ABSTRACT
Considerable empirical evidence exists that academic achievement levels in U.S. public schools for African-American, Latina/Latino American, NativeAmerican, and some Asian-American (particularly Filipino, Vietnamese, and Laotian; see Kiang, Nguyen, & Sheehan 1995; Schram, 1993; Sheets & Gay, 1996) children remain significantly below those of their White peers, regardless of how that achievement is defined or measured, that is, standardized test scores, graduation rates, college admission rates, enrollment in advanced courses (Banks, 1997; Jencks & Phillips, 1998; Lewis, Jepson, & Casserly, 1999).
