear that most of the gap across these groups is due to differences in mortality in young and middle-aged adult men and women and most of that is due to chronic disease,'' Murray, Harvard Initiative for Global Health director, said in a telephone interview. ``It's not HIV. It's not homicide. It's cardiovascular disease. It's chronic respiratory disease, liver disease and somewhat cancers.''

Discovering the factors underlying longevity gaps is important, Murray said in a telephone interview Sept. 8 from Cambridge, Massachusetts. He said the life expectancy gaps won't close until the focus turns to Americans ages 15 to 59.

Seeking Causes

The investigators divided the country into eight groups based on such factors as race, location, population density, income, and homicide rates to look at life expectancy:

-- Asian: 10.4 million people

-- Northland low-income rural white: 3.6 million

-- Middle America: 214 million

-- Low-income whites, Appalachia, Mississippi: 16.6 million

-- Western Native American: 1 million

-- Black middle America: 23.4 million

-- Southern, rural, low-income black: 5.8 million

-- High-risk urban black: 7.5 million.

Gaps in life expectancy have changed little from 1982 to 2001, the investigators said.

Sources for the data included the Census Bureau and the National Center for Health Statistics. The study was financed by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Association of Schools for Public Health and the National Institute on Aging.

Blacks, Hispanics pay more for mortgages - Real Estate - MSNBC.com

Blacks, Hispanics pay more for mortgages - Real Estate - MSNBC.com: WASHINGTON - Black and Hispanic home buyers pay more for their mortgages than do whites, according to a Federal Reserve report released Friday.

The Fed’s analysis of 2005 home lending data found that 54.7 percent of black borrowers paid a higher-than-typical interest rate on home mortgages. That was up sharply from 32.4 percent in 2004.

For Hispanics, 46.1 percent paid more than typical for their mortgages last year — more than double the 20.3 percent reported in 2004.

Hispanics to pass blacks in buying power - Stocks & Economy - MSNBC.com

Hispanics to pass blacks in buying power - Stocks & Economy - MSNBC.com: ATLANTA - Hispanics will outpace blacks as the most powerful minority consumers in the country next year, according to a new study from the University of Georgia.

Still, the vast majority of states will continue to see blacks as their strongest minority market because the nation's Hispanic population is concentrated in a handful of areas, study author Jeffrey Humphreys said.

Hispanics are expected to have buying power of $863.1 billion, compared with black buying power of $847 billion in 2007. Hispanics — the nation's largest and fastest-growing ethnic minority — will comprise about 8.5 percent of the nation's total consumer market next year.

WP: Mystery of Va. slaves is unlocked� - washingtonpost.com Highlights - MSNBC.com

WP: Mystery of Va. slaves is unlocked� - washingtonpost.com Highlights - MSNBC.com: JAMESTOWN - They were known as the '20 and odd,' the first African slaves to set foot in North America at the English colony settled in 1607.

For nearly 400 years, historians believed they were transported to Virginia from the West Indies on a Dutch warship. Little else was known of the Africans, who left no trace.

Now, new scholarship and transatlantic detective work have solved the puzzle of who they were and where their forced journey across the Atlantic Ocean began.

Great Expectations: Multilingual Poll of Latino, Asian and African American Parents Reveals High Aspirations for Children – From Preschool to College

SAN FRANCISCO—Ethnic and minority parents in California share high expectations for their children and rank education as a top concern, according to a New America Media multilingual poll, released on Wednesday, August 23. The results of the poll debunk many preconceptions about how immigrant and ethnic minorities view public education.

“This poll, like many others we’ve commissioned, proves how important it is to survey these groups in their own languages,” says Sandy Close, executive director of New America Media. Opinions among the three groups studied vary widely on a range of issues, reflecting important differences in their socio-economic and educational backgrounds.

Overall, poll findings show that ethnic and minority parents have aspirations that reach well beyond the hope that their children will earn a high school diploma. “The parents view schools as opportunity providers, not sorting mills. The overwhelming majority want their children to attain at least a college degree and are actively engaged in helping them succeed,” says Close. “They could become an important source of pressure to raise achievement levels in public schools in California.”

