Education

Education http://tcf.org/education/rss-2/rss Most K-12 education reforms are about trying to make "separate but equal" schools for rich and poor work well. The results of these efforts have been discouraging. 2012-02-23T17:22:43Z vice The Future of School Integration urn:syndication:bfd63cf0-5f18-11e1-9e73-002219154821 http://tcf.org/events/2012/the-future-of-school-integration In 2007, when the U.S. Supreme Court struck down racial integration plans in Louisville and Seattle, many feared that school integration was dead. But today, more than 80 school districts educating some 4 million students have adopted programs to promote socioeconomic diversity in education. Advocates suggest this approach provides a legally viable way to achieve integrated schooling and, importantly, a powerful way to promote equal opportunity and improved outcomes for students. What are the benefits and costs of these programs to break up concentrations of poverty through public school choice? How logistically feasible is socioeconomic integration? Can it be made politically viable? Come hear a panel of experts talk about the cutting-edge research findings in the new publication from The Century Foundation The Future of School Integration: Socioeconomic Diversity as an Education Reform Strategy, edited by Richard D. Kahlenberg. 2012-02-24T23:34:07Z <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> <body> <p>In 2007, when the U.S. Supreme Court struck down racial integration plans in Louisville and Seattle, many feared that school integration was dead. But today, more than 80 school districts educating some 4 million students have adopted programs to promote socioeconomic diversity in education. Advocates suggest this approach provides a legally viable way to achieve integrated schooling and, importantly, a powerful way to promote equal opportunity and improved outcomes for students. What are the benefits and costs of these programs to break up concentrations of poverty through public school choice? How logistically feasible is socioeconomic integration? Can it be made politically viable? Come hear a panel of experts talk about the cutting-edge research findings in the new publication from The Century Foundation The Future of School Integration: Socioeconomic Diversity as an Education Reform Strategy, edited by Richard D. Kahlenberg. </p> <div style="float: right"> <img src="http://tcf.org/events/2012/the-future-of-school-integration/image" /> <span></span> </div> <div></div> </body> </html> The Affirmative Action Debate Continues urn:syndication:c5188223-5f07-11e1-a44c-002219154821 http://botc.tcf.org/2012/02/affirmative-action-debate-continues.html Richard Kahlenberg in The New York Times, Boston Globe, Business Week and Diverse Issues in Higher Education. 2012-02-24T16:29:50Z <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> <body> <p>Richard Kahlenberg in The New York Times, Boston Globe, Business Week and Diverse Issues in Higher Education.</p> <div style="float: right"> <img src="http://tcf.org/in-the-news/2012/2/the-affirmative-action-debate-continues/image" /> <span></span> </div> <p>http://botc.tcf.org/2012/02/affirmative-action-debate-continues.html</p> <div><p>Richard Kahlenberg in <i>The New York Times,</i> <i>Boston Globe</i>, <i>Business Week</i> and <i>Diverse Issues in Higher Education</i>.</p> <p><span>New York Times</span><br /><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/24/us/edward-blum-and-the-project-on-fair-representation-head-to-the-supreme-court-to-fight-race-based-laws.html" target="_blank">http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/24/us/edward-blum-and-the-project-on-fair-representation-head-to-the-supreme-court-to-fight-race-based-laws.html</a><br /><br /><span>Boston Globe</span><br /><a href="http://articles.boston.com/2012-02-23/metro/31088005_1_grutter-action-in-higher-education-admissions/2" target="_blank">http://articles.boston.com/2012-02-23/metro/31088005_1_grutter-action-in-higher-education-admissions/2</a><br /><br /><span>Business Week:</span><br /><a href="http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-02-24/college-affirmative-action-threatened-by-u-s-high-court-case.html" target="_blank">http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-02-24/college-affirmative-action-threatened-by-u-s-high-court-case.html</a><br /><br /><span>Diverse Issues in Higher Education</span><br /><a href="http://diverseeducation.com/article/16852/" target="_blank">http://diverseeducation.com/article/16852/</a></p></div> </body> </html> Richard D. Kahlenberg’s Commentary on Fisher v. Texas urn:syndication:ff606dc2-5e47-11e1-8374-002219154821 http://tcf.org/blogs/blog-of-the-century/6a00e54ffb96988833016762da1054970b Earlier this week, the U.S. Supreme Court decided to hear Fisher v. Texas, the most recent legal challenge to affirmative action. Century Foundation... 2012-02-24T16:21:44Z <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> <body> <p> Earlier this week, the U.S. Supreme Court decided to hear Fisher v. Texas, the most recent legal challenge to affirmative action. Century Foundation...</p> <div style="float: right"> <img src="http://tcf.org/blogs/blog-of-the-century/6a00e54ffb96988833016762da1054970b/image" /> <span></span> </div> <div><p>Earlier this week, the U.S. Supreme Court decided to hear <i>Fisher v. Texas, </i>the most recent legal challenge to affirmative action. Century Foundation Senior Fellow Richard D. Kahlenberg has been following the case and explaining the issues at stake. “It’s not whether we should have affirmative action or whether we shouldn’t, it’s what kind of affirmative action should we stress: race-based or race-neutral?” said Kahlenberg in <i><a href="http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/jurisprudence/2012/02/fisher_v_texas_how_obama_should_talk_about_affirmative_action.html">Slate</a></i>. “The best thing the Supreme Court could do is make universities focus on the looming class divide in higher education.”