The role played by testing in the nation's public school system has been increasing steadily-and growing more complicated-for more than 20 years. The Committee on Educational Excellence and Testing Equity (CEETE) was formed to monitor the effects of education reform, particularly testing, on students at risk for academic failure because of poverty, lack of proficiency in English, disability, or membership in population subgroups that have been educationally disadvantaged. The committee recognizes the important potential benefits of standards-based reforms and of test results in revealing the impact of reform efforts on these students. The committee also recognizes the valuable role graduation tests can potentially play in making requirements concrete, in increasing the value of a diploma, and in motivating students and educators alike to work to higher standards. At the same time, educational testing is a complicated endeavor, that reality can fall far short of the model, and that testing cannot by itself provide the desired benefits. If testing is improperly used, it can have negative effects, such as encouraging school leaving, that can hit disadvantaged students hardest. The committee was concerned that the recent proliferation of high school exit examinations could have the unintended effect of increasing dropout rates among students whose rates are already far higher than the average, and has taken a close look at what is known about influences on dropout behavior and at the available data on dropouts and school completion.

Why so few African American and Latino/a students study computer science: updated edition of a book that reveals the dynamics of inequality in American schools. The number of African Americans and Latino/as receiving undergraduate and advanced degrees in computer science is disproportionately low. And relatively few African American and Latino/a high school students receive the kind of institutional encouragement, educational opportunities, and preparation needed for them to choose computer science as a field of study and profession. In Stuck in the Shallow End, Jane Margolis and coauthors look at the daily experiences of students and teachers in three Los Angeles public high schools: an overcrowded urban high school, a math and science magnet school, and a well-funded school in an affluent neighborhood. They find an insidious “virtual segregation” that maintains inequality. The race gap in computer science, Margolis discovers, is one example of the way students of color are denied a wide range of occupational and educational futures. Stuck in the Shallow End is a story of how inequality is reproduced in America—and how students and teachers, given the necessary tools, can change the system. Since the 2008 publication of Stuck in the Shallow End, the book has found an eager audience among teachers, school administrators, and academics. This updated edition offers a new preface detailing the progress in making computer science accessible to all, a new postscript, and discussion questions (coauthored by Jane Margolis and Joanna Goode).

This powerful and timely analysis takes stock of race and education sixty years after the historic Brown vs. Board of Education decision. This volume examines education as one of the most visible markers for racial disparities in the US as well as one of its most visible frontiers for racial justice. Featuring original research, educators’ insights, and perspectives from communities of color, it documents the complex impact of social/educational policy on social progress. Chapters on charter schools, curriculum content, performance measurement, and disproportionalities in special education referrals shed light on entrenched inequities that must be confronted. The book also makes it clear that leveling the playing field calls for not only better schools, but also addressing pervasive social problems such as poverty and housing segregation. Included in the coverage: School Policy is Housing Policy: Deconcentrating Disadvantage to Address the Achievement Gap. Charter Schooling, Race Politics, and an Appeal to History. The Data Quality Movement for the Asian American and Pacific Islander community: an unresolved civil rights issue. Critical Ethnic Studies in High School Classrooms: Academic Achievement via Social Action. Mexican American Educational Stagnation: The Role of Generational Status, Parental Narratives and Educator Mes sages. p/pp Pinpointing crucial issues and opportunities for solutions, Race, Equity, and Education has immediate salience for educators and researchers studying the intersection of race and education.

Beginning with the foundations of community development, An Introduction to Community Development offers a comprehensive and practical approach to planning for communities. Road-tested in the authors’ own teaching, and through the training they provide for practicing planners, it enables students to begin making connections between academic study and practical know-how from both private and public sector contexts. An Introduction to Community Development shows how planners can utilize local economic interests and integrate finance and marketing considerations into their strategy. Most importantly, the book is strongly focused on outcomes, encouraging students to ask: what is best practice when it comes to planning for communities, and how do we accurately measure the results of planning practice? This newly revised and updated edition includes: increased coverage of sustainability issues, discussion of localism and its relation to community development, quality of life, community well-being and public health considerations, and content on local food systems. Each chapter provides a range of reading materials for the student, supplemented with text boxes, a chapter outline, keywords, and reference lists, and new skills based exercises at the end of each chapter to help students turn their learning into action, making this the most user-friendly text for community development now available.

The 1989 Yearbook, commemorates the PEA's first twenty years by concentrating on the changing social, economic, technological and political forces that will shape education politics and policy into the twenty-first century. The Yearbook focuses on the roles to be played by education professionals, local citizen groups, government agencies and business leaders in shaping education policy, responses to racial and ethnic segregation, school restructuring, technology utilisation, and the development of education politics and policy.