Education Commons^™

Approaches To Multicultural Curriculum Reform, James A. Banks

Trotter Review

Several identifiable approaches to the integration of ethnic content into the curriculum have evolved since the 1960s, The Contributions Approach to in tegration is one of the most frequently used and is often used extensively during the first phase of an ethnic revival movement. This approach is characterized by the addition of ethnic heroes into the curriculum that are selected using criteria similar to those used to select mainstream heroes for inclusion into the curriculum. The mainstream curriculum remains unchanged in terms of its basic structure, goals, and salient characteristics.

System-Wide Title Vi Regulation Of Higher Education, 1968-1988: Implications For Increased Minority Participation, John B. Williams

Trotter Review

In 1964, 300,000 blacks were enrolled in the nation’s higher education system, most of them attending black colleges and universities in the South; 4,700,000 whites attended colleges during the same year. With passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Law, the federal government acknowledged an inequity in blacks’ opportunity to attend college and gave promise of becoming a major source of pressure for desegregating higher education. But the potential of Title VI, the promise of government intervention to accomplish greater equity, has never been fulfilled.

Specifically, Title VI renders discriminatory agencies and institutions, including colleges and universities, ineligible to receive federal …

Race And Excellence In American Higher Education, James Jennings

Trotter Review

W,E.B. DuBois’ assessment of American higher education’s posture toward black students in 1926 — “The attitude of the northern institution toward the Negro student is one which varies from tolerance to active hostility” — could have been written today based on several investigations. The American Council on Education reported recently that “the higher education community must continue to address the issues of losses in participation at all levels for blacks; the segregation of Hispanics; the retention and graduation of minority students, both undergraduate and graduate; the lack of growth for minorities in faculty and staff ranks.” The College Board reports …

Commentary: The Role Of Universities In Racial Violence On Campuses, Wornie L. Reed

Trotter Review

Racial violence against blacks on college campuses across the country has become a source of consider able and legitimate concern. This paper reviews the nature and extent of these incidents, discusses the national social context of their occurrence, and examines the role that universities play in the development of these incidents.

The National Congress Of Black Faculty, Ronald W. Walters

Trotter Review

In recent years serious problems have arisen in the field of black higher education that have not been subject to systematic examination and corrective programming. These problems have magnified the necessity for a vehicle through which black faculty might be mobilized to contribute to the enhance ment of their own professional opportunities and thus make a significant impact upon black higher education in general. Some of these problems are discussed below.

Dynamics Of Minority Education: An Index To The Status Of Race And Ethnic Relations In The United States, James E. Blackwell

Trotter Review

Throughout this century scholars and legal experts have devoted special attention to the issue of race and ethnicity as a determinant of life chances in the United States. Some of the more influential treatises in the social and behavioral sciences, many of which have become classics, addressed fundamental, derivative (and often more compelling) extensions of race and ethnicity. They focused on such topics as race-based group dominance, ethnic stratification, structural inequality based upon racial or ethnic identification, beliefs in inherent racial superiority and status privilege, class exploitation, the nature of prejudice, and the maintenance of power over groups defined as …

The Search For A Massachusetts Chancellor: Autonomy And Politics In Higher Education, Richard A. Hogarty

New England Journal of Public Policy

Political scientists have not devoted much attention to the politics of higher education. Their reluctance is hard to explain since the material for study is close at hand and the subject offers ample research opportunities. The search for a chancellor conducted by the Massachusetts Board of Regents in 1986 aroused considerable public attention and controversy. This case study examines that controversy along with the tensions that arise when academic and political forces collide. Few searches in academia are perfect and none is a morality play. This one proved to be no exception. This article is an attempt to reconstruct the …

Introducing Aids Education In Connecticut Schools, William Sabella

New England Journal of Public Policy

Most of the nation 's schoolchildren are not infected with the AIDS virus (HIV). Since AIDS is a preventable disease, no one need become infected. In order to protect themselves, everyone, including children, must understand exactly how HIV is and is not contracted. The message of prevention, however, is controversial, since it must include advice on safer sex and drug use.

In 1984, Connecticut was forced to face the issue of a child with HIV infection entering school. The state responded by creating guidelines for prevention of disease transmission in schools and by subsequently developing an AIDS curriculum. Obstacles to …

The Public-Private Forum: Good Intentions Randomize Behavior, Robert Wood

New England Journal of Public Policy

Public and private institutions of higher learning coexist throughout the United States in a pattern of diversity that is unknown in any other postindustrial society — and Massachusetts is a prime example of U.S. pluralism in education. In an era of scarce resources and mounting costs, the contrary instincts for cooperation and competition are at work. This article is an account ofa voluntary attempt among private and public colleges and universities between 1973 and 1976 to forge a fragile partnership — the Massachusetts Public-Private Forum — which first flourished, then foundered. Tracing the course of its early successes and final …