</p> <p>Learn more about the debate over the use of race in college admissions by following Kahlenberg’s commentary on <i>Fisher v. Texas</i>:</p> <ul> <li>Kahlenberg explains <a href="http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/jurisprudence/2012/02/fisher_v_texas_how_obama_should_talk_about_affirmative_action.html">“What Obama Should Say About the Texas Affirmative Action Case”</a> in <i>Slate.</i></li> <li>In his latest blog for <i><a href="http://chronicle.com/blogs/innovations/will-the-supreme-court-kill-diversity/31673">The Chronicle of Higher Education,</a> </i>Kahlenberg explores economically-based alternatives to race-based affirmative action. (More of Kahlenberg’s commentary on the case from his <i>Chronicle </i>blogs throughout the past year can be found <a href="http://chronicle.com/blogs/innovations/author/rkahlenberg">here</a>.)</li> <li>Kahlenberg and Lee Bollinger, president of Columbia University, discuss the case on <i><a href="http://www.thetakeaway.org/2012/feb/22/new-legal-challenge-affirmative-action/">The Takeaway</a>.</i></li> <li>Kahlenberg was interviewed about the case in the <i><a href="http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-court-affirmative-action-20120222,0,2046555.story">L.A. Times</a>, </i><i><a href="http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-02-22/college-affirmative-action-threatened-by-u-s-high-court-case.html">Bloomberg</a>, </i>and <a href="http://motherjones.com/politics/2012/02/affirmative-action-supreme-court" target="_self"><i>Mother Jones</i></a>.<i><br /></i></li> </ul> <p><a href="http://diverseeducation.com/article/3029/" target="_blank">“Arguably the nation’s chief proponent of class-based affirmative action in higher education admissions,”</a> Kahlenberg has also worked on other projects over the years that address issues at the heart of <i>Fisher v. Texas:</i></p> <ul> <li><i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Remedy-Class-Race-Affirmative-Action/dp/046509824X">The Remedy: Class, Race, and Affirmative Action</a> </i>(Basic Books, 1996)</li> <li><i><a href="http://tcf.org:8080/Plone/publications/2004/1/pb428">America’s Untapped Resource: Low-Income Students in Higher Education</a> </i>(The Century Foundation, 2004)</li> <li><i><a href="publications/2010/6/pb715">Rewarding Strivers: Helping Low-Income Students Succeed in College</a> </i>(The Century Foundation, 2010)</li> </ul> <p><br /><strong> </strong></p> <p> </p></div> </body> </html> Affirmative Action Debate Continues urn:syndication:c668a49c-5f07-11e1-aec0-002219154821 http://tcf.org/blogs/blog-of-the-century/6a00e54ffb96988833016301f2b5d5970d Century Foundation Senior Fellow Richard D. Kahlenberg has been following the U.S. Supreme Court case Fisher v. Texas, the most recent legal... 2012-02-24T16:02:20Z <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> <body> <p> Century Foundation Senior Fellow Richard D. Kahlenberg has been following the U.S. Supreme Court case Fisher v. Texas, the most recent legal...</p> <div style="float: right"> <img src="http://tcf.org/blogs/blog-of-the-century/6a00e54ffb96988833016301f2b5d5970d/image" /> <span></span> </div> <div><p>Century Foundation Senior Fellow Richard D. Kahlenberg <a href="http://botc.tcf.org/2012/02/richard-d-kahlenbergs-commentary-on-fisher-v-texas.html">has been following</a> the U.S. Supreme Court case <em>Fisher v. Texas, </em>the most recent legal challenge to race-based affirmative action, and offering insight on the issues at stake. Here is some of his latest commentary:</p> <ul> <li><em><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/24/us/edward-blum-and-the-project-on-fair-representation-head-to-the-supreme-court-to-fight-race-based-laws.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1">The New York Times</a>/<a href="http://www.texastribune.org/texas-education/university-of-texas-system/man-behind-texas-anti-affirmative-action-suit/">The Texas Tribune</a> </em>interviews Kahlenberg for a piece on the organizing power behind the case.</li> <li>Kahlenberg comments in a <em><a href="http://articles.boston.com/2012-02-23/metro/31088005_1_grutter-action-in-higher-education-admissions">Boston Globe</a> </em>article about the reactions of Massachusetts colleges.</li> <li><em><a href="http://diverseeducation.com/article/16852/">Diverse Issues in Higher Education</a> </em>quotes Kahlenberg in its coverage of the case.</li> </ul></div> </body> </html> Mitt Romney is No Horace Mann urn:syndication:fd6e4200-5e97-11e1-b556-002219154821 http://tcf.org/blogs/blog-of-the-century/6a00e54ffb969888330168e7de0ec3970c During last night's debate, Mitt Romney took credit for the excellent performance of the Massachusetts public schools while he was governor. He... 2012-02-23T21:21:27Z <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> <body> <p> During last night's debate, Mitt Romney took credit for the excellent performance of the Massachusetts public schools while he was governor. He...</p> <div style="float: right"> <img src="http://tcf.org/blogs/blog-of-the-century/6a00e54ffb969888330168e7de0ec3970c/image" /> <span></span> </div> <div><p>During last night's debate, Mitt Romney took credit for the excellent performance of the Massachusetts public schools while he was governor. He said:</p> <blockquote> <p>We added more school choice. My legislature tried to say no more charter schools. I vetoed that, we overturned that. With school choice, testing our kids, giving our best teachers opportunities for advancement, these kinds of principles drove our schools to be pretty successful. As a matter of fact, there are four measures on which the federal government looks at schools state by state, and my state's number one of all 50 stays in all four of those measures, fourth-and-eighth-graders in English and math.