Income level gaps exceed racial ones in educational achievement

This article from today's (3/6/12) Education Week, "Growing Gaps Bring Focus on Poverty's Role in Schooling," had this quote which summarized findings from several studies,
"But upward mobility through the mechanism of a good education, which is a widely held value in this country that cuts across the political spectrum, is in serious jeopardy."
Based on standardized test scores in reading and math from 1960-2007, one expert found that, "The achievement gap between poor children and rich children has grown significantly over the past three decades and is now nearly twice as large as the black-white gap."
A new book, Whither opportunity: Rising inequality, schools, and children's life chances  (currently on order but also available through LINK+), summarizes similar research.

Ethnicity and reward structure effects on learning

The greatest benefits on learning for African American students were seen when students in small groups were asked to help each other (communal learning, no reward condition); whereas, the greatest increase in learning for white students (also working in small groups) occurred in response to offers of reward for individual performance. The study met WWC evidence standards:
http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/publications/quickreviews/QRReport.aspx?QRId=136
The original study citation is:
Hurley, E. A., Allen, B. A., & Boykin, A. W. (2009). Culture and the interaction of student ethnicity with reward structure in group learning. Cognition and Instruction, 27(2), 121–146.

Updated public school data (2008-2009)

NCES has released the 2008-09 school year data from the State Nonfiscal Survey of Public Elementary/Secondary Education Survey of the Common Core of Data (CCD) survey system. The accompanying First Look presents national and state level data on student enrollment by grade and by race/ethnicity within grade, the numbers of teachers and other education staff, and several student/staff ratios for the school year.


To view the full First Look report please visit:
http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2010347

Newest data on 100 largest public school districts (2007-08)

Clark County is 6th in size and Washoe is 57th. Data on high school completion rates, students eligible for school lunch program, students with IEP's, racial breakdown of student population, revenue sources, expenditures per pupil, etc.
Summary and link to full report is here: http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2010/2010349.pdf

How children learn about race

Children start drawing conclusions about race very early and explicit discussions about the topic are found to be one of the most powerful ways to change attitudes. Findings from a series of studies at UT-Austin are discussed in this article from Newsweek.

New research supports the CW that diversity has benefits

Interesting article in Dec. 19 Inside Higher Education that finds research support for what has previously been the conventional wisdom--diversity can offer real benefits to all, not just the culturally non-dominant group members. The study found that, "Generally, and regardless of the attitudes with which students entered UCLA, those who lived with members of other ethnic groups showed statistically significant gains in comfort levels with people of different groups, having circles of friends beyond one’s own group, and a variety of other measures of tolerance toward different groups." There were other more controversial findings as well, so read the article. I'll put the book, The Diversity Challenge: Social Identity and Intergroup Relations on the College Campus, on order for the Lied collection as well.

2008 Schott report on graduation rates of black males

Today's Inside Higher Education notes, "A new analysis shows just how poorly many states are doing at graduating black males from high school. The Schott Foundation for Public Education last week released an “education inequity index,” comparing black male and white male graduation rates for high school — and the figures may be chilling for colleges hoping to boost black male enrollments. Nationally only 47 percent of black male students are graduating from high school with their cohorts, and in 10 states, the gap in black male and white male graduation rates is at least 30 points, let by Wisconsin, where the black male rate is 36 percent and the white male rate is 87 percent. Michigan, Illinois and Nebraska also have gaps of more than 40 percentage points. The states with the narrowest gaps (or none) tend to be states where there are relatively few black students, Vermont and Maine for example."

Nevada ranks 16th highest in the inequity index and has lower than national averages for graduation rates of both black (40%) and white (55% ) males.

"For over five years, The Schott Foundation for Public Education has tracked the performance of Black males in public education systems across the nation. Past efforts by Schott were designed to raise the nation’s consciousness about the critical education issues affecting Black males; low graduation rates, high rates of placement in special education, and the disproportionate use of suspensions and expulsions, to name a few.

The 2008 edition, Given Half a Chance: The Schott 50 State Report on Public Education and Black Males, details the drastic range of outcomes for Black males, especially the tragic results in many of the nation’s biggest cities. Given Half a Chance also deliberately highlights the resource disparities that exist in schools attended by Black males and their White, non-Hispanic counterparts. The 2008 Schott report documents that states and most districts with large Black enrollments educate their White, non-Hispanic children, but do not similarly educate the majority of their Black male students...

• More than half of Black males did not receive diplomas with their cohort in 2005/2006.

These trends... are evidence of a school-age population that is substantively denied an opportunity to learn, and of a nation at risk." (from the Executive Summary at http://www.blackboysreport.org/node/106)