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US Education UpdateIssue 10, September 2001 Contents
Report on Black-White Inequality and Education Achievement The National Center for Educational Statistics (NCES) issued a report in July which looks at black-white differences in educational achievement, including college attendance, college completion, employment and earnings. Comparisons are made between overall outcomes for blacks and whites and then for blacks and whites with similar levels of education (based on reading and maths scores). The report suggests that although blacks have lower levels of educational achievement, attainment and earnings than whites, the disparities between these levels are often less, and sometimes non-existent, for individuals with similar levels of education. The full report, "Educational Achievement and Black-White Inequality", can be downloaded from the Mathematica homepage: www.mathematica-mpr.com
Schools Becoming More Segregated A study by Harvard University's Civil Rights Project says that US schools have become more segregated over the last ten years. The report cites reasons such as housing segregation (with large numbers of minorities in the poorest neighbourhoods), demographic shifts (the rise in black and Hispanic population), decreased federal support for desegregation, and court decisions limiting or reversing desegregation policies. The study suggests that, despite the increasing diversity of the suburbs, white students are becoming the most segregated in schools with few minority students. This reversal of the trend towards desegregation in the 1970s and 80s is causing alarm for those involved in the effort to close the achievement gap between white and minority students - students in the poorest neighbourhoods usually attend the least resourced schools, often with inexperienced teachers. The executive summary of "Schools More Separate: Consequences of a Decade of Resegregation", plus the full report, can be read online at: www.law.harvard.edu/civilrights/publications/pressseg.html Sources: Boston Herald; New York Times
Support for Ability Tracking in Schools A paper from the National
Bureau of Economic Research examines the benefits, or otherwise, of ability
tracking in schools and concludes that there is no evidence that separating
students harms disadvantaged students. It suggests that tracking has a
positive impact on lower achieving students by allowing teachers to instruct
at the appropriate level. This challenges previous studies which suggested
that the absence of positive peer impact was harmful to some students.
The report also suggests that schools offering both gifted and remedial
programmes maintain an economically diverse student population within
the school, with gifted programmes likely to attract and keep students
from higher income families. A related paper, also authored by David N Figlio, suggests that teachers who are "tough" graders have fewer disciplinary problems and students with higher academic achievement (as measured by standardised tests). It concludes that this is especially true for high achieving students in low achieving classes and vice versa. The paper, "Do High Grading Standards Affect Student Performance?", can be downloaded from: papers.nber.org/papers/W7985 Source: NBER Bulletin online
To meet the demand on today's school leaders, states are looking at new ways of training school principals, district superintendents and even school board members. The initiatives are notable for a number of reasons: they offer leaders extended programmes at "leadership academies" rather than the traditional one-day workshops or lectures; local businesses are more involved, as well as local political and higher education communities. For example -
The Southern Regional
Education Board (SREB) has published a report on its efforts to retain
teachers in their profession. Using information gathered from the southern
states, the report looks at why teachers leave and gives examples of states'
efforts to stem the loss. Source: Public Education Network online
Retrospective on the School-to-Work Movement Studies have shown that School-to-Work programmes are linked to academic achievement in a number of ways such as reducing student drop-out rates and increasing college enrollment. With federal aid for School-to-Work programmes due to end in October 2001, one website has gathered together four articles which look back on the School-to-Work movement:
Source: Public Education Network online
Admissions Policy Change at University of California From autumn 2003, the University of California will guarantee a place at one of its eight campuses to the top 12.5% of each state high school class (currently the top 4% are admitted). The change comes six years after the University abolished affirmative action policies (policies which focus on race, gender or ethnicity in an effort to raise participation from minority or female students). It is thought that the new policy will go some way to increasing the number of good black or Hispanic students at a time when enrollment of those students to the University of California has dropped. The University was concerned that it had gained a reputation as being unwelcoming to minority students and, with this new policy, seeks to overturn that perception. The top 4% students will be admitted to the University while those falling between the 4 - 12.5 % may be "dual admissions" students ie they will spend the first two years at a local community college and, on successful completion of their courses, will transfer to the University for completion of their degree. Source: New York Times, Chronicle of Higher Education
Atlantic
Fellows in Public Policy 2001 To find out more about these Atlantic Fellows, or how to contact them while in the UK, please contact jonathan.bird@us.britishcouncil.org. The Atlantic Fellowships, established by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to commemorate the 50th anniversary of D-Day and the US contribution to the liberation of Europe, enable US mid-career professionals to gain practical experience in public policy in the UK for a minimum of three months
US Department of
Education's eighth annual regional conferences on Improving America's
Schools will take place in: Mobile, Alabama, October 17 -19 Reno,
Nevada, November 13 -15 San Antonio, Texas, December 17-19 The Education Trust's
12th annual national conference "Good Teaching Matters: The key
role of teacher quality in closing the achievement gap" will
take place in Washington, DC, November 1-3. International Education
Week, November 12-16 The second annual International Education Week
(IEW) will be celebrated during the week of November 12-16. A number of
large organizations and associations within the USA and the EU, including
NAFSA: Association of International Educators, K-12 associations, and
UNESCO, have announced that they will celebrate IEW and are planning major
events. The newspaper, Education
Week, has an online calendar of education events across the USA. Previous issues of the Education Update are available on the British Council's USA website.
For More Information Additional contacts
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