</p> </blockquote> <p>But because Massachusetts public schools have been viewed as a model for the nation since the middle of the 19th Century when they became the pioneering common school system in the country, the person who really deserves the credit is <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horace_Mann" target="_self">Horace Mann</a>. In 1837, Mann was named secretary of the Massachusetts board of education -- the first such official in the country -- and the nation's leading advocate for the idea of the "common school."</p> <p>His six main principles were: (1) the public should no longer remain ignorant; (2) that such education should be paid for, controlled, and sustained by an interested public; (3) that this education will be best provided in schools that embrace children from a variety of backgrounds; (4) that this education must be non-sectarian; (5) that this education must be taught by the spirit, methods, and discipline of a free society; and (6) that education should be provided by well-trained, professional teachers. Mann worked for more and better equipped school houses, longer school years, higher pay for teachers, and a wider curriculum.</p> <p>Throughout the 175 years since, Massachusetts has consistently played a leadership role in American public education, leading the way in such reforms as enhancing access to disabled and special needs children, establishing sports programs for girls, and equalizing school funding for low-income districts. Since the federal government began publishing state results on National Assessment of Education Progress tests, well before Romney became governor in 2003, Massachusetts has always scored at the<a href="http://www.doe.mass.edu/mcas/naep/results/00math/" target="_self"> top of the rankings</a> for students of all races.</p> <p>Although the general educational policies Romney endorsed last night are fairly unobjectionable as he described them, the real explanation for the state's long-standing leadership derives from the principles that Mann set forth long ago. Many of those principles, it is worth noting, have been under attack from the conservative movement for decades and directly conflict with the home schooling movement that people like Rick Santorum embrace. But the best strategy toward enabling all of the states to do as well as Massachusetts -- which would<a href="http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2012/01/12/16states.h31.html?tkn=OTOFLOzj/nwezM32S5IK0SG8HJLLf5QNPQyR&cmp=clp-edweek?intc=EW-QC12-TWT" target="_self"> rank third globally</a> if it were a country -- is to pursue the original ideas that Mann advanced and which turned out to be so effective as carried out by those who followed him.</p> <p> </p> <p> </p></div> </body> </html> Will the Roberts Court Kill Affirmative Action Once and For All? urn:syndication:523936c5-5e45-11e1-aacb-002219154821 http://motherjones.com/politics/2012/02/affirmative-action-supreme-court Richard Kahlenberg interviewed in Mother Jones article. 2012-02-23T17:18:05Z <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> <body> <p>Richard Kahlenberg interviewed in Mother Jones article. </p> <div style="float: right"> <img src="http://tcf.org/in-the-news/2012/2/will-the-roberts-court-kill-affirmative-action-once-and-for-all/image" /> <span></span> </div> <p>http://motherjones.com/politics/2012/02/affirmative-action-supreme-court</p> <div><p>Richard Kahlenberg interviewed in Mother Jones article.</p></div> </body> </html> Will the Supreme Court Kill Diversity? urn:syndication:e96b1c05-5e29-11e1-97cf-002219154821 http://chronicle.com/blogs/innovations/will-the-supreme-court-kill-diversity/31673 Richard Kahlenberg takes on Fisher v. Texas in The Chronicle of Higher Education. 2012-02-23T14:27:08Z <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> <body> <p>Richard Kahlenberg takes on Fisher v. Texas in The Chronicle of Higher Education. </p> <div style="float: right"> <img src="http://tcf.org/in-the-news/2012/2/will-the-supreme-court-kill-diversity/image" /> <span></span> </div> <p>http://chronicle.com/blogs/innovations/will-the-supreme-court-kill-diversity/31673</p> <div><p>Richard Kahlenberg takes on Fisher v. Texas in The Chronicle of Higher Education.</p></div> </body> </html> Preventing Community Colleges from Becoming Separate and Unequal urn:syndication:b040909e-4e90-11e1-a798-002219154821 http://tcf.org/special-projects/task-forces/preventing-community-colleges-from-becoming-separate-and-unequal A Task Force to focus on strengthening community colleges with the intention of saving them from becoming “separate and unequal” institutions. 2012-02-22T16:22:57Z <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> <body> <p>A Task Force to focus on strengthening community colleges with the intention of saving them from becoming “separate and unequal” institutions. </p> <div style="float: right"> <img src="http://tcf.org/special-projects/task-forces/preventing-community-colleges-from-becoming-separate-and-unequal/image" /> <span></span> </div> <div><p>A Task Force to focus on strengthening community colleges with the intention of saving them from becoming “separate and unequal” institutions. <a class="external-link" href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/think-tanked/post/are-community-colleges-separate-and-unequal/2012/02/03/gIQAd4YumQ_blog.html" target="_blank"><i> The Washington Post</i>'s <i>Think Tanked</i> Blog</a> covers the Task Force announcement. View <a class="external-link" href="../../videos/2012/preventing-community-colleges-from-becoming-separate-and-unequal">video</a> of Senior Fellow Richard Kahlenberg interviewing task force co-chair Eduardo Padron and U.S. Under Secretary of Education Martha Kanter.</p></div> </body> </html> Supreme Court to Consider Affirmative Action in Higher Education urn:syndication:082d6178-5d65-11e1-8dee-002219154821 http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-court-affirmative-action-20120222,0,2046555.story Richard Kahlenberg quoted in the LA Times. 