UNDATED (AP) - Civil rights in the nation's schools will take on new importance at the federal Department of Education.
The department plans to take a deeper look at issues ranging from programs for immigrant students learning English to equal access to college preparatory courses.
Education Secretary Arne Duncan plans to outline the department's plans in a speech delivered Monday in Selma, Ala. It will commemorate the 45th anniversary of "Bloody Sunday," in which several hundred civil rights protesters were beaten by state troopers during a voting rights march.
In his prepared remarks, Duncan highlights several jarring inequities. For example, white students finishing high school are about six times more likely to be college-ready in biology than black students.
And a quarter of all students drop out before their graduation, and half of those come from 12 percent of the nation's high schools.
(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
Email
Facebook
Google
Twitter
Favorites
More
Advertisement