Arundel School Closes Achievement Gap
Over the past three years, this Anne Arundel school has achieved a goal that eludes most of the nation's public schools. It has closed the achievement gap between black and white students.
Among black students at North Glen, third-grade proficiency on the statewide test rose from 32 percent in 2003 to 94 percent this year, placing the campus among the top schools in Maryland for black students' performance. Across the third and fourth grades, a grand total of three black students, out of 37 tested, failed to attain proficiency. Blacks now outperform whites on several measures at the racially diverse campus, and white students perform very well.
Use the link to read the entire article.
Monday, October 31, 2005
Theories on Why Black Students in Fairfax Trail Virginia Peers
Theories on Why Black Students in Fairfax Trail Virginia Peers
Admission to Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology depends in large part on academic achievement ["In Jefferson's New Class, Incomes Seem to Count," Extra Credit, Sept. 29], but achievement for black students in Fairfax is lagging that of blacks in other Virginia districts.
A study by Maria Casby Allen, a Fairfax school system parent, found that on the 2004 fifth-grade Standards of Learning test in reading, pass rates for black students were 85 percent in suburban Chesterfield County outside Richmond and 79 percent in Richmond and Norfolk. Only 74 percent passed in Fairfax County.
On the math test, 80 percent of black students passed in Chesterfield County, 75 percent in Richmond, 70 percent in Norfolk and 63 percent in Fairfax.
Use the link to read the entire article.
Admission to Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology depends in large part on academic achievement ["In Jefferson's New Class, Incomes Seem to Count," Extra Credit, Sept. 29], but achievement for black students in Fairfax is lagging that of blacks in other Virginia districts.
A study by Maria Casby Allen, a Fairfax school system parent, found that on the 2004 fifth-grade Standards of Learning test in reading, pass rates for black students were 85 percent in suburban Chesterfield County outside Richmond and 79 percent in Richmond and Norfolk. Only 74 percent passed in Fairfax County.
On the math test, 80 percent of black students passed in Chesterfield County, 75 percent in Richmond, 70 percent in Norfolk and 63 percent in Fairfax.
Use the link to read the entire article.
Minding the Gap in Gifted and Talented Programs
Minding the Gap in Gifted and Talented Programs
At board meetings and public appearances, Superintendent Jerry D. Weast speaks often about closing the achievement gap, but a recent report on the system's gifted and talented program demonstrates that the school system still has a ways to go if it hopes to ensure that all students have access to the kind of higher-level courses that are important to their success in school.
The issue of minority representation in gifted and talented, or GT, programs surfaced earlier this year when a group of black parents began asking why so few black and Hispanic students were identified as gifted and talented. Members of African American Parents of Montgomery County said school officials needed to rethink their identification process.
Use the link to read the entire article.
At board meetings and public appearances, Superintendent Jerry D. Weast speaks often about closing the achievement gap, but a recent report on the system's gifted and talented program demonstrates that the school system still has a ways to go if it hopes to ensure that all students have access to the kind of higher-level courses that are important to their success in school.
The issue of minority representation in gifted and talented, or GT, programs surfaced earlier this year when a group of black parents began asking why so few black and Hispanic students were identified as gifted and talented. Members of African American Parents of Montgomery County said school officials needed to rethink their identification process.
Use the link to read the entire article.
School Segregation Is Back With 'Vengeance,' Author Says
School Segregation Is Back With 'Vengeance,' Author Says
In a Connecticut Avenue bookstore, a bespectacled white man sounded an alarm yesterday evening about the public schools that serve black children in Washington and elsewhere. Segregation, he said, is alive and well a half-century after Brown v. Board of Education , depriving many urban black children of opportunities routinely afforded white students.
This divide, he said, compelled him to write "The Shame of the Nation: The Restoration of Apartheid Schooling in America."
Use the link to read the entire article.