2012-02-22T14:42:50Z <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> <body> <p>Richard Kahlenberg quoted in the LA Times. </p> <div style="float: right"> <img src="http://tcf.org/in-the-news/2012/2/supreme-court-to-consider-affirmative-action-in-higher-education/image" /> <span></span> </div> <p>http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-court-affirmative-action-20120222,0,2046555.story</p> <div><p>Richard Kahlenberg quoted in the LA Times.</p></div> </body> </html> A New Legal Challenge to Affirmative Action urn:syndication:0845be8a-5d65-11e1-89cc-002219154821 http://www.thetakeaway.org/2012/feb/22/new-legal-challenge-affirmative-action/ Richard Kahlenberg interviewed on The Takeaway. 2012-02-22T14:28:40Z <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> <body> <p>Richard Kahlenberg interviewed on The Takeaway. </p> <div style="float: right"> <img src="http://tcf.org/in-the-news/2012/2/a-new-legal-challenge-to-affirmative-action/image" /> <span></span> </div> <p>http://www.thetakeaway.org/2012/feb/22/new-legal-challenge-affirmative-action/</p> <div><p>Richard Kahlenberg interviewed on The Takeaway.</p></div> </body> </html> University Affirmative Action Draws U.S. High Court Scrutiny urn:syndication:34aec75e-5cd0-11e1-843d-002219154821 http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2012/02/21/bloomberg_articlesLZ5ORE0YHQ0X01-LZREQ.DTL Richard Kahlenberg quoted in Bloomberg. 2012-02-21T20:58:10Z <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> <body> <p>Richard Kahlenberg quoted in Bloomberg. </p> <div style="float: right"> <img src="http://tcf.org/in-the-news/2012/2/university-affirmative-action-draws-u.s.-high-court-scrutiny/image" /> <span></span> </div> <p>http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2012/02/21/bloomberg_articlesLZ5ORE0YHQ0X01-LZREQ.DTL</p> <div><p>Richard Kahlenberg quoted in Bloomberg.</p></div> </body> </html> President of LaGuardia Community College Elected to Sit on National Task Force urn:syndication:ceca5a11-5cc9-11e1-b777-002219154821 http://www.theticker.org/about/2.8215/president-of-laguardia-community-college-elected-to-sit-on-national-task-force-1.2703874#.T0PPUIcgd6I TCF Task Force in Baruch College's The Ticker. 2012-02-21T20:22:07Z <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> <body> <p>TCF Task Force in Baruch College's The Ticker. </p> <div style="float: right"> <img src="http://tcf.org/in-the-news/2012/2/president-of-laguardia-community-college-elected-to-sit-on-national-task-force/image" /> <span></span> </div> <p>http://www.theticker.org/about/2.8215/president-of-laguardia-community-college-elected-to-sit-on-national-task-force-1.2703874#.T0PPUIcgd6I</p> <div><p>TCF Task Force in Baruch College's The Ticker.</p></div> </body> </html> Century Foundation Convenes National Task Force to Recommend Ways to Strengthen Community Colleges urn:syndication:f0fa559e-4de5-11e1-9288-002219154821 http://tcf.org/media-center/2012/century-foundation-convenes-national-task-force-to-recommend-ways-to-strengthen-community-colleges Panel Will Seek to Address Growing Racial and Economic Divide between Two- and Four-Year Institutions 2012-02-21T14:45:53Z <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> <body> <p>Panel Will Seek to Address Growing Racial and Economic Divide between Two- and Four-Year Institutions </p> <div style="float: right"> <img src="http://tcf.org/media-center/2012/century-foundation-convenes-national-task-force-to-recommend-ways-to-strengthen-community-colleges/image" /> <span></span> </div> <div><p><b>February 2, 2012––</b>As the United States seeks to restore its role as the world’s leader in higher education, there is a renewed emphasis on increasing graduation from two-year institutions. Most recently, President Barack Obama described the important role of community colleges in his State of the Union address.</p> <p>The Century Foundation is assembling a task force of distinguished individuals from two-year and four-year institutions, scholars of higher education, and representatives of the business, philanthropic, and civil rights communities to consider strategies to strengthen community colleges. The group will be co-chaired by Anthony Marx, president of the New York Public Library and former president of Amherst College, and Eduardo Padrón, the president of Miami Dade College.</p> <p>The Task Force on Preventing Community Colleges from Becoming Separate and Unequal, which is supported by the Ford Foundation, will address an issue that has remained below the radar screen in national and regional discussions over improving college access and completion: just as community colleges are being asked to do more than ever before, the racial and socioeconomic divide between two- and four-year institutions is growing.</p> <p>“Community colleges should be open to, and attractive to, students of all economic, racial, and ethnic backgrounds,” said Padrón. “While two-year institutions must always provide access to low-income and working-class students, community colleges need to find ways to recruit middle-class students as well, or the political and financial support for the two-year sector will continue to decline.”</p> <p>The larger issue, Marx suggested, is this: “Will higher education reduce or exacerbate the growing economic divide in this nation?” He continued, “If the better funded four-year sector caters to wealthier white students, while community colleges lose funding to educate low-income and minority students, the two-year sector will remain separate and unequal.”</p> <p>Janice Nittoli, the president of The Century Foundation, said that Padrón and Marx were a perfect team to lead the task force. “Eduardo Padrón has been a brilliant and innovative leader of the nation’s largest institution of higher education,” she said, “and Tony Marx, as president of Amherst, has been the conscience of the four-year sector, helping to put the issue of socioeconomic diversity and community college transfers on the national agenda. He is showing that same commitment to increasing access to our cultural and learning institutions in his leadership role at the New York Public Library. We’re thrilled to have the two of them co-chair this new task force.”