Knowledge Is Power
Double the Numbers: Increasing Postsecondary
Credentials for Underrepresented Youth
Edited by Richard Kazis, Joel Vargas and Nancy Hoffman
Harvard Education Press, 2004,
280 pp., $54.95 library, ISBN 1-891792-23-7; $28.95 paperback ISBN 1-891792-22-9
Only 25 percent of U.S. high school students complete any college degree. Among African American youth, only 18 percent earn a baccalaureate by age 29. For Hispanic Americans, the figure is a mere 10 percent.
The United States urgently needs to address this problem. For reasons of intellectual and professional opportunity, economic efficiency and social equity, the nation must do a better job of preparing young people to not only enter college, but also to earn credentials that are key to professional and economic success.
Double the Numbers highlights emerging strategies — at state, district and school levels — for improving postsecondary outcomes. High schools pose special challenges in this regard: how to motivate older adolescents in school settings; how to overcome the rigidities of high school schedules and routines; how to prepare students for smooth transitions to postsecondary learning and success. This book explores policies that are likely to serve as building blocks in any “next phase” of education reform that tackles the dual problems of high school completion and postsecondary access and success.
The contributions from many of the leading figures in education reform, such as Kati Haycock, Robert Schwartz and Marc Tucker, address these issues from a number of distinct perspectives. The authors propose changes in the design of high schools and colleges — innovations that could overcome the discontinuities, perverse incentives and inflexibilities of existing educational institutions. They focus on state policy because to double the number of students attaining postsecondary credentials within a decade will require aggressive innovation by states. Finally, they consider how opportunities and outcomes vary by race, ethnicity and gender, and they look at the implications of these variations for policy and practice.
Richard Kazis is senior vice president of Jobs for the Future, where he leads its policy and research efforts. Joel Vargas, a senior project manager at Jobs for the Future, works with the Early College High School Initiative. Nancy Hoffman is a vice president at Jobs for the Future, where she leads activities for Early College High School Initiative.
Winning Scholarships for College: An Insider’s Guide
By Marianne Ragins
Owl Books, 2004
416 pp., $13.00, paperback, ISBN 0-8050-7521-6
In this thoroughly revised third edition of Winning Scholarships for College, Marianne Ragins, a student who won more than $400,000 for college, proves that it’s not always the students with the best grades or the highest SAT scores who win scholarships. Whether you are in high school, returning to or currently enrolled in college, planning to study abroad, or interested in pursuing an M.B.A., J.D., or M.D., this easy-to-follow guide will show you the path to scholarship success.
This is one of the most comprehensive books on winning scholarships available. It reveals where and how to search for funds and takes you step by step through the application process. The third edition includes information on the 2001 education tax breaks, college savings funds, service scholarships and many new sources of scholarship money.
Written from one student to another, Winning Scholarships for College also includes hundreds of invaluable resources for uncovering scholarship opportunities; information on using the Internet to make your search easier; an in-depth look at how financial aid packages are prepared; foolproof tips for scoring high on the new SAT and ACT; and clever suggestions for writing winning personal essays with examples from Ragins’ personal scholarship search.
Marianne Ragins is the founder and president of the Scholarship Workshop. She is currently pursuing an MBA at George Washington University. 
In the Eyes of the Beholder: Critical Issues for Diversity in Gifted Education
Edited by Dr. Diane Booth and Dr. Julian C. Stanley
Prufrock Press Inc., 2004
323 pp., $39.95 paperback, ISBN 1-59363-004-2
Unlike any previous resource guide or textbook, In the Eyes of the Beholder: Critical Issues for Diversity in Education blends a unique and compelling collection of chapters written by specialists and distinguished scholars whose diverse points-of-view address the critical and somewhat controversial issues surrounding diversity and gifted education.
In the Eyes of the Beholder encompasses crucial research evidence that has the power to fundamentally change the way educators and specialists approach issues of diversity in gifted education programs today. The editors compile the works of 20 contributors, including Robert Lerner, Robert J. Sternberg and Arthur Jenson, whose academic work specifically targets issues of diversity in gifted education and its relation to race, gender and socioeconomic status. Additional topics include enhancing awareness surrounding the representation of select gender groups in gifted and education programs, improving guidance counseling and instruction to those students most in need, and revamping curriculum methods to ensure the universal success of every potential gifted child.
In the Eyes of the Beholder is an essential resource for education professionals and others desiring to become more perceptive in recognizing and approaching the needs of unique populations within gifted education programs today.
Dr. Diane Boothe is chair of the Department of Curriculum and Instruction at the State University of West Georgia, and Dr. Julian C. Stanley is professor emeritus in the Department of Psychology and Brain Sciences of Johns Hopkins University and internationally renowned in the field of gifted-child identification and education.
© Copyright 2005 by DiverseEducation.com
