ABSTRACT
Among the most important challenges facing the nation is providing high-quality schooling for all students, especially those presently underserved by the educational system, including students of color, low-income students, English-language learners, and students in rural and urban settings. A recent report from the National Center for Educational Statistics (NCES, 2003a) indicated that the 100 largest public school districts in the nation enroll 23% of all public school students. Sixty-nine percent of thosewere students of color, and 54%were eligible for free and reduced-price lunches. The challenge of providing a high-quality education to the increasingly diverse student population is not just a challenge faced by large cities, however. According to national data reported by NCES (2003b) in The Condition of Education, the percentage of all public school students from ethnicminority groups increased dramatically from 22% in 1972 to 39% in 2000. In 2000, African-American students represented 17% of public school enrollment, up 2 percentage points from 1972. During this same time period,Hispanic student enrollment increased from6% to 17%, up a full 11 percentage points. In addition, from 1979 to 1999, the percentage of 5-to 24-year-oldswho spoke a
language other than English at home increased 118% and the percentage of those who spoke English with difficulty increased by 110%. Demographers predict that children of colorwill constitute the statisticalmajority of the student populationby 2035 andaccount for 57%by2050 (U.S.Department ofCommerce, 1996, inVillegas&Lucas, 2002).