</p> <p>Jeannie Oakes and Douglas Wood of the Ford Foundation said the task force was an important step. “There’s a stratification trend in higher education around the world,” Oakes said. “This task force will help bring that trend to light, document the challenges associated with it, and recommend ways that institutions can overcome it.” Added Wood: “The two-year sector educates an increasing number of American students. It’s essential that we find ways to strengthen it so that these students have more opportunities, not fewer.”</p> <p>The Task Force will have its first meeting on February 17, 2012. The meeting will include a special presentation by U.S. Under Secretary of Education Martha Kanter. The Task Force will also hold meetings in May and September, after which it will issue a report with recommendations and background papers.</p> <p>Richard D. Kahlenberg, a senior fellow at The Century Foundation and the author of several volumes on inequality in both higher education and K–12 schooling, will serve as executive director of the Task Force. He commented, “It’s disturbing to see that just as elementary and secondary education are becoming increasingly segregated by race and income, the same thing is happening in higher education. The Task Force members have a considerable wealth of experience and wisdom, and I look forward to working with them to assemble recommendations on how to strengthen the community college sector.”</p> <p>A list of Task Force members can be found <a class="external-link" href="../../publications/pdfs/CCCPR.pdf/++atfield++file">here.</a></p> <p>The Task Force on Preventing Community Colleges from Becoming Separate and Unequal is the latest in a long series of groups that The Century Foundation has assembled on important public policy issues such as election reform, elementary and secondary education, and U.S. policy in Afghanistan.</p> <p>The Century Foundation is a progressive nonpartisan think tank. Originally known as the Twentieth Century Fund, it was founded in 1919 and initially endowed by Edward Filene, a leading Republican businessman and champion of fair workplaces and employee ownership strategies, all with an eye to ensuring that economic opportunity is available to all. Today, TCF issues analyses and convenes and promotes the best thinkers and thinking across a range of public policy questions. Its work today focuses on issues of equity and opportunity in the United States, and how American values can be best sustained and advanced in a world of more diffuse power.</p> <p>For media inquiries about the Task Force, contact Christy Hicks at (212) 452-7723. For more information on The Century Foundation and its work, please visit <a href="http://www.tcf.org/" target="_blank">www.tcf.org</a>. You can keep up with the latest news from Century by signing up for our <a href="../../about/">mailing list</a>, following us on<a class="external-link" href="https://twitter.com/#!/tcfdotorg"> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Twitter @tcfdotorg</span></a> and joining our <a href="https://www.facebook.com/TheCenturyFoundation" target="_blank">Facebook</a> page at <a href="http://www.tcf.org/">www.tcf.org</a>.</p> <p><a class="external-link" href="../../publications/pdfs/CCCPR.pdf/++atfield++file">See PDF release for list of Task Force members. </a></p></div> </body> </html> Experts Duel Over Busing, Diversity in Wake County urn:syndication:8438ddb5-5c9c-11e1-bde5-002219154821 http://www.newsobserver.com/2011/03/23/1074031/experts-duel-over-busing-diversity.html Richard Kahlenberg quoted and referenced in the Raleigh News Observer. 2012-02-21T14:41:30Z <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> <body> <p>Richard Kahlenberg quoted and referenced in the Raleigh News Observer.</p> <div style="float: right"> <img src="http://tcf.org/in-the-news/2012/2/experts-duel-over-busing-diversity-in-wake-county/image" /> <span></span> </div> <p>http://www.newsobserver.com/2011/03/23/1074031/experts-duel-over-busing-diversity.html</p> <div><p>Richard Kahlenberg quoted and referenced in the Raleigh News Observer.</p></div> </body> </html> Surprise! Poverty Trumps Race (Most of the Time) urn:syndication:48c76523-581c-11e1-8a9e-002219154821 http://tcf.org/blogs/blog-of-the-century/6a00e54ffb969888330168e7660f97970c The New York Times performed a public service of sorts by placing the story about the growing achievement gap between affluent and poor kids on its ... 2012-02-15T15:33:52Z <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> <body> <p> The New York Times performed a public service of sorts by placing the story about the growing achievement gap between affluent and poor kids on its ...</p> <div style="float: right"> <img src="http://tcf.org/blogs/blog-of-the-century/6a00e54ffb969888330168e7660f97970c/image" /> <span></span> </div> <div><p>The <i>New York Times </i>performed a public service of sorts by placing the story about the growing achievement gap between affluent and poor kids on its <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/10/education/education-gap-grows-between-rich-and-poor-studies-show.html">front page</a> February 10. One can only hope that President Obama, Secretary Arne Duncan, and all the we-know-for-certain-what-to-do-about-the-achievement-gap reformers will read it carefully.</p> <p>The theme of the story is that it is income, not race, that is the defining characteristic in predicting academic performance. Here is the unsurprising finding: kids growing up in very poor families do not do nearly as well as kids growing up in affluent families. Moreover, the gap is growing.