The Willis-Harrington Commission: The Politics Of Education Reform, Robert D. Gaudet

New England Journal of Public Policy

The 1980s have witnessed a nationwide movement to upgrade public education, including reform efforts in the New England states. Massachusetts periodically has grappled with the challenge of improving its schools. During the 1960s, the Massachusetts legislature authorized a thorough examination of education in the state. This mandate was carried out by a blue-ribbon panel that came to be known popularly as the Willis-Harrington Commission. In 1965, the commission issued a 624-page final report that included findings and recommendations relating to many aspects of public education in the state. This article chronicles the history of Willis-Harrington and discusses the problems that …

A Public Manager Looks Back: What I Wish I'D Been Taught, Dan H. Fenn

New England Journal of Public Policy

The author, a practitioner-teacher of public administration, writes that the special context of government in the United States, whether federal, state, or local, needs to be specifically explored by schools for would-be public managers. The constitutionally established system of fractionated power at once makes government jobs extraordinarily difficult and provides great opportunities for those who see themselves as partners in the policy-making process and want to put their stamp on the events of their times. Despite the view of the general public, government is made to order for entrepreneurs who are adept at accreting and maintaining power regardless of the …

A Second Chance: Meeting The Needs Of Adult Learners, Elizabeth F. Fideler

New England Journal of Public Policy

Changing demographics and economic factors are focusing national attention on adult learning as a major resource for solving many of the nation 's social and economic dilemmas. However, adult learners, the poor especially, face obstacles to educational advancement even where tuition is waived or incentive grants are given. Despite the considerable recent growth of adult education, the vast number of those who need it the most are not as yet participating. This article examines adult-education practices and participation in general — in the areas of literacy, occupational education, and higher learning — and conditions in Massachusetts in particular. It explains …

The Next Threshold: Higher Skills And The New England Economy, John C. Hoy

New England Journal of Public Policy

The history of the New England regional economy — its attenuated post-World War II decline and subsequent aggressive renewal — reveals an intensifying relationship between economic resurgence, the supply and continuing demand for professional manpower, and the results of academic research and development. The New England region has "outproduced" the rest of the nation in supplying professionally trained men and women, a leading factor not fully appreciated by those describing the region's robust economic health in the decade since Neal Peirce wrote The New England States. New England's "oversupply" in professional fields has given the high-tech and sophisticated services …

Boston School Desegregation: The Fallowness Of Common Ground, Robert A. Dentler

New England Journal of Public Policy

This essay scrutinizes the book by J. Anthony Lukas, Common Ground: A Turbulent Decade in the Lives of Three American Families, to assess whether it presents a valid and reliable account of the issues, people, and events it chronicles. The substantive core of the book is shown to be the politics of Boston public school desegregation. The parts played by the three families in this event are dramatically portrayed but cannot be corroborated and are not interpreted. The parts played by five major policy leaders, when tested against other evidence, are found to be distorted, questionable legends woven in …

Urban Public Services: What The Future Holds, Robert Morris

New England Journal of Public Policy

Health and welfare are usually considered secondary or peripheral concerns of modern society. The article considers how questions about the provision of social welfare are imbedded in the economic, social, moral, and political fabric of contemporary America and New England. Underlying trends of economic, social, and attitudinal change are outlined, and implications for the future are considered. The article also considers the role of universities in equipping the next generation of citizens to cope more effectively with the complex issues that are forcing a restructuring of urban services.

Teaching--From Occupation To Profession: A Response, Robert S. Peterkin

New England Journal of Public Policy

Educational reform must go beyond a restructuring of the teaching occupation. A realistic approach would include strengthening the principalship, reestablishing the primacy of education as the focus of public schools, improving the physical plant, increasing parental participation in the decision-making process, and aligning schools with the external communities — especially the business and university communities.

Teaching--From Occupation To Profession: The Sine Qua Non Of Educational Reform, Bernard R. Gifford

New England Journal of Public Policy

Many problems have been blamed for the crisis in public education. This article argues that the teaching occupation as it currently exists is one problem whose solution promises to yield significant consequences in terms of pupil learning. That solution, according to the author, is to restructure the teaching occupation to bring about a greater appreciation of and respect for teaching as a high-level activity that supports self-evaluative behavior — a professional consciousness that encourages teachers to see themselves as evolving practitioners capable of learning from errors, rather than as nonreflective paraprofessionals armed with a set of error-proof teaching methods applicable …

Public Education In Boston, Joseph M. Cronin

New England Journal of Public Policy

Historically, Boston schools have been a source of pride and educational innovation, yet they have also been fraught with problems that are typical of urban education. Both the success achieved and the problems encountered in Boston schools bear analysis. In looking at such areas as overall quality of education, funding, and compliance with federal guidelines, specific recommendations for the future of public education in Boston can be offered. In addition, the impact of Boston's success or failure in implementing new ideas through the school committee and the mayor is not limited to the city itself. This article' s outlining of …