"Contrasting Portraits" is the history of Rodriguez, the Texas school finance case from 1968 to 1973. The thesis places the case within three contexts: Texas education, Mexican-American rights, and equal protection. Rodriguez concluded one stream of Supreme Court equal protection analysis and launched another interpretation, reflective of societal change. An analysis of the Rodriguez briefs and court opinions revealed two conflicting ideals: equality and liberty. School finance cases pit constituencies representing these ideals against each other: advocates of equal educational opportunity and advocates of local control, each searching to provide the best education for America's children. The study, which includes a chronology chart of Rodriguez from 1968 to 1995, suggests that school finance reformers should continue to search for new, simple, moderate standards that will both foster equality and liberty and still strengthen all schools.

<p>The United States is an increasingly diverse society. The recent Supreme Court hearings on Affirmative Action have reiterated the need to study the impacts of changing demographics on organizations. Race-based policymaking fundamentally rests on a "diversity is good for the organization" ideology, yet there is relatively little research that directly measures the institutional effects of racial/ethnic diversity. Diversity within organizations (also known as structural diversity or organizational heterogeneity) is overdue for a broader range of scholarly attention. Building on an organizational demography framework, this study investigates whether or not there are relationships between diversity and outcomes at higher education institutions (HEIs) nationwide. It adopts a new theoretical approach, the &ldquo;Critical Mass in Context&rdquo; perspective, which includes not only demographic factors, but culturally-related, or <i>contextual</i> factors in estimating the effects of diversity on two organizational outcomes: student retention and the diversity of degree completers. The results of these comparative tests are mixed, and show that the effects of demographic diversity may be <i>either</i> positive or negative (or have no effect), and that these results are highly <i> context dependent</i>. In other words, diversity did not have wholly negative nor positive effects on the outcomes included in this study, and the type of institution played a role in determining these how these results varied. For instance, although student gender and racial/ethnic diversity had negative effects in models that measured student retention rates, faculty gender contributed positively to predicting this outcome. Contextual factors, such as the MSDI 4 (or very high diversity elements in an HEI&rsquo;s mission statement) and an HEI&rsquo;s urban index (or suburban locale) contributed positively. In models that used the racial/ethnic diversity of degree completers as the tested outcome, the race/ethnicity of <i>overall students</i> was the most important (indeed, nearly the only) predictor. So, not only do the research results depend on what <i>types</i> of organizational outcomes are considered, but also in what <i>context</i> and <i> how</i> they are measured. This study therefore adds new levels of understanding to what effects diversity may have on institutions and the importance that culturally related factors may have on these effects. </p>

<p> The effects of a six-week mindfulness class on racial stereotype bias, attention, and working memory was measured by the Implicit Association Test (IAT), Attention Network Task (ANT), and Automated Operation Span Task, respectively. Explicit racism (Modern Racism Scale, Right-Wing Authoritarianism, Social Dominance Orientation), mindfulness (Five-Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire), depression, anxiety, and stress (Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale) were also examined. Sixty traditional-aged undergraduate women participated in this study (20 completed the mindfulness course and the remaining completed a non-MBSR physical education course). The results revealed that training was not associated with decreased racial stereotype bias on the IAT. Training was associated with increased performance in attention-switching on the ANT. In both groups, explicit racism and working memory predicted racial bias at time 1, and explicit racism predicted change in racial bias between times 1 and 2. Unexpectedly, increase in mindfulness (FFMQ) approached prediction of an increase in racial bias across both groups. In summary, the findings contradict the hypothesis that participation in a six-week mindfulness course will reduce stereotype application and activation.</p>

<p> The purpose of this project was to develop an acculturation stress support group program for newly immigrated Latino families. This program was developed to mediate the negative effects of the acculturation process on Latino families. A search for potential funders via the Internet identified The Annenberg Foundation as the potential funding source for this project. A grant was written to support an acculturation stress support group program through the agency Clinicas Del Camino Real, Inc., in Ventura County. Actual Submission and/or funding of the grant was not required for the successful completion of this project. </p>

<p> Although diversity training is an $8 billion industry, questions surrounding its utility and impact remain. To address the issue of diversity training effectiveness, the research project goes beyond reviewing workforce diversity as a measurement, and investigates whether diversity training impacts a leader's ability to manage differences and create an inclusive work environment. Data were collected from 44 individuals in leadership roles across multiple organizations in the United States. All participants completed a condensed Diversity Relationship Indicator&trade; assessment, as well as a 6 question interview protocol to gauge their experience with diversity training. The results of the research reflected the utility of diversity training. Specifically, individuals who participated in diversity training (regardless of type) had a significantly higher presence of attributes (self-awareness, accountability, interpersonal-skills, open &amp; inclusive team, diversity management) related to successfully managing differences and creating an inclusive work environment, than those who were diversity training na&iuml;ve.</p>

<p> The study addressed the problem of unacceptably low graduation rates of African American high school students. The purpose of the study was to conduct a quantitative correlational explanatory investigation into possible associations between immigration stage and achievement status of African American high school students that puts them on target for graduation. Survey data collected from 273 seniors from five high schools in New York City measured the dependent variable achievement status in high school credits. The independent variable immigrant generational stage was appraised across three generations of African Americans (1st, 2nd and 3rd generations) and weighted in sub-variables of foreign culturally influenced parental style, ethnic capital, and perceived self-efficacy. Data collected were analyzed using analysis of variance, multiple regression and regression statistics. Results indicate generational immigrant stage and self-efficacy are associated with the academic status of the students. Foreign influenced parental style and ethnic capital are not associated with academic status of the demographic. A key finding is first generation students performed better than each subsequent generation of their peers. Implications are that fresh ethnic cultural memory and high self-efficacy beliefs result in better academic outcomes for African American students. The need for culturally ingenious leadership to facilitate ethnic cultural values and promote self-efficacy beliefs of African American students for more favorable academic outcomes is indicated by the results of the study. Certification in cultural competencies relative to the operating context is therefore a prerequisite for educational leaders working among this demographic.</p>