In a Connecticut Avenue bookstore, a bespectacled white man sounded an alarm yesterday evening about the public schools that serve black children in Washington and elsewhere. Segregation, he said, is alive and well a half-century after Brown v. Board of Education , depriving many urban black children of opportunities routinely afforded white students.
This divide, he said, compelled him to write "The Shame of the Nation: The Restoration of Apartheid Schooling in America."
Use the link to read the entire article.
Minority students are closing gap in math and reading - baltimoresun.com
Minority students are closing gap in math and reading - baltimoresun.com
Black and Hispanic students are narrowing the achievement gap with whites in reading and math, but overall the nation's progress is small or slipping.
The 2005 scores for grades four and eight come from the National Assessment of Educational Progress, the most respected measure of how students perform nationwide. The results are noted in both academic and political circles because they cover math and reading - the two building-block subjects that schools are scrambling to improve.
Use the link to read the entire article.
Black and Hispanic students are narrowing the achievement gap with whites in reading and math, but overall the nation's progress is small or slipping.
The 2005 scores for grades four and eight come from the National Assessment of Educational Progress, the most respected measure of how students perform nationwide. The results are noted in both academic and political circles because they cover math and reading - the two building-block subjects that schools are scrambling to improve.
Use the link to read the entire article.
Parents' Involvement Not Key to Student Progress, Study Finds - Los Angeles Times
A new study examining why similar California schools vary widely in student achievement produced some surprising results: Involved parents and well-behaved youngsters do not appear to have a major effect on how well elementary students perform on standardized tests.
But four other factors seemed to count a lot more, at least when combined in schools, according to EdSource, an independent group that studies state education issues.
The study of lower-income schools found that the strongest elements in high-performing schools are linking lessons closely to state academic standards, ensuring there are enough textbooks and other teaching materials, carefully and regularly analyzing student performance and putting a high priority on student achievement. The study's authors say that these criteria show that poverty and other challenges need not keep students from doing well.
Use the link to read the article.
But four other factors seemed to count a lot more, at least when combined in schools, according to EdSource, an independent group that studies state education issues.
The study of lower-income schools found that the strongest elements in high-performing schools are linking lessons closely to state academic standards, ensuring there are enough textbooks and other teaching materials, carefully and regularly analyzing student performance and putting a high priority on student achievement. The study's authors say that these criteria show that poverty and other challenges need not keep students from doing well.
Use the link to read the article.
The Seattle Times: Education: Racial tiebreaker will stand
The Seattle Times: Education: Racial tiebreaker will stand: "he 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals yesterday upheld Seattle Public Schools' use of race as a tiebreaker in assigning students to popular high schools, and the plaintiffs vowed to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.
The ruling comes on the heels of decisions by federal appellate judges in the 1st and 6th Circuits upholding local school authorities' use of race as a factor in student-assignment plans in Massachusetts and Kentucky. Plaintiffs in all three cases sued on the basis that the school districts' plans violated their individual rights to equal protection under the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
Seattle suspended its use of the racial tiebreaker after the 2001-02 year because of the litigation."
Use the link to read the entire article.
The ruling comes on the heels of decisions by federal appellate judges in the 1st and 6th Circuits upholding local school authorities' use of race as a factor in student-assignment plans in Massachusetts and Kentucky. Plaintiffs in all three cases sued on the basis that the school districts' plans violated their individual rights to equal protection under the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
Seattle suspended its use of the racial tiebreaker after the 2001-02 year because of the litigation."
Use the link to read the entire article.
Sunday, October 30, 2005
USATODAY.com - Hospital inequalities widen the care gap
Studies by Bach and others suggest a different explanation: The USA's health care system remains as divided by race as its neighborhoods, schools and other aspects of American life.
"African-Americans live in very different places than whites, and in general they get treated at lousy hospitals," says Amitabh Chandra, an assistant professor at Harvard University and co-author of a new paper about health disparities.