There is also strong support for early education programs, according to the poll. "This survey clearly shows that parents of all backgrounds want their children to have the best education possible, starting with quality preschool," said Graciela Italiano-Thomas, Chief Executive Officer of Los Angeles Universal Preschool (LAUP). "But it also shows that more needs to be done to make sure families have access to quality preschool programs in their communities."

Nationally recognized pollster Sergio Bendixen conducted the poll, commissioned by New America Media. Bendixen surveyed 602 Asian, African American and Latino parents in English, Spanish, Korean, Mandarin, Cantonese and Vietnamese. NAM, a nationwide non-profit association of ethnic media, has pioneered multilingual polling as a way to gauge the views of non-English speaking and ethnic minority populations normally excluded from mainstream public opinion surveys.

Sixty-five percent of the students in California’s public schools are members of the state’s new majority of ethnic minorities and over one-third speak languages other than English at home with their families. New America Media’s poll is the first to poll parents on education issues in their language of preference.

For information on the open briefings or to view poll results after release, visit www.newamericamedia.org/polls

U.S. Poverty Rate Leveling Off

U.S. Poverty Rate Leveling Off: WASHINGTON -- Four years into an economic recovery, the number of people living in poverty has finally stopped climbing.

Household incomes edged up slightly in 2005, but 37 million people were still living below the poverty line, about the same as the year before, the Census Bureau reported Tuesday.

In Schools Across U.S., the Melting Pot Overflows - New York Times

In Schools Across U.S., the Melting Pot Overflows - New York Times: STERLING, Va., Aug. 25 — Some 55 million youngsters are enrolling for classes in the nation’s schools this fall, making this the largest group of students in America’s history and, in ethnic terms, the most dazzlingly diverse since waves of European immigrants washed through the public schools a century ago.

Millions of baby boomers and foreign-born parents are enrolling their children, sending a demographic bulge through the schools that is driving a surge in classroom construction.

It is also causing thousands of districts to hire additional qualified teachers at a time when the Bush administration is trying to increase teacher qualifications across the board. Many school systems have begun recruiting overseas for instructors in hard-to-staff subjects like special education and advanced math.

Education Quality for Minorities Faulted

Education Quality for Minorities Faulted: Most states have shirked the law by failing to ensure that poor and minority students get their fair share of qualified teachers, a new analysis contends.

The No Child Left Behind law says underprivileged and minority kids should not have a larger share of teachers who are unqualified, inexperienced or teaching unfamiliar topics.

It puts the responsibility on states to figure out how to do that.

States are falling far short on the promise, according to a study released Thursday by The Education Trust, a group that advocates for poor and minority kids. It is based on a review of new plans from every state and the District of Columbia.

'What we found gives cause for grave concern,' said Heather Peske, one of the authors.

The report contends that states handed in vastly incomplete data, weak strategies for fixing inequities across schools, and goals so vague they can't even be measured.

All of it undermines the national effort to improve achievement, the report suggests.

The Education Department took heat, too. The report blames the agency for giving poor guidance to the states and for essentially ignoring the teacher-equity issue for four years.

'We cannot close achievement gaps if we don't close gaps in teacher quality,' said Ross Wiener, policy director of The Education Trust.

Free preschool will help Latinos and US | csmonitor.com

Free preschool will help Latinos and US | csmonitor.com: We generally think of kindergarten as a time of possibilities and fresh starts. But kids don't begin their formal education on equal footing: When they arrive at the schoolhouse door, poor and minority students often lag behind their peers by as much as 18 months. The imperative of reducing this achievement gap has convinced state leaders to invest in toddlers' education. Over half of governors increased spending on pre-K last year. Three states - Oklahoma, Florida, and Georgia - offer free preschool to 4-year-olds, and policymakers in Arizona, Virginia, and Illinois are considering universal programs.

