1989

Flunking Grades: Research and Policies on Retention

epicpolicy — Fri, 27 Jul 2007 13:00:52 -0600

Publisher London: The Falmer Press
Summary This book is about research on the topic of flunking. A pejorative term avoided by adults, flunking is used by children to describe the experience of repeating a grade in school. Although research on 'grade retention' has a long history, it is of particular importance today when strict grade-to-grade promotion standards are being imposed as part of education reform.

In Defense of Outcomes-Based Conceptions of Equal Educational Opportunity

epicpolicy — Fri, 27 Jul 2007 11:38:44 -0600

Publisher     Educational Theory, 39(4)
Page Numbers     317-336
Summary     James Coleman's suggestion that 'equal educational opportunity' may be interpreted in terms of equal educational outcomes has taken a bit of a philosophical beating. The focus of criticism derives from putative conceptual relationships that underpin the "outcomes entail choices" argument, an argument which has the following basic form: (1) an educational outcome results from the existence of an opportunity plus the choice to exercise it; (2) choices freely vary among individuals; therefore (3) insofar as educational outcomes vary as choices to exercise educational opportunities vary, equal educational opportunity cannot be identified with equal educational outcomes. This paper challenges the view that the conceptual relationships among opportunities, choices, and outcomes associated with the "outcomes entail choices" argument serve in general to undermine outcomes-based conceptions of equal educational opportunity.

Reconsidering cultural differences in American schools

epicpolicy — Fri, 27 Jul 2007 11:10:56 -0600

Publisher Educational Foundations, 3(2)
Page Numbers 51-68