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On July 28, 2006, a panel of experts briefed members of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights on the putative benefits of racial and ethnic diversity in elementary and secondary education. Four experts presented written statements to the Commissioners that assessed the social science literature on this issue. They also addressed whether or not racial and ethnic diversity in public schools should be mandated by the state and whether the net benefits of state-mandated diversity are different from the benefits that this diversity may yield when achieved through purely voluntary behavior. The experts also presented a number of studies to the Commission assessing the putative educational and social benefits of racial and ethnic diversity in elementary and secondary education. This volume presents the following papers: (1) The Outcomes of School Desegregation in Public Schools (David J. Armor); (2) Testimony Prepared for the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights Regarding the Educational Benefits of Diversity in Elementary and Secondary Education (Arthur L. Coleman); (3) The Benefits of Racial/Ethnic Diversity in Elementary and Secondary Education (Michal Kurlaender); and (4) Demographic Perspectives on Diversity, Racial Isolation, and the Seattle School Board's Plan to "Cure" Residential "Segregation" (Stephan Thernstrom). A bibliography is included. (Individual papers contain figures, tables, exhibits, footnotes, appendices, and references.)

A study investigated high school social science teachers' opinions on including media studies in the curriculum. A 53-question survey instrument was constructed and sent to 302 southern California social science teachers, of whom 159 responded, for a return rate of about 53%. Results indicated that all of the teachers thought it was important to help students develop critical thinking skills. About 94% of the teachers said mass media studies should be included in high school social science classes. About 86% of the teachers said they felt qualified to teach about the mass media, although only 34% indicated that their college training had helped them to develop such expertise. Television was ranked as the most important mass medium to include in the study of mass media in high school social science classes. Respondents rated the potential effects of mass media messages on people as the most important element to include in the media curriculum. Results indicated that even though most of the teachers recognized that the social science curriculum was already crowded with critical areas that needed to be taught, almost all of them indicated that room should be found for including meaningful instruction about how the mass media operate, how they should operate, what power they have and how they influence lives every day. (Three tables of data are included, and 28 references are attached.) (MG)

This paper discusses the report of the California Commission on the Reform of Intermediate and Secondary Education and the proposed Reform of Intermediate and Secondary Education (RISE) bill that resulted from that report. In particular, the authors focus on whether the commission's report and the bill constitute genuine educational reform in terms of Spady's criteria for educational reform. According to Spady's definition, educational reform must include (1) changes in instructional content, (2) changes in educational governance, (3) changes in the functions of schooling, (4) changes in the structure and allocation of educational resources, and (5) changes in access to and the outcomes of schooling. The authors conclude that the RISE report and bill meet many of these reform criteria, but that their ultimate success will depend on the creation of strong regulations and guidelines for implementation, the availability of a great deal of new money to finance implementation, and the support of the citizens of California. (JG)

Addressing often neglected broad issues, rather than the pragmatics of test development and administration, this Conference on Minimum Competency Achievement Testing was organized around six topics: (1) social and philosophical roots, uniqueness among testing movements, and policy issues; (2) legal, curricular, and social-demographic consequences; (3) implications for teachers, students and the handicapped; (4) testing programs in Florida, North Carolina, Oregon, Virginia, the Georgia State University System, Los Angeles, Portland, and the role of the National Institute of Education; (5) competency identification, test development, and standard setting; and (6) alternatives--certification separate from school, competency-based and outcomes-based education, and functional literacy for work. In papers on topics as diverse as philosophy, policy, and the curriculum, there was the suggestion that the political effects of minimum competency testing, namely state control of public education, will be the most profound. Furthermore, if test content comes to define content of curriculum, middle-class children will enjoy an enriched college preparatory program in private schools, and more disadvantaged students will fail to graduate from high school. Thirty-eight speeches and reactions are included in this collection. (CP)

Remarks made at the conference are summarized in seven sections of this narrative report: (1) update: recent events concerning testing,--representing the viewpoints of school districts, professional associations, government agencies, and research organizations; (2) National Institute of Education (NIE) study of school districts' use of test and evaluation information (Mary Ann Millsap); (3) Florida minimum competency testing case: Debra P. versus Turlington (Diana Pullin and George Madaus); (4) relationship between testing and curriculum (a panel: Joel Weiss, Decker Walker, Ann Cook, Andrew Porter, and Amity Buxton); (5) recent legislation to regulate testing (Walt Haney, Rex Brown); (6) test coaching controversy and the Federal Trade Commission report (Walt Haney); and (7) summary and discussion (Walt Haney, Eugene Radwin, and Vito Perrone). The appendices include the Speech Communication Association's criteria for evaluating tests and assessment guidelines; "The Essentials of Education," a statement from 12 organizations; a description of the Math/Science network; Banesh Hoffman's criticism of mathematics test items; a summary of the court decision, Larry P. versus Riles; a description of the NIE study and of further grants; sample materials from a school district's program; and a description of the impact of New York state's La Valle bill. (GDC)