While California voters voted down a proposition that would have provided free preschool to 4-year-olds earlier this year, the state is set to invest hundreds of millions of dollars to provide early education to poor children, the group likely to profit most from high quality programs.

In order to deliver on the promise of pre-K, states will need to aggressively reach out to the fastest-growing part of our population: Latino children. Only 40 percent of Latino 3- to 5-year-olds attend preschool, compared with approximately 60 percent of both African-American and white children. Ironically, Latinos are particularly in need of early intervention: They often live in poverty, their parents generally have low levels of education, and in recently arrived immigrant families, children's exposure to English can be minimal.

courant.com | Feds Demand Teacher Equity

courant.com | Feds Demand Teacher Equity: Federal officials have ordered Connecticut to bolster efforts to assure that schools in the state's poorest cities get the same kind of high quality teachers that schools in wealthier towns have.

The U.S. Department of Education wants the state to spell out in more detail how it plans to address inequalities outlined in a teacher quality plan prepared by the state. That plan included figures showing children in Connecticut's poorest cities are more likely than others to be in classrooms with poorly qualified teachers.

English learner fines are dropped

English learner fines are dropped: Chip Scutari
The Arizona Republic
Aug. 25, 2006 12:00 AM

A federal appeals court gave legislative leaders and the state schools chief a major victory Thursday by wiping out $21 million in fines the state faced in a case involving the fate of 160,000 students who struggle to learn English.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals also ruled that English-learner students must pass the AIMS test to graduate from high school.

Raner Collins, a U.S. District Court judge in Tucson, had ordered Arizona to pay $21 million in fines because the Legislature and Gov. Janet Napolitano missed a deadline for a plan to help students who need assistance to learn English. Collins also ruled that the fines should be set aside for programs to help the children. Now that the fines have been erased, the money will be returned to state coffers.

Bush Administration Opposes Integration Plans - Los Angeles Times

Bush Administration Opposes Integration Plans - Los Angeles Times: WASHINGTON — The Bush administration has urged the Supreme Court to strike down voluntary school integration programs across the nation that exclude some students because of their race.

Administration lawyers filed briefs this week in pending cases from Seattle and Louisville, Ky., on the side of white parents who are challenging 'racial balancing' programs as unconstitutional.

Uth TV - Show

Uth TV - Show: Kiri Davis, 16, of the Urban Academy wanted to make a film that explored the standards of beauty imposed on today's black girls. Use the link to view Kiri's 7 minute film. See how these standards of beauty effect black females self-esteem, self-image and achievement.

A push for more complete U.S. history - Race in America - MSNBC.com

A push for more complete U.S. history - Race in America - MSNBC.com: American students often get the impression from history classes that the British got here first, settling Jamestown, Va., in 1607. They hear about how white Northerners freed the black slaves, how Asians came in the mid-1800s to build Western railroads.

The lessons have left out a lot.

Forty-two years before Jamestown, Spaniards and American Indians lived in St. Augustine, Fla. At least several thousand Latinos and nearly 200,000 black soldiers fought in the Civil War. And Asian-Americans had been living in California and Louisiana since the 1700s.

CNN.com - ACT scores highest since 1991 - Aug 16, 2006

CNN.com - ACT scores highest since 1991 - Aug 16, 2006: "(AP) -- The high school class of 2006 posted the biggest score increase on the ACT college entrance exam in 20 years, and recorded the highest scores of any class since 1991.

Average composite scores on the exam, which measures students' readiness for college-level work, rose to 21.1 from 20.9 last year. Both boys and girls posted gains, as did all racial groups except Hispanics, whose scores held steady. ACT scores range from 1 to 36.

Officials at the independent, nonprofit ACT said an increase of 0.2 points is significant when considered across a record 1.2 million test-takers nationwide, or 40 percent of graduating seniors.

Schools’ desegregation oversight relaxed - Education - MSNBC.com

Schools’ desegregation oversight relaxed - Education - MSNBC.com: CHICAGO - After a quarter century, a judge has released portions of Chicago Public Schools’ desegregation plan from federal oversight.