</p> <p>Almost a half-century ago, the authors of the famous but little-read Coleman Report documented that the most important factor in explaining variations in achievement is the socio-economic status of one’s parents. The second most important factor, particularly for black students, is the socio-economic status of one’s classmates. Published at the height of the Great Society, the Coleman Report rudely interrupted President Johnson’s designs on pushing the federal government into a massive effort at school construction and modernization in the belief that lousy schools without laboratories and libraries explained why poor (black) kids did so poorly.</p> <p>Coleman found that facilities and, surprisingly, teachers had relatively little to do with the big differences in achievement between black students and white ones. Instead, it was the socioeconomic status of a student’s family that mattered most.</p> <p>Despite assaults from all sides, including hundreds of dissertations and scores of commissions, the bedrock conclusions of Coleman survive. And yet, the educational policy debates of today concentrate on teacher accountability, charter schools, technology, and other panaceas not connected to the effects of growing up poor. In fact, since the era of the Coleman report, reform efforts seem to have focused on everything but the true underlying causes of the achievement gap. <i>More</i> <i>resources</i> was the first solution tried. Title I of the 1965 Elementary and Secondary Education Act put the federal government into the financing of programs aimed at schools and districts with lots of poor kids—to no effect. <i>Governance</i> was targeted next, sometimes by emphasizing increased authority for district headquarters; sometimes decentralizing authority to schools. <i>Technology</i> has also been a favorite answer—remember educational television, or laptops for every kid?</p> <p>Much of what makes some students unable to thrive in school actually happens outside the classroom, yet this simple fact is still ignored by most education reformers. As for the <i>Times </i>story is, as helpful as it is, it omits four important facts or factors:</p> <p> </p> <ol> <li>Poverty is growing, particularly among children. In 2010, the poverty rate among all Americans (15.1 percent) ticked above the rate in 1965. More distressing for this discussion, the poverty rate for single-parent households (31.6 percent) is now five times the rate for married households (6.2 percent). The poorer the families, the more children are affected—while children under age 18 make up 24 percent of the population, they are 36 percent of those in the poorest families.</li> <li>Concentrated poverty takes a huge toll. Socio-economic status of schoolmates has a big effect on performance, so one certain predictor of academic failure is growing up in a poor family, in a poor neighborhood, attending a school with only other poor children. Evidence shows that children from poor families attending middle-class schools will outperform children from not-poor families attending schools of concentrated poverty. Almost all the schools on the lists of “chronically failing” schools are schools of concentrated poverty. This correlation is blithely ignored by Secretary Duncan and the reform movement.</li> <li>The fastest-growing segment of the school population is Latinos. In just the past twenty years or so, the proportion of Latino students has tripled, now constituting more than 20 percent of students nationwide. Since the growth is explained both by immigration and birth to first-generation parents, many of these students come from families where no or little English is spoken and where Spanish is not read. This wave of students with potential language barriers is compounding the pedagogical problems for educators. And, as Latino students are statistically more likely to attend high-poverty or “poverty-only” schools, this language barrier will make those schools’ task even harder.</li> <li>The <i>Times </i>article concludes with a discouraging quote from Douglas Besharov of the Atlantic Council: “No one has the slightest idea what will work. The cupboard is bare.” Not so. In truth, we know that it is possible to narrow the achievement gap by concentrating on younger students to insure that they are strong readers by third grade. We know that the investment in high-quality preschool for three- and four-year-old children can narrow the gap in vocabulary, general knowledge, and the other elements of “reading readiness” by the start of kindergarten. The payoff from this investment is huge, not just in improved literacy (particularly when connected to intensive literacy instruction in the primary grades), but in higher rates of high school graduation, marriage, and employment, and lower rates of incarceration.</li> </ol> <p> </p> <p>The current reform agenda is offered with the same self-assurance as its failed predecessors. What we need is to stop firing at the wrong targets (once again) and focus on the causes of the achievement gap that are established (also once again) beyond dispute.</p></div> </body> </html> Surprise! Poverty Trumps Race (Most of the Time) urn:syndication:81e4cac0-57ec-11e1-ba0a-002219154821 http://botc.tcf.org/2012/02/surprise-poverty-trumps-race-most-of-the-time.html Gordon MacInnes in Blog of the Century. 2012-02-15T15:30:28Z <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> <body> <p>Gordon MacInnes in Blog of the Century. </p> <div style="float: right"> <img src="http://tcf.org/in-the-news/2012/2/surprise-poverty-trumps-race-most-of-the-time/image" /> <span></span> </div> <p>http://botc.tcf.org/2012/02/surprise-poverty-trumps-race-most-of-the-time.html</p> <div><p>Gordon MacInnes in Blog of the Century.