Forty five percent of the students' receiving Title I funds in urban lower class inner city schools and 20% of the students not receiving Title I funds in American public schools are reading below proficient on standardized tests. The goal of No Child Left Behind Legislation was to make sure that 95% of all students are reading at a proficient…

More than seven years ago, President George W. Bush signed No Child Left Behind (NCLB) into law. Sweeping calls for testing, intervening in persistently low-performing schools, and policing teacher quality made it the most ambitious legislation on K-12 schooling in American history. The law, due for congressional reauthorization in 2007, still…

This study examines the relationship between children's generational status and their cognitive and social school readiness, paying particular attention to racial/ethnic and national origin differences. This relationship is examined using data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 1998-99 (ECLS-K). Results indicate…

Even with current evidence-based preschool programming efforts for children from high-risk backgrounds, many children vary in their skill levels at school entry. The authors examined the influence of using an evidence-based literacy curriculum during a 6-week summer program. The authors documented improvements in children's letter-naming,…

Despite the proliferation of data about student performance, secondary school educators have had difficulty accessing data on their former students' post-high school employment and earnings in the formal economy. This article describes how one community used state unemployment insurance data, merged with student record data, to investigate the…

The purpose of this article is to examine whether there were improvements in the percentage of first-, second-, and third-grade students in Reading First (RF) schools in Michigan who performed at or above grade level on a standardized test of reading comprehension. The study reports results for 140 schools that participated in the RF initiative…

A fundamental consideration in discourses on risk and schooling for primary and secondary school-age students focuses on gender inequalities in the classroom. Gender equity in education debates have raged for several decades and so remain an enduring concern of educators and researchers across the nation. However, educational research often…

Teachers can help minority children close the academic achievement gap in intermediate and middle school by combining literacy instruction and content-area material. This connection improves reading achievement and increases curriculum knowledge, even if students have previously experienced difficulty with primary school reading. Fortunately,…

A comparative analysis of the statistics of the two population censuses conducted in 1990 and 2000 showed that with the development of ethnic education, average years of school attainment have been increased for all ethnic nationalities, and education has been more equalized within different ethnic nationalities. However, educational inequality…

In this article, the author reacts on the recent decision by the U.S. Supreme Court on school integration, a ruling that severely undercuts the nation's ability to provide equal educational opportunities for its children. Four consecutive members of the Court went so far as to suggest that schools may not take race into account to combat "de…

This article explores the role of race in new millennium schools and its impact on students. Multicultural, psycho-social, and academic issues are addressed, and interventions for school counselors are discussed. Racially correlated disparities in K-12 education are apparent in: test scores, grades, retention and drop-out rates, identification for…

Project BEST (Basic Educational Skills and Training) is a mentoring program involving Virginia Commonwealth University students and area middle school students. In the two-tiered program, VCU faculty mentor the Project BEST college students who, in turn, serve as mentors to the middle school students. Activities include Saturday mathematics and…

This research examined the types of print literacy activities low-income parents reported engaging in with their four-year-old children. There were 38 parents of children involved in Head Start, a pre-school program for children from low-income families living in the USA, who participated in this study. Children were assessed on their knowledge…

More than six years after the election of our current president, the nation is analyzing the effects of the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) federal legislation. Educators are discovering that the plan is flawed, developmentally inappropriate, ill funded, and leaving more students, teachers, and schools behind than ever before. In this article, the…

This paper profiles Missouri's test score trends through 2008-09. In 2006, the mean scale score on the state 4th grade reading test was 661 for non-Title I students and 642 for Title I students. In 2009, the mean scale score in 4th grade reading was 661 for non-Title I students and 648 for Title I students. Between 2006 and 2009, there was no…