In a decree issued Monday, U.S. District Judge Charles Kocoras eliminated a set of spending and reporting requirements from the original 1980 agreement covering the nation’s third-largest school system, which has about 431,000 students.

“The current demographic makeup of Chicago and its student population bears virtually no resemblance to that which gave rise to litigation between the parties in the first instance,” Kocoras wrote.

Black leaders urge fight against AIDS - AIDS - MSNBC.com

Black leaders urge fight against AIDS - AIDS - MSNBC.com: "TORONTO - It is time for the African-American community 'to face the fact that AIDS has become a black disease' and find ways to defeat it, said the chairman of the NAACP at the international AIDS summit Monday.

Julian Bond, the Rev. Jesse Jackson and other powerful African-American leaders called on their own community to accept responsibility for ending the devastation of AIDS, which has claimed more than 200,000 black Americans since the epidemic began 25 years ago.

In a first for the political leaders, they blamed the disaster on a lack of will and pledged to do more.

USATODAY.com - Census: New arrivals fan out

USATODAY.com - Census: New arrivals fan out: "Census: New arrivals fan out
By Haya El Nasser, USA TODAY
Mexicans with little education and limited English skills are leading a wave of newly arrived immigrants who are increasingly fanning out from traditional gateway states, Census data released Tuesday indicate.

The dispersal of new immigrants to parts of the Southeast and Midwest that are unaccustomed to foreign-born populations in large numbers may be fueling national concerns about illegal immigration, some population analysts say.

'The most rapid gainers are almost every state in the southeastern U.S. other than Florida,' says Jeffrey Passel, demographer at the Pew Hispanic Center. 'Those are the states with the highest percentage of undocumented immigrants.'

Diversity growing across U.S. - Race in America - MSNBC.com

Diversity growing across U.S. - Race in America - MSNBC.com: "WASHINGTON - America’s growing diversity has reached nearly every state. From South Carolina’s budding immigrant population to the fast-rising number of Hispanics in Arkansas, minority groups make up an increasing share of the population in every state but one, according figures from the Census Bureau.

“This is just an extraordinary explosion of diversity all across the United States,” said William Frey, a demographer at the Brookings Institution, a Washington think tank. “It’s diversity and immigration going hand in hand.”

Women in Top Ranks Pull Up the Pay of Others

Women in Top Ranks Pull Up the Pay of Others: "MONTREAL -- American women earn substantially more money and narrow the long-standing gender gap in income if other women in their workplaces reach the ranks of senior management, according to a new national study presented here.

By contrast, the study found, increasing the number of women managers in junior positions makes no difference to the gender gap -- women on average continue to earn about 20 percent less than men.

CNN.com - States shirking order to distribute qualified teachers - Aug 11, 2006

CNN.com - States shirking order to distribute qualified teachers - Aug 11, 2006: "WASHINGTON (AP) -- Most states have shirked the law by failing to ensure that poor and minority students get their fair share of qualified teachers, a new analysis contends.

The No Child Left Behind law says underprivileged and minority kids should not have a larger share of teachers who are unqualified, inexperienced or teaching unfamiliar topics.

It puts the responsibility on states to figure out how to do that.

States are falling far short on the promise, according to a study released Thursday by The Education Trust, a group that advocates for poor and minority kids. It is based on a review of new plans from every state and the District of Columbia.

"

CNN.com - Historically black colleges recruiting Hispanics - Aug 11, 2006

CNN.com - Historically black colleges�recruiting Hispanics - Aug 11, 2006: "ATLANTA, Georgia (AP) -- Faced with stiff competition for their traditional students, historically black colleges are now making a push to recruit Hispanics.

Black colleges that want to shore up enrollment numbers are revising recruitment strategies to include more members of the nation's largest and fastest-growing minority. The campuses are hiring Hispanic recruiters, distributing brochures that feature Hispanic students and establishing special scholarships for Hispanics.

