The Establishment Clause and Government Funding of Faith-Based Organizations
Most legal scholars agree that the Establishment Clause in the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution limits at least some government funding of religion, but they disagree sharply on exactly what is permissible.
A Portrait of Unauthorized Immigrants in the United States
Unauthorized immigrants living in the U.S. are more geographically dispersed than in the past and are more likely than either U.S.-born residents or legal immigrants to live in a household with a spouse and children. But the recent rapid growth in the undocumented immigrant labor force has come to a halt. The new report also includes population and labor force estimates for each state.
The Rapid Growth and Changing Complexion of Suburban Public Schools
Public school enrollment in the nation’s suburbs has shot up by 3.4 million in the past decade and a half, with the primary driver of this trend being a near doubling of the Latino share of the student population.
Darwin Debated: Religion vs. Evolution
Two hundred years after Charles Darwin’s birth, and 150 years after he published On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, Americans are still fighting over evolution. If anything, the controversy has recently grown in both size and intensity. In a multi-part package, the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life explores the many facets of the debate as it has evolved from its origins to the present day.
Economy Is a Tough Subject for the Nation’s Public Schools
States traditionally have been reluctant to cut school funding during hard times, but in the current severe downturn schools are not immune.
One-in-Five and Growing Fast: A Profile of Hispanic Public School Students
The number of Latino students in public schools nearly doubled from 1990 to 2006, accounting for 60% of the total growth in school enrollments. Projections now show there will be more school-age Hispanic children than school-age non-Hispanic white children by 2050.
Explaining the English Language Learner Achievement Gap
A new analysis finds that lagging scores of students designated as English language learners can be partly explained by their concentration in low-performing schools.
Writing, Technology and Teens
Most teenagers spend a considerable amount of their life composing texts, but they don’t regard most of the material they create electronically as real writing. Does e-communication help – or hurt – students’ writing skills?
Courts Not Silent on Moments of Silence
An Illinois statute, now on temporary hold by a U.S. District Court, has given rise to the latest in a long line of constitutional cases involving required moments-of-silence in public schools.
Do State Tests Make the Grade?
It’s hard to overestimate the importance of standardized tests in public schools today, but differences in state standards and the reluctance of some states to spend money for high-quality, challenging tests have caused a great disparity from state to state.
