MAPPING THE LITERATURE HURRICANE KATRINA and PUBLIC HEALTH
AFFIRMATIVE ACTION, INTEGRATING SCHOOLS
Joint Statement of Nine University-Based Civil Rights Centers on the Supreme Court’s Rulings on Voluntary Desegregation
By The Civil Rights Project (Harvard and UCLA), Center for Civil Rights (UNC), Institute for Race and Poverty (University of Minnesota), Warren Institute on Race, Ethnicity and Diversity (UC Berkeley), Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Race and Justice (Harvard), Center on Democracy in a Multi-Racial Society (University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign), Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity (OSU), and Campaign for Educational Equity, Teachers College (Columbia University) (June 2007). To access the joint statement visit: http://www.civilrightsproject.ucla.edu/policy/
court/voltint_joint_full_statement.php.
Rescuing Brown v. Board of Education: Profiles of Twelve School Districts Pursuing Socioeconomic School Integration
By Richard D. Kahlenberg (June 2007)
On the heels of the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision curtailing schools’ ability to use race as a factor in their integration plans, some school districts are turning to integration based on socioeconomic status. In this report, Kahlenberg examines socioeconomic integration plans in various school districts, finding that well designed plans can lead to racial diversity and strong academic performance. To access the report click here.
Study Group on University Diversity: Overview Report to the Regents
By The Study Group (September 2007)
This study finds that the University of California higher education system must focus greater and sustained efforts on promoting and sustaining diversity on its campuses as the UC system’s diversity efforts have not kept up with demographic changes in the state. The study also finds there is a need for clear, consistent, and regularly produced data that can be used to promote accountability among university leaders. To access the study visit: http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/news/2007/diversityreport0907.pdf.
EDUCATION
Graduation Matters: Improving Accountability for High School Graduation
By Daria Hall (August 2007)
In this report, Hall examines the once common practice of over-reporting graduation rates which served to mask low graduation rate for students of color and compares this practice to high school graduation rate accountability under the No Child Left Behind Act. To access the report click here.
In Need of Improvement: NCLB and High Schools
By Alliance for Excellent Education (June 2007)
Based on the premise that the No Child Left Behind Act was drafted and signed into law with little attention paid to the unique challenges that exist in the nation’s high schools and what is best known about how to improve them, the authors surmise that the resulting law emerged with provisions that often neglect and are even at odds with the needs of America’s millions of high school students, particularly the six million students who are most at risk of dropping out of school each year. This brief goes on to describe these design and implementation flaws and how they undermine the educational and equity promises of NCLB at the high school level. To access the brief visit: http://www.all4ed.org/publications/NCLB_HighSchools.pdf.
Leaders and Laggards: A State by State Report Card on Educational Effectiveness
By the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the Center for American Progress, and Rick Hess (2007)
In this report the authors examine educational quality and find states' current performance to be unacceptable noting that even though states are engaged in promising efforts to build more innovative and accountable K-12 systems, the report card would nevertheless have contained far more Cs, Ds, and Fs had the authors not graded states on a curve. The authors conclude that the academic performance of every state needs to improve across all demographic groups but especially for poor and minority students, who have too often been ill-served by today's schools. To access the report card visit: http://www.uschamber.com/icw/reportcard/default#top.
HURRICANE KATRINA RECOVERY
Broken Promises: Two Years after Katrina
By the American Civil Liberties Union (August 2007)
In this report the ACLU examines the continuing impact of Hurricane Katrina by documenting the experiences of those impacted by the hurricane. The ACLU details the increase in police abuse, racial profiling, housing discrimination, and other civil liberties violations. To access the report click here.
Hurricane Katrina Matrix: U.S. Government Response to International Offers of Assistance
By Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (July 2007)
Based on an examination of 25,000 documents received from the Department of State, the authors developed the first comprehensive matrix tracking the U.S. Government’s response to offers of assistance from foreign governments post Hurricane Katrina. For further details visit: http://www.citizensforethics.org/node/29651.
The New Orleans Index: Tracking Recovery in the Region
By The Brookings Institute and The Greater New Orleans Community Data Center (August 2007)
This report reveals that two years after Hurricane Katrina critical infrastructure, including schools, healthcare, and law enforcement, remain weak. This report calls for strong federal, state, and local partnerships to ensure New Orleans future. To access this report visit: http://www.gnocdc.org/KI/KatrinaIndex.pdf.
VOTING
An Analysis of Voter Fraud in the U.S.