<p> This study explored the impact demographic dissimilarity between an interviewer and a job candidate has on how the candidate is evaluated for a job. The interviewer's levels of race- and gender-based prejudice were examined as moderators of this relationship, while stress was examined as a mediator. Race and gender dissimilarity were manipulated by presenting participants with scripted videos of a job candidate responding to interview questions. Participants, who consisted of undergraduate students, were randomly assigned to evaluate a White male, a White female, an African-American male, or an African-American female job applicant. After a brief introductory clip of the candidate, participants reported how stressful they expected the task of evaluating the candidate to be and after watching the video of the interview evaluated the candidate for the job of Academic Advisor, and completed measures of prejudice. </p><p> While racial and gender dissimilarity to the job candidate did not directly affect how the candidate was evaluated for the job, results showed that racial and gender dissimilarity indirectly affected how the candidate was evaluated for the job through the mediator of stress and at different levels of race- and gender-based prejudice. Theoretical support for the impact of demographic dissimilarity on interview outcomes is provided and the practical implications of these findings are discussed. Suggestions for future areas of research are also presented.</p>

<p> Previous research has shown that Middle Eastern applicants' ethnic names and affiliations caused Caucasian raters to demonstrate increased discrimination during resume screening. The current study extended previous research by investigating the differences in job suitability ratings given by Middle Eastern and Caucasian raters for Middle Eastern job applicants by exploring rater ethnicity as a possible moderator in the relationship between ethnic identifiers and job suitability ratings, as well as studying the effect of acculturation on Middle Eastern raters' judgments of applicant job suitability. Contrary to the prediction, the current study found that participants gave significantly higher mean job suitability ratings to the partially identified Middle Eastern resume compared to the White resume. Furthermore, White raters did not give lower mean ratings to the partially and fully identified Middle Eastern resumes as compared to the White resume. However, Middle Eastern raters did give higher mean job suitability ratings to the partially identified Middle Eastern resume as compared to the White resume. Finally, the current study found that Middle Eastern raters with lower levels of acculturation gave higher mean job suitability scores to the fully identified Middle Eastern resume. </p>

<p> The purpose of this quantitative study was to measure and compare the leadership styles of information technology (IT) professionals across levels of leadership responsibility and minority/non-minority status. The Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire Short Form (MLQ 5X-Short) was used to obtain measurements for each individual for the dependent variables. The MLQ 5X-Short measures nine facets of leadership styles that can be assigned to three higher order factors, namely, the transformational, transactional, and laissez-faire leadership styles. The sample was recruited via informal professional networks across the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (2008) job classifications and included IT professionals from different sized organizations in a mix of industries across the United States. The convenience sampling technique helped identify professionals in leadership and non-leadership positions across the IT industry. In the study, a non-experimental factorial design was used to compare leadership style across levels of leadership responsibility and minority/non-minority status. The study findings indicated no significant differences exist between the leadership styles of minority and non-minority groups at the different organizational responsibility levels. A finding based on the analysis showed that for the transformational leadership style, significant differences exist between professionals at the executive level and professionals at a middle management level for all races. For the transactional leadership style, specifically the contingent reward category, significant differences exist between professionals at the middle management level and non-managers for all races. Organizational leaders could use the discoveries from this study as a point of reference to guide diverse workforce employees. Findings could also help minorities reach their career potentials in advancing to executive positions in the IT industry through understanding the most desirable leadership styles for upward mobility.</p>

The past generation's revolution in medical ethics has had a tremendous impact on the definition of the therapeutic relationship. Where the traditional virtuous physician motivated by philanthropy once practiced "therapeutic deception", today health care practitioners in a variety of disciplines are held to a professional standard which demands that the therapeutic relationship be based in good communication between patient and caregiver. Medical ethics now looks to the images of contractual negotiation and covenantal compassionate presence to overcome the clash of values which may occur when patient and caregiver meet as strangers. In the U.S., a significant number of hospital patients are not only strangers to their caregivers and American medicine, they are strangers to the very language in which differences could be explained and strong therapeutic relationships established. Non-English speaking patients pose a complex problem for the ethical dedication to informed consent, as they are unable to take an active part in treatment without translation. In a study of 226 Hispanic hospital patients, non-English speaking patients were shown to have limited understanding of their conditions and treatment, and almost no meaningful interaction with their caregivers. Ironically, where patient satisfaction with medical care has been shown repeatedly to be based in factors of communication, non-English speaking patients placed almost no importance on their communication with the staff. Overall they had little interest in the active role that contemporary ethics assigns to patients. Non-English speaking patients' limited role in their own care also poses legal questions about the validity of their consent to treatment. Few non-English speaking patients are provided with translation, even for official consent documents. There is some indication, moreover, that an inability to speak English contributes to longer hospital stays. Providing the professional medical translation which would afford non-English speaking patients the ethical hospital care that they deserve might not only ensure against litigation, it may also save money for hospitals, insurers, and public health funds.