</p></div> </body> </html> Income More Important Than Race in Achievement Gap urn:syndication:d2f38030-57e4-11e1-b680-002219154821 http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/walt_gardners_reality_check/2012/02/income_more_important_than_race_in_achievement_gap.html TCF's Rewarding Strivers book is cited in Education Week's blog. 2012-02-15T14:53:04Z <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> <body> <p>TCF's Rewarding Strivers book is cited in Education Week's blog. </p> <div style="float: right"> <img src="http://tcf.org/in-the-news/2012/2/income-more-important-than-race-in-achievement-gap/image" /> <span></span> </div> <p>http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/walt_gardners_reality_check/2012/02/income_more_important_than_race_in_achievement_gap.html</p> <div><p>TCF's Rewarding Strivers book is cited in Education Week's blog.</p></div> </body> </html> Graph of the Day: The Growing Education Gap Between Rich and Poor (Continued) urn:syndication:f7ca3578-54ad-11e1-9dcb-002219154821 http://tcf.org/blogs/blog-of-the-century/6a00e54ffb969888330168e71f1c05970c New research on the state of U.S. education shows that income inequality has surpassed racial inequality as the single most significant predictor... 2012-02-14T17:00:10Z <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> <body> <p> New research on the state of U.S. education shows that income inequality has surpassed racial inequality as the single most significant predictor...</p> <div style="float: right"> <img src="http://tcf.org/blogs/blog-of-the-century/6a00e54ffb969888330168e71f1c05970c/image" /> <span></span> </div> <div><p>New <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/10/education/education-gap-grows-between-rich-and-poor-studies-show.html?_r=1&hp" target="_blank">research</a> on the state of U.S. education shows that income inequality has surpassed racial inequality as the single most significant predictor of education outcomes. According to the <a href="https://www.russellsage.org/publications/whither-opportunity" target="_blank">Russell Sage</a> Foundation, the achievement gap between rich and poor students is now larger than the gap between white and black students—perhaps a watershed moment in the changing discourse on inequality.</p> <p>Century Foundation Senior Fellow Rick Kahlenberg <a href="http://botc.tcf.org/2012/02/what-can-be-done-about-the-growing-education-gap-between-rich-and-poor.html" target="_blank">weighs in</a> on the debate in the <a href="http://botc.tcf.org/2012/02/what-can-be-done-about-the-growing-education-gap-between-rich-and-poor.html" target="_blank">post</a> below, describing a few of the myriad strategies that TCF and other organizations have proposed to close the socioeconomic achievement gap in education. But I wanted to highlight a few of Rick's own graphs, from <a href="publications/2011/7-1/publication.2011-07-11.4028362377" target="_blank"><i>Rewarding Strivers: Helping Low-Income Students Succeed in College</i></a>, which illustrate a few of the ways in which income inequality critically disadvantages students at the bottom of the income distribution.</p> <p><a href="http://tcftakingnote.typepad.com/.a/6a00e54ffb9698883301630127f56e970d-pi"><img src="http://tcftakingnote.typepad.com/.a/6a00e54ffb9698883301630127f56e970d-800wi" title="High poverty low poverty schools" height="129" width="422" alt="High poverty low poverty schools" class="asset asset-image at-xid-6a00e54ffb9698883301630127f56e970d image-full" /></a></p> <p>Much of the funding for public schools typically comes from local property taxes, leaving poorer districts with significantly lower-quality staff and facilities than wealthier districts. The table above shows how teacher quality drops at high-poverty schools, while the number of students who will grow up to live in poverty skyrockets from 4% to one in seven—even when controlling for individual ability and family home environment.</p> <p>But the disadvantages don't stop there. Rick's <a href="publications/2011/7-1/publication.2011-07-11.4028362377" target="_blank">research</a> for The Century Foundation also indicates that students from the bottom income quartile received zero or negative advantage in the college admissions process, while recruited athletes, minority groups, and legacies enjoyed a significant boost. Leaving aside the issue of athlete and legacy preference, which Rick has <a href="publications/2010/9/affirmative-action-for-the-rich-legacy-preferences-in-college-admissions" target="_blank">argued against</a> forcefully in the past, it is disturbing, in light of this new research, why few schools have adopted programs to encourage economic diversity.</p> <p><a href="http://tcftakingnote.typepad.com/.a/6a00e54ffb9698883301630127f56e970d-pi"></a><a href="http://tcftakingnote.typepad.com/.a/6a00e54ffb969888330168e71e9178970c-pi"><img src="http://tcftakingnote.typepad.com/.a/6a00e54ffb969888330168e71e9178970c-800wi" title="Admission advantages" height="379" width="520" alt="Admission advantages" class="asset asset-image at-xid-6a00e54ffb969888330168e71e9178970c image-full" /></a></p> <p> </p> <p><i>View more from the <a href="special-projects/series/graph-of-the-day/" target="_self">Graph of the Day Series. </a></i></p></div> </body> </html> The $8-Billion Community-College Proposal urn:syndication:4e7a37c2-571c-11e1-a94d-002219154821 http://chronicle.com/blogs/innovations/the-8-billion-community-college-proposal/31608 Richard Kahlenberg published in the Chronicle of Higher Education. 2012-02-14T14:30:34Z <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> <body> <p>Richard Kahlenberg published in the Chronicle of Higher Education.</p> <div style="float: right"> <img src="http://tcf.org/in-the-news/2012/1/the-8-billion-community-college-proposal/image" /> <span></span> </div> <p>http://chronicle.com/blogs/innovations/the-8-billion-community-college-proposal/31608</p> <div><p>Richard Kahlenberg published in the Chronicle of Higher Education.</p></div> </body> </html> What Can Be Done About the Growing Education Gap between Rich and Poor? urn:syndication:9e190202-541c-11e1-ae02-002219154821 http://tcf.org/blogs/blog-of-the-century/6a00e54ffb969888330167621af0dd970b Today’s New York Times features on its front page new research from the Russell Sage and Spencer Foundations which concludes that the... 2012-02-10T19:49:48Z <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> <body> <p> Today’s New York Times features on its front page new research from the Russell Sage and Spencer Foundations which concludes that the...