By Lorraine C. Minnite, Senior Fellow, Demos (September 2007)
In direct response to the ongoing distortion of alleged voter fraud, in this report Professor Minnite provides a contemporary overview of domestic voter fraud, explores the matrix of state and federal laws governing the issue, and details recent instances of voter fraud in Miami, FL; Orange County, CA; and St. Louis, MO. To access this report click here.
Caging Democracy: A 50-Year History of Partisan Challenges to Minority Voters
By Teresa James, J.D. for Project Vote (September 2007)
This report defines voter caging, examines its development over the last 50 years, who uses the technique, how it is employed, the voters it targets, and its effects on minority voters. James also looks at voter challenge provisions in state law and how they are used to further voter caging schemes in addition to examining the use of media campaigns as tools for maximizing the impact of voter caging efforts. To access the report, click here.
Frontloading the Primaries: African Americans No Longer Marginalized
By Tova Andrea Wang for the Century Foundation (June 2007)
For a second time, Tova Wang looks at the impact of primary frontloading on minority voters. In this issue, Wang focuses on African American voters and their potential impact on the outcome of early primaries and the topics candidates’ focus on going forward. To access the issue brief click here.
Frontloading the Primaries: A Silver Lining-Latinos Get a Vote
By Tova Andrea Wang for the Century Foundation (April 2007)
In this issue brief Wang examines one impact of extreme frontloading in the presidential primary races: Its impact on the role of Latino voters. Wang also makes recommendations for maximizing Latino participation and lowering structural barriers to Latino voting. To access the issue brief click here.
Native Vote
By Daniel McCool, Susan M. Olson, and Jennifer L. Robinson (2007)
This book explains the history and expansion of Indian voting rights, with an emphasis on seventy cases based on the Voting Rights Act (VRA) and/or the Equal Protection Clause. In Native Vote, the authors describe the struggle to obtain Indian citizenship and the basic right to vote. They also analyze cases brought under the VRA, including three case studies. The book closes by assessing the political impact of these cases and the role of American Indians in contemporary politics. For more information: http://www.cambridge.org/catalogue/
catalogue.asp?isbn=9780521548717.
The Asian American Vote in the 2006 Midterm Elections
By The Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (June 2007)
The Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF) releases the findings of its nonpartisan exit poll of more than 4,700 Asian American voters in the 2006 Midterm Election. Focusing on voters in 23 cities and nine states, this report identifies shared political interest across ethnic lines, the most important issue for Asian American voters leading up to the 2008 Presidential election, Asian American experiences with anti-immigrant sentiment, language assistance needs, and voting barriers experienced by Asian American voters. To access this report click here
The Latino Electorate: Profile and Trends
By Lindsay Daniels and Clarissa Martinez de Castro (June 2007)
This statistical brief provides a profile of the Latino vote, examines Latino voting behavior in past presidential elections and the 2006 midterm election, and makes recommendations for increasing Latino participation in the electoral process. To access this brief click here.
The Politics of Voter Fraud
By Lorraine C. Minnite, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Political Science, Barnard College Columbia University for Project Vote (March 2007)
In this report, Dr. Minnite finds that fraudulent voting, or the intentional corruption of the voting process by voters, is extremely rare. She examines the false or exaggerated claims of fraudulent voting that are commonly made in close electoral contests and which are later cited by proponents of laws that restrict voting. Dr. Minnite researched the laws and examined the existing voter fraud evidence concluding that voter fraud occurs with such little frequency, it is nearly impossible to study. To read the entire report click here
Towards Full Participation: Solutions for Improvements to the Federal Language Assistance Laws
By Jocelyn Friedrichs Benson (September 2007)
In this issue brief, Professor Benson examines the federally mandated language accommodations in sections 203 and 4(f)4 of the Voting Rights Act, arguing that these accommodations, while important and beneficial, are incomplete. The brief highlights deficiencies in existing voting protections for citizens with limited English proficiency levels, demonstrating how the protections fail to respond to the changing needs of an increasingly diverse electorate. Finally, Benson presents a number of remedies to these existing inadequacies. To access the report click here
Youth Vote 2008
By Kristen Oshyn and Tova Andrea Wang (September 2007)
By noting the upward trend in youth voter turnout, the authors of this issue brief predict the country will see new levels of young voter participation in the 2008 election, opening the door for youth to have an unprecedented impact on campaigns and the outcome of the election. This issue brief also examines new techniques for targeting youth voters, techniques and best practices for increasing youth turnout, and issues of most interest to youth voters. To access the report click here.
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