The study, published today in the journal Circulation, suggests that black patients are concentrated in a small number of poorly performing hospitals. Nearly 70% of black heart attack patients went to only about 20% of medical centers, according to the study, which examined more than 1 million Medicare recipients from 1997 to 2001. At hospitals treating the most blacks, death rates for all heart attack patients were 19% higher than at the facilities that saw only white heart attack victims.
Use the link to read the entire article.
"African-Americans live in very different places than whites, and in general they get treated at lousy hospitals," says Amitabh Chandra, an assistant professor at Harvard University and co-author of a new paper about health disparities.
The study, published today in the journal Circulation, suggests that black patients are concentrated in a small number of poorly performing hospitals. Nearly 70% of black heart attack patients went to only about 20% of medical centers, according to the study, which examined more than 1 million Medicare recipients from 1997 to 2001. At hospitals treating the most blacks, death rates for all heart attack patients were 19% higher than at the facilities that saw only white heart attack victims.
Use the link to read the entire article.
Office Stereotyping and How It Stifles
Office Stereotyping and How It Stifles: "A few weeks ago, Neil French, a well-known advertising executive, told 300 people that women 'don't make it to the top because they don't deserve to.' He elaborated, saying that women are apt to 'wimp out and go suckle something.'
Just about the same time, a new survey announced that gender stereotypes still exist in the workplace.
Use the link to read the entire article.
"
Just about the same time, a new survey announced that gender stereotypes still exist in the workplace.
Use the link to read the entire article.
"
From a Seat on the Bus to the Seat of Government
Come nightfall today, the elderly and fearless Southern lady -- whose eyes had seen the glory of desegregation and freedom before she died, who had seemed to come out of nowhere and everywhere back in 1955 -- will begin a two-day rest in this city.
Rosa Parks is "going home," as the church folk have been saying. And the inference has been that her direction is heavenward.
She will lie tonight and part of tomorrow morning inside the Capitol Rotunda, the first woman accorded such an honor. At 1 p.m. tomorrow, there will be a memorial service at Metropolitan AME Church.
Use the link to read the entire article.
Rosa Parks is "going home," as the church folk have been saying. And the inference has been that her direction is heavenward.
She will lie tonight and part of tomorrow morning inside the Capitol Rotunda, the first woman accorded such an honor. At 1 p.m. tomorrow, there will be a memorial service at Metropolitan AME Church.
Use the link to read the entire article.
Saturday, October 29, 2005
CNN.com - Rosa Parks to lie in honor at Capitol - Oct 28, 2005
CNN.com - Rosa Parks to lie in honor at Capitol - Oct 28, 2005: "In death, Rosa Parks is joining a select few, including presidents and war heroes, accorded a public viewing in the Capitol Rotunda. It's the place where, six years ago, President Clinton and congressional leaders lauded the former seamstress for a simple act of defiance that changed the course of race relations.
On Sunday, Parks becomes the first woman to lie in honor in the vast circular room under the Capitol dome.
"
On Sunday, Parks becomes the first woman to lie in honor in the vast circular room under the Capitol dome.
"
CNN.com - Georgia's only black engineering program set to close - Oct 28, 2005
CNN.com - Georgia's only black engineering program set to close - Oct 28, 2005: "Yemaya Stallworth came to Clark Atlanta University to get an engineering degree at a school where her teachers and classmates looked like her: black.
But that option may soon disappear -- if not for her, then for the students who come after her.
The historically black university has decided to eliminate the engineering department in May 2008 as part of a cost-cutting move at financially troubled Clark Atlanta. The department is Georgia's only black engineering program."
But that option may soon disappear -- if not for her, then for the students who come after her.
The historically black university has decided to eliminate the engineering department in May 2008 as part of a cost-cutting move at financially troubled Clark Atlanta. The department is Georgia's only black engineering program."
Friday, October 28, 2005
Rosa Parks and today's white youth - The Boston Globe
BEFORE RUSHING off to school, my seventh-grade daughter sat at the breakfast table scanning a newspaper story about Rosa Parks, the civil rights icon who died at age 92.
