Neag Center Home Page | News & Views
Much of our discussion of cultural diversity focuses on students—but teachers from diverse backgrounds play an important role as well. And in Seattle, those shoes are getting harder to fill: approximately 80% of teachers are white, including around three-quarters of newly hired teachers in the last year:
seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/192548_school27.html?searchpagefrom=1&searchdiff=1
In the past decade, AP courses have enjoyed a rise in popularity, with enrollment going up 140%. Now schools are looking to close the racial gap in AP participation:
www.cnn.com/2004/EDUCATION/08/22/advanced.placement.ap/index.html
In Des Moines, officials are stymied by the comparatively high numbers of black students who are subject to disciplinary action, while others are concerned that their race itself may play a role:
desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20040803/NEWS02/408030353/1004
A federal appeals court recently struck down Seattle's use of race as a means of breaking "ties" for coveted school placements. Experts say this ruling may have a wider impact on affirmative-action policies:
seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/education/2001990649_skuls28m.html
In California, the state university system's regents are voting on a proposal to raise the bar for admissions from a B- to a B. This change would likely also reduce the number of minority students eligible to attend:
www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/chronicle/archive/2004/07/13/BAGHF7KEIO1.DTL