'I tell them 'There's a place for you and a need for Latinos to be present on (historically black) campuses,'' said Nelson Santiago, a Puerto Rico native and recruiter for the historically black Howard University in Washington, D.C., which has about 170 Hispanics out of 11,500 students."

USATODAY.com - Black colleges recruit Hispanics

USATODAY.com - Black colleges recruit Hispanics: By Dorie Turner, Associated Press
ATLANTA — Squeezed by stiff competition for their traditional students, historically black colleges are making a push to recruit Hispanics.

While the country's Hispanic population is booming, the number of blacks is growing at a much slower rate and other colleges are doing more to attract them. Black colleges that want to shore up enrollment numbers are revising recruitment strategies to include more members of the nation's largest and fastest-growing minority.

The campuses are hiring Hispanic recruiters, distributing brochures featuring Hispanic students, and establishing special scholarships for Hispanics. At the historically black Texas Southern University in Houston, the school has started five Hispanic student organizations, including fraternities and sororities, to help make the campus more inviting.

USATODAY.com - Study: Diversity rises in suburbs

USATODAY.com - Study: Diversity rises in suburbs: Suburban counties, once the bastion of white America, are becoming multiethnic tapestries, and white populations are inching up in some urban areas after big losses in the 1990s, according to new Census estimates out Friday.

'Suburbs and especially fast-growing outer suburbs are not just attracting whites anymore,' says William Frey, demographer at the Brookings Institution, a think tank. 'All minority groups are coming. They're a magnet for blacks as well as Hispanics and Asians.'

The changes are dramatic in the South. About 74% of the growth in the U.S. black population happened there from 2000 to 2005. The region also generated about 71% of the national growth in whites, 42% of the Hispanic growth and 27% of the Asian growth.

For Whites in Prince George's, a Mirror on Race

For Whites in Prince George's, a Mirror on Race: Whites moving into black neighborhoods often follow the pattern of gentrification: The influx leads to higher property prices, displacement of residents who can't afford to stay and lingering resentment. But the paradigm has shifted in Prince George's, one of the few suburban counties nationally with wide swaths of black wealth.

Some white families are being drawn by the upscale amenities of subdivision life at relatively bargain prices. There's little tension about displacement, because they move into neighborhoods with people of similar economic statuses, and by and large, they say they are being welcomed.

Decisions about where to lay your head and raise your family have been among those most resistant to the integrational ideals of the civil rights movement. But residents say the educated, affluent demographics of Prince George's help make integration calculations, and the conversations around them, a little easier for everybody.

CNN.com - Inspiration for 'Men of Honor' dies - Jul 25, 2006

CNN.com - Inspiration for 'Men of Honor' dies - Jul 25, 2006: "RICHMOND, Virginia (AP) -- Carl M. Brashear, the first black U.S. Navy diver who was portrayed by Cuba Gooding Jr. in the 2000 film 'Men of Honor,' died Tuesday. He was 75.

Brashear died at the Naval Medical Center Portsmouth of respiratory and heart failure, the medical center said.

Brashear retired from the Navy in 1979 after more than 30 years of service. He was the first Navy diver to be restored to full active duty as an amputee, the result of a leg injury he sustained during a salvage operation.

'The African-American community lost a great leader today in Carl Brashear,' Gooding said of the man he played alongside Robert DeNiro, who was Brashear's roughneck training officer in 'Men of Honor.' 'His impact to us as a people and all races will be felt for many decades to come.'

In 1966 Brashear was assigned to recover a hydrogen bomb that dropped into waters off of Spain when two U.S. Air Force planes collided.

During the mission Brashear was struck below his left knee by a pipe that the crew was using to hoist the bomb out of the water. Brashear was airlifted to a naval hospital where the bottom of his left leg was amputated to avoid gangrene. It later was replaced with a prosthetic leg.

The Navy was ready to retire Brashear from active duty, but he soon began a grueling training program that included diving, running and calisthenics."