"Did you know who she was?" I asked. "Oh, Mom, what do you think?" she replied, a pre-teen's too-cool-for-you way of saying "yes."
Anna told me she learned about Parks at school, during "that holiday for black people" — which turned out to be not Kwanzaa, but Black History Month (February). "You should write about her," she said, "because, you know, there is still segregation."
Do you mean that black and white people don't live in the same neighborhoods and don't hang out together? I asked. "Yeah, write about that," she said.
This unexpected morning conversation proves that white suburban school children do learn about the contributions of courageous Americans like Rosa Parks. However, they learn about them in a bubble of time and space — within the context of a specific month, and often in schools with zero or few nonwhite classmates.
"Did you know who she was?" I asked. "Oh, Mom, what do you think?" she replied, a pre-teen's too-cool-for-you way of saying "yes."
Anna told me she learned about Parks at school, during "that holiday for black people" — which turned out to be not Kwanzaa, but Black History Month (February). "You should write about her," she said, "because, you know, there is still segregation."
Do you mean that black and white people don't live in the same neighborhoods and don't hang out together? I asked. "Yeah, write about that," she said.
This unexpected morning conversation proves that white suburban school children do learn about the contributions of courageous Americans like Rosa Parks. However, they learn about them in a bubble of time and space — within the context of a specific month, and often in schools with zero or few nonwhite classmates.
Wednesday, October 26, 2005
ETS and Pearson Longman ELT Launch Powerful New English-Language Learning Program
ETS and Pearson Longman ELT Launch Powerful New English-Language Learning Program
PRINCETON, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 24, 2005--ETS, creators of the TOEFL(R) test, the world's leading test of academic English, and Pearson Longman, the leading publisher of English-Language Teaching programs, today unveiled a powerful instructional program to help people learn English and build the skills tested on the next generation TOEFL Internet-based test (TOEFL iBT). TOEFL iBT is a breakthrough in testing that emphasizes integrated skills and communicative competence and allows students to demonstrate the English skills needed for academic success."
Use the link to read more about the program.
PRINCETON, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 24, 2005--ETS, creators of the TOEFL(R) test, the world's leading test of academic English, and Pearson Longman, the leading publisher of English-Language Teaching programs, today unveiled a powerful instructional program to help people learn English and build the skills tested on the next generation TOEFL Internet-based test (TOEFL iBT). TOEFL iBT is a breakthrough in testing that emphasizes integrated skills and communicative competence and allows students to demonstrate the English skills needed for academic success."
Use the link to read more about the program.
Charlotte Observer | 10/22/2005 | Middle school closes urban achievement gap
Charlotte Observer | 10/22/2005 | Middle school closes urban achievement gap: "The founders of one of the most successful middle schools in America were two of this year's recipients of the UNC Chapel Hill General Alumni Association's Distinguished Young Alumni Awards. Dacia Toll and Doug McCurry, Morehead Scholars who graduated in 1994, opened Amistad Academy, a public charter school in New Haven, Conn., six years ago. They wanted to see if a school tailored to the needs of disadvantaged urban children could close the achievement gap.
It can and it does.
In August 2004 the school was a subject of a PBS documentary which illustrates Amistad's success. Amistad is a school that is 97 percent African American and Latino, 84 percent who qualify for free lunch. Most students enter the fifth grade scoring an average of two years below grade level, yet by the end of their eighth-grade year, they are not only scoring as well as the wealthiest suburban students, in some cases they are even surpassing them."
Use the link to view the entire article.
It can and it does.
In August 2004 the school was a subject of a PBS documentary which illustrates Amistad's success. Amistad is a school that is 97 percent African American and Latino, 84 percent who qualify for free lunch. Most students enter the fifth grade scoring an average of two years below grade level, yet by the end of their eighth-grade year, they are not only scoring as well as the wealthiest suburban students, in some cases they are even surpassing them."
Use the link to view the entire article.