The physics department at California State University San Marcos has nearly completed work on an NSF CCLI-A&I funded project to adapt and implement UC Davis’ reformed introductory physics course for students in the biological sciences. As part of the project, a group of physics instructors met to discuss criteria for measuring the implementation’s success and the feasibility of implementing the course at other institutions. Criteria for measuring success fell into three areas—student outcomes, institutionalization of the course, and adherence to the original course’s core philosophy. This paper describes the criteria in more detail, presents data for outcomes already measured, and discusses the challenges of measuring other outcomes. Finally, the paper briefly discusses the likelihood of instructors at other institutions meeting with the same or better success at implementing the course. © 2007 American Institute of Physics [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The California elementary schools, middle grades schools and high schools that Springboard Schools studied over the past three years are different in many ways. But the idea that every school, every teacher, and every student is unique, while true, masks important commonalities. One striking finding from three years of investigation of high performing, high poverty schools in California is how much these schools have in common. High poverty schools setting the pace for student achievement have found and applied a few key strategies to enable teachers to do their best work. At every grade level, high performing schools focus on creating the conditions for systems which support good teaching accessible to every student to be the norm in every classroom. Systems, such as: the use of consistent and challenging curriculum paired with frequent diagnostic tests; investing in teachers and systematic processes of improvement such as the identification and systematic implementation of best practices at multiple levels of the system; and providing flexible, differentiated support to students even as they work toward a common set of standards. Exact strategies may vary by school and district, but three commonalities exist, the intensity of the change effort, the coherence of the effort and sustaining focus overtime. This study, engaging in interviews with district leaders, school leaders, teachers and students at ten high performing and ten average performing middle grades schools, finds that average-performing districts and schools are using many of the same individual programs and general strategies as are high-performers. But a closer look reveals that what matters for improving teaching and learning is not just a particular strategies, but rather differences in intensity, differences in coherence; and differences in focus and willingness to stay the course, that is, to sustain focus over time. This paper discusses the impact of the middle school movement, and standards and accountability on these schools and highlights the systems schools and district use, the choices made by schools and districts, and how to balance student social-emotional needs with their school type in order to best prepare students for high school. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this presentation is to explore the issues around research that has gone deep into an activist movement, and writing that uses that perspective to understand the dynamic between methodology and analysis. For this project, I entered the field of a county-level controversy over AIDS education in public schools as an activist from the AIDS education community. I joined the broader coalition of anti-right organizers and followed their work and debate with opponents over a 12-month period. My interest in studying this setting stemmed from that part of social movements literature that examines framing processes and the interaction among non-state opponents. Among the salient features of this case study I discovered that the process of negotiating a stance within the coalition ? both in assessing goals and choosing strategies ? was much like the shifting and evolving positions navigated by the activists among whom I worked. Just as meanings attached to debate symbols shifted over time and via the experience of interorganizational exchange, so too were the meanings of the researcher-activist role modified over time and via the experience of interaction with peers. In this presentation, I will explore how this investment in one position in the debate (which, as the full analysis revealed, was actually a collection of positions, most times at odds with each other) affected subsequent research tasks, in particular, interviewing actors from among the opposing groups. The issues raised in activist research that includes engaging hostile interviewees challenge feminist approaches to research that concern subjectivity and value non-exploiting, participatory strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using the California Parole Agent Academy as a case study, I examine the ways the 'official curriculum' differs from the 'unofficial curriculum' during an intense period or attempted correctional reform. The findings emerge from ethnographic data collected during direct observation of academy classes, conversational interviews with instructors and parole agent cadets and content analysis of pre- and post-reform academy training materials. This work highlights an unintended consequence of top-down policy reform existing in the unofficial or "hidden" curriculum that runs counter to the goals of the new reform (Prokos & Padavic 2002). While the department made intense efforts to change the official curriculum it did not succeed in altering the "view-from-the-streets" stories told by the instructors it hired to teach the courses. These stories, while they provide both practical and survival skills to cadets, also undermine and de-legitimize the very organization new agents will work forâ??definitely not a goal of the organizational reform. I conclude with a discussion of possible implications for correctional and reentry policy reform noting the importance of the constraints organizations face when they improperly train their members and/or when they underestimate workers' impact on the successful implementation of top-down changes. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]