Series: Being a Black Man

Series: Being a Black Man: "John McWhorter, senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research and author of 'Winning the Race: Beyond the Crisis in Black America,' writes and comments extensively on race, ethnicity and cultural issues. On Monday, July 24 at noon ET, McWhorter will take questions and comments from readers about issues raised by the Post's 'Being a Black Man' series.

Read McWhorter's bio.

Submit your questions and comments early or during the discussion."

Panel on Disaffection of Black Youths Airs Concerns, Ideas

Panel on Disaffection of Black Youths Airs Concerns, Ideas: "Marcellus 'Bishop' Allen, who joined the notorious Bloods street gang at age 9, had a blunt warning yesterday for the panel of national experts that gathered in Washington to discuss ways to reach troubled black men. Crime emergencies, prayer meetings and community vigils, he said, are ineffective after youngsters have turned to criminal activity.

'None of you can stop nothing we want to do,' said Allen, a gang member who works to settle street conflicts in his hometown of Newark.

Allen's comments confirmed what academics, politicians and street-level organizers know from experience: People who feel disconnected from society do bad things.

Yesterday's forum, "Paths to Success: A Forum on Young African American Men," drew a crowd of about 150 to hear a 17-member panel discuss ways to end a cycle of neglect, abuse and violence that has led to high levels of incarceration and low achievement for too many.

Panelists said promoting positive behavior requires society to make significant changes in schools, churches and families. Former congressman Ronald Dellums took umbrage at the high rate of expulsions of black boys, particularly those still in preschool.

The reality of race - 'Separate and Unequal' - MSNBC.com

The reality of race - 'Separate and Unequal' - MSNBC.com: "In the upcoming “Tom Brokaw Reports: Separate and Unequal,” Brokaw travels to 200 miles north of New Orleans to Jackson, Miss., for an in-depth report on race and poverty, airing on Sunday, July 23 at 7 PM/ET on NBC. Jackson was just brushed by Katrina, but it struggles every day with the ongoing issues of race in America. Jackson has many examples of great progress: a black mayor; a black editor in chief at its daily newspaper; a black professional class sending children to elite universities. However, Jackson also has thousands of blacks who are every bit as stranded as the people in New Orleans, and millions of others across the country.

“Separate and Unequal” is an honest look at the progress that’s been made, and the problems that persist, 40 years after the civil rights movement. It focuses on several students at an inner city high school in Jackson, and follows them from last fall through the school year, showing first hand how problems like poverty, teen pregnancy, absentee fathers, and drug addiction play out in the lives of young people. Brokaw interviews students, parents, and teachers, as well as members of Jackson’s black elite as they grapple with the problems of neighborhoods they had left behind. In addition, the broadcast explores the sometimes-surprising ways in which whites did or didn’t choose to help.

Sorting Out The Census: We're still separate and unequal.

Sorting Out The Census: We're still separate and unequal.: "In a report that surprised the nation, Logan has shown that even though the U.S. population grew far more racially and ethnically diverse between 1990 and 2000, we are still as segregated a nation today as we've ever been. The majority of Americans, Logan found, are living in neighborhoods that continue to separate whites from blacks, Latinos and people of Asian descent. In fact, the same color barrier that has dominated urban communities for decades has now spread to our fast-growing suburbs, where people of color tend to congregate in neighborhoods and housing developments apart from whites."

Other findings:

The average white person lives in a community nearly 83 percent white and 7 percent black, while the average black lives in a community that is only 33 percent white and 54 percent black.

>>> Middle-class blacks are more likely to live in or near areas of poverty than are middle-class whites of equal income. In Los Angeles, Chicago and New York City, for example, the typical African American lives in a community where the income level is about 30 percent lower, and where the crime rate is 30 percent higher, than it is in communities occupied by whites of the same income level.

>>> White couples without children are more likely to live in integrated neighborhoods than are whites with children, reflecting the departure of white families from urban areas into the suburbs, often in pursuit of better schools and less crime.