The Thread That Unraveled Segregation
Civil Rights Icon Dies at Age 92
Rosa Lee Parks, whose refusal to give up her bus seat to a white man sparked the modern civil rights movement, died Monday, Oct. 24, 2005. She was 92.
Use the link to read the entire article.
Rosa Lee Parks, whose refusal to give up her bus seat to a white man sparked the modern civil rights movement, died Monday, Oct. 24, 2005. She was 92.
Use the link to read the entire article.
Saturday, October 15, 2005
80% of Poor Lack Civil Legal Aid, Study Says
80% of Poor Lack Civil Legal Aid, Study Says: "At least 80 percent of low-income Americans who need civil legal assistance do not receive any, in part because legal aid offices in this country are so stretched that they routinely turn away qualified prospective clients, a new study shows.Roughly 1 million cases per year are being rejected because legal aid programs lack the resources to handle them, according to the study, 'Documenting the Justice Gap in America,' by the Legal Services Corp. (LSC), which funds 143 legal aid programs across the country."
Use the link to read the entire article.
Use the link to read the entire article.
Friday, October 14, 2005
Dallas Morning News | News for Dallas, Texas | Education
Dallas Morning News | News for Dallas, Texas | Education
CARROLLTON – Even kindergartners are bringing iPods to class these days. But schools in the Carrollton-Farmers Branch district aren't confiscating the portable music players. They're paying for them.
The district's kindergartners jack up Apple iPods during class to help master vocabulary. In all grades, English as a second language students use the devices to learn the language.
Use the link to read the entire article.
CARROLLTON – Even kindergartners are bringing iPods to class these days. But schools in the Carrollton-Farmers Branch district aren't confiscating the portable music players. They're paying for them.
The district's kindergartners jack up Apple iPods during class to help master vocabulary. In all grades, English as a second language students use the devices to learn the language.
Use the link to read the entire article.
Thursday, October 13, 2005
Painkillers Understocked in Minority Neighborhoods, Study Says
Painkillers Understocked in Minority Neighborhoods, Study Says: "Pharmacies in black neighborhoods are much less likely to carry sufficient supplies of popular opioid painkillers than those in white neighborhoods, a new study has found, leading researchers to conclude that minorities are routinely undertreated for chronic pain.
The study found that the disparity between what is available to patients in majority-black neighborhoods compared with majority-white areas had little to do with income levels, as pharmacies in wealthy black neighborhoods were no more likely to carry the prescription painkillers than those in poorer black neighborhoods. In wealthy white neighborhoods, however, pharmacies were far more likely to carry sufficient stock than in poor white communities."
Use the link to read the entire article.
The study found that the disparity between what is available to patients in majority-black neighborhoods compared with majority-white areas had little to do with income levels, as pharmacies in wealthy black neighborhoods were no more likely to carry the prescription painkillers than those in poorer black neighborhoods. In wealthy white neighborhoods, however, pharmacies were far more likely to carry sufficient stock than in poor white communities."
Use the link to read the entire article.
newsobserver.com | Education
newsobserver.com | Education: "Fear of 'acting white' is 'not the issue'
By PATRICK WINN, Staff Writer
CHAPEL HILL -- Fears of being mocked for 'acting white' don't cause many black students to avoid good grades or advanced classes, according to a new study.
But too often, the study says, educators use the 'acting white' excuse as a cop out, an explanation for why black students don't score as well on average as whites.
Straight-A students of all races are equally susceptible to the 'geek' or 'stuck-up' label, according to the report, published in August in the American Sociological Review."
Use the link to read the entire article.
By PATRICK WINN, Staff Writer
CHAPEL HILL -- Fears of being mocked for 'acting white' don't cause many black students to avoid good grades or advanced classes, according to a new study.
But too often, the study says, educators use the 'acting white' excuse as a cop out, an explanation for why black students don't score as well on average as whites.
Straight-A students of all races are equally susceptible to the 'geek' or 'stuck-up' label, according to the report, published in August in the American Sociological Review."
Use the link to read the entire article.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)