How can access to public elementary schools of variable quality be justly distributed within a school district? Two reasonable criteria are: (a) that children should have equal opportunity to attend high-quality schools, and (b) school assignment policies should foster an overall increase in the number of high-quality schools. This article…

The goal of equal educational opportunity remains unrealized at most of America's colleges. The children of wealth and privilege fill nearly all the seats at these institutions, while the children of poverty are almost completely absent. Far too often, a young person's educational path is determined not by intellect, but by parental income. That a…

Improving public education has long been a cornerstone of the Democratic platform. Because progressives understand that access to a quality education is the gateway to a better life, their decades-long struggle to promote equal rights and opportunity for all Americans has been deeply tied to their struggle to create an effective public school…

The research described in this paper expands on attempts to conceptualize, measure, and evaluate the degree to which states have aligned their finance systems with their respective accountability policies. State education finance and accountability policies serve as levers to provide equal educational opportunities for all students--scholars have…

At state and institutional levels, leaders are discussing and enacting policy changes that could shape the future of higher education for decades-especially public higher education. But when citizens talk about the mission of higher education today, their conversations are different from those of policymakers. How do their values and concerns…

Along with a student's academic progress, the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) English Language Arts, MCAS Mathematics, and MCAS Science exams dictate whether a student in the Massachusetts public school system earns a diploma or a certificate of attainment. The difference is that students who do not receive a diploma are not…

This pamphlet is designed to help school personnel in Massachusetts achieve equal opportunity in physical education and sports programs for all students, regardless of sex. Answers are provided for some of the most commonly raised questions on this issue: (1) Do the regulations require that all physical education classes be coeducational? (2) Do…

The paper presents a history of the legal mandates (both legislative and judicial) for equal educational opportunity for linguistic and cultural minorities and describes the denial of this right in Massachusetts, as evidenced by overrepresentation of minorities in special education. Aspects of testing protocol, prereferral modification, and…

Advocates of educational accountability policies say that the policies are intended to use the state's authority to ensure equal educational opportunity. Opponents make essentially the opposite claim: that expanded state power is intended to disempower local communities and to single them out for blame, in response to larger political and economic…

The 2008 presidential election stands as a "change" election. The public's anxiety over the challenges globalization poses to the future of the American Dream is driving a desire for the country to change direction. The American people understand that what will give the nation a competitive advantage in a global marketplace are the…

Describes the involvement of Brockton Public Schools with the Massachusetts Racial Imbalance Law and its gradual development of equal educational opportunity. Emphasizes community involvement in planning educational policies that lead from desegregation to full integration of diverse populations. (SA)

Hispanic, Cape Verdean, and Haitian students, unlike European immigrant children, do not have equal educational opportunity in Massachusetts public schools. Bilingual education alone is insufficient to prepare students for the challenges they must meet in order to take advantage of opportunities available in secondary and higher education. (GC)

This Massachusetts Long-Range Plan was developed to set broad strategic direction for the use of Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) funds, to inform Massachusetts libraries of these directions, and to meet the statutory requirement. This plan details specific goals and objectives that support the stated mission: to provide every resident…

Resources listed in this annotated guide to state educational publications are entered alphabetically under the following topical headings: adult education, bilingual education, board of education, educational information, equal educational opportunity, Massachusetts Dissemination Project, Massachusetts Educational Television, nutrition education,…

In recent years, federal mandates in education have become the subject of increasing debate. Adam R. Nelson's "The Elusive Ideal"--a postwar history of federal involvement in the Boston public schools--provides lessons from the past that shed light on the continuing struggles of urban public schools today. This far-reaching analysis…