>>> The average child in metropolitan America lives in an increasingly segregated neighborhood where their own racial group dominates, and where they encounter relatively few children of other backgrounds. As neighborhoods are segregated, so too are schools, clubs, sports teams and other organizations and social circles.

Study Documents ‘Ghetto Tax’ Being Paid by the Urban Poor - New York Times

Study Documents ‘Ghetto Tax’ Being Paid by the Urban Poor - New York Times: "WASHINGTON, July 18 — Drivers from low-income neighborhoods of New York, Hartford and Baltimore, insuring identical cars and with the same driving records as those from middle-class neighborhoods, paid $400 more on average for a year’s insurance.

The poor are also the main customers for appliances and furniture at “rent to own” stores, where payments are stretched out at very high interest rates; in Wisconsin, a $200 television can end up costing $700.

Those were just two examples among several cited in a report Tuesday showing that poor urban residents frequently pay hundreds if not thousands of dollars a year in extra costs for everyday necessities. The study said some of the disparities were due to real differences in the cost of doing business in poor areas, some to predatory financial practices and some to consumer ignorance.

CNN.com - Program prepares disabled youth for college life - Jul 17, 2006

CNN.com - Program prepares disabled youth for college life - Jul 17, 2006: "BLACKSBURG, Virginia (AP) -- The college classroom scene is a familiar one: young adults in flip-flops and baseball caps, some scribbling notes, others napping.

Evelyn Scruggs, a student sitting near the front, is among the more attentive, filling an entire page with notes. But, by the time she leaves, she won't remember the lecture topic or one word she wrote.

Scruggs, 19, has attention deficit disorder and related short-term memory loss. Like everyone attending this mock class, she's hoping it will give her tools to balance her disability with her dream of a college degree.

The students get pointers on navigating wheelchairs over hilly terrain, finding note takers and deciding whether to 'come out' to peers about less-obvious disabilities -- tips experts say are vital as administrators face swelling numbers of disabled students.

About 6 million Americans receive special education services, designated for students whose mental or physical limitations affect their learning, according to the U.S. Department of Education.

Increasingly, such students are aiming for degrees: 11.3 percent of undergraduates nationwide reported a disability during the 2003-04 academic year, compared to 7.7 percent during the 1989-90 school year, according to the most recent department statistics.

Special education has shifted over the past decade from getting students to functional levels on basics like reading in favor of encouraging them to move to advanced levels of study and tackle more complex subjects, said Lynda Van Kuren, a spokeswoman for the Council for Exceptional Children.

Upper Grades, Lower Reading Skills

Upper Grades, Lower Reading Skills: "The U.S. school population has rapidly diversified over the past few decades. The number of students who are learning English has more than doubled, from 2.03 million in 1989-90 to 5.01 million in 2003-04, according to the National Clearinghouse for English Language Acquisition and Language Instruction Educational Programs. A decade ago, students who were learning English made up 6.1 percent of the student population in Montgomery; today, the figure is almost 10 percent.

But it's not just immigrants. A breakdown of test scores in Maryland, for example, shows that black students, those enrolled in special education and those who come from poor families are most likely to lack strong reading skills.

USATODAY.com - Advocates quietly push for slavery repayment

USATODAY.com - Advocates quietly push for slavery repayment: "Advocates who say black Americans should be compensated for slavery and its Jim Crow aftermath are quietly chalking up victories and gaining momentum.

Fueled by the work of scholars and lawyers, their campaign has morphed in recent years from a fringe-group rallying cry into sophisticated, mainstream movement. Most recently, a pair of churches apologized for their part in the slave trade, and one is studying ways to repay black church members.

The overall issue is hardly settled, even among black Americans: Some say that focusing on slavery shouldn't be a top priority or that it doesn't make sense to compensate people generations after a historical wrong.

Yet reparations efforts have led a number of cities and states to approve measures that force businesses to publicize their historical ties to slavery. Several reparations court cases are in progress, and international human rights officials are increasingly spotlighting the issue.