</p> <div style="float: right"> <img src="http://tcf.org/blogs/blog-of-the-century/6a00e54ffb969888330167621af0dd970b/image" /> <span></span> </div> <div><p>Today’s <i>New York Times</i><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/10/education/education-gap-grows-between-rich-and-poor-studies-show.html?hp" target="_self"> features</a> on its front page new research from the Russell Sage and Spencer Foundations which concludes that the achievement gap between rich and poor is growing, and is now significantly larger than the gap between white and black students. This research is consistent with scholarship that The Century Foundation published in its 2010 volume, <a href="publications/2010/6/pb715" target="_self"><i>Rewarding Strivers</i></a>, finding that the socioeconomic obstacles to doing well on the math and verbal SAT are seven times as large as those associated with race. <br /><br />The <i>Times</i> article highlights the very troubling class divide in education but then ends with a bizarre quotation from Douglas J. Besharov of the Atlantic Council. With unwarranted fatalism, Besharov suggests that in addressing the educational division, particularly between the children of well-educated dual-income families and those of less-educated single parents, “No one has the slightest idea what will work. The cupboard is bare.” In fact, research published by The Century Foundation and other organizations going back more than a decade shows that there are an array of strategies that can be highly effective in addressing the socioeconomic gaps in education:<br /><br /></p> <ul> <li><b>Pre-K programs.</b> As Century’s Greg Anrig has<a href="publications/pdfs/pb684/Greg_Education.pdf" target="_self"> noted</a>, there is a wide body of research suggesting that well-designed pre-K programs in places like Oklahoma have yielded significant achievement gains for students. Likewise, forthcoming Century Foundation <a href="http://books.google.com/books/about/The_Future_of_School_Integration.html?id=Y-KtpwAACAAJ" target="_self">research </a>by Jeanne Reid of Teachers College, Columbia University suggests that allowing children to attend socioeconomically integrated (as opposed to high poverty) pre-K settings can have an important positive effect on learning.</li> <li><b> Socioeconomic Housing Integration.</b> Inclusionary zoning laws that allow low-income and working-class parents and their children to live in low-poverty neighborhoods and attend low-poverty schools can have very positive effects on student achievement, as researcher David Rusk has long <a href="publications/1999/3/pb358" target="_self">noted</a>. A natural experiment in Montgomery County Maryland <a href="publications/pdfs/housing-policy-is-school-policy-pdf/Schwartz.pdf" target="_self">showed </a>that low-income students randomly assigned to public housing units and allowed to attend schools in low-poverty neighborhoods scored at 0.4 of a standard deviation higher than those randomly assigned to higher-poverty neighborhoods and schools. According to the researcher, Heather Schwartz of the RAND corporation, the initial sizable achievement gap between low-income and middle-class students in low-poverty neighborhoods and schools was cut in half in math and by one-third in reading over time. </li> <li> <b>Socioeconomic School Integration.</b> School districts that reduce concentrations of poverty in schools through public school choice have been able to significantly <a href="http://tcf.org:8081/Plone/publications/pdfs/pb618/districtprofiles.pdf" target="_self">reduce the achievement</a> and attainment gaps. In Cambridge, Massachusetts, for example, where a longstanding socioeconomic integration plan has allowed students to choose to attend mixed-income magnet schools, the <a href="events/pdfs/ev264/turnaround.pdf" target="_self">graduation rate</a> for African American, Latino, and low-income students is close to 90%, far exceeding the state average for these groups. </li> <li><b> College Affirmative Action for Low-Income Students. </b>Research finds attending a selective college confers substantial benefits, and that many more low-income and working-class students could attend and succeed in selective colleges than currently do. Research by Anthony Carnevale and Stephen J. Rose of Georgetown University for the Century volume,<a href="publications/2004/1/pb428/" target="_self"><i> America’s Untapped Resource: Low-Income Students in Higher Education</i></a>, found that selective universities could increase their representation from the bottom socioeconomic half of the population from 10% to 38% and overall graduation rates for all students would remain the same.</li> </ul> <p><br />In addition to these ideas, Century Foundation<a href="publications/2009/1/pb675" target="_self"> research</a> by Gordon MacInnes has highlighted promising programs to promote the performance of low-income students in New Jersey. Forthcoming<a href="videos/2011/labor-organizing-as-a-civil-right" target="_self"> research</a> will suggest ways to revitalizing organized labor, a development that could raise wages of workers and thereby have a positive impact on the educational outcomes of their children. We will also be exploring ways to <a href="publications/pdfs/CCCPR.pdf/++atfield++file" target="_self">strengthen community colleges</a> as a vital institutions for social mobility. <br /><br />The cupboard of practical ideas to reduce the shameful educational gaps between rich and poor is not bare; it is overflowing. The problems of poverty and segregation are complex and stubborn, but to suggest they are insoluble is little more than a convenient excuse.</p></div> </body> </html>