Intolerance in Western Europe: Analysis of Trends and Associated Factors

Intolerance in Western Europe: Analysis of Trends and Associated Factors. RAND Corporation. Jennifer Rubin et al. January 27, 2014.

The study aims to situate the widely-shared perception of rising intolerance in Western Europe in the context of empirical evidence on high-level trends in intolerant attitudes in Western Europe. Through analysis of European datasets, a review of empirical literature, and assessments of trends in selected individual countries, the report explores whether intolerance has risen more in some countries than others, whether it has risen more against particular groups, if such attitudes are particularly prevalent among subgroups of the population and if there are clear patterns of association with trends in wider political, social, economic and cultural factors. [Note: contains copyrighted material].

http://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/research_reports/RR300/RR334/RAND_RR334.sum.pdf Executive Summary [PDF format, 8 pages, 558.57 KB].

http://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/research_reports/RR300/RR334/RAND_RR334.pdf [PDF format, 136 pages, 3.7 MB].

Climate Change: Creating an Integrated Framework for Improving School Climate

Climate Change: Creating an Integrated Framework for Improving School Climate. Alliance for Excellent Education. August 15, 2013.

The report finds that schools that struggle most with providing a positive school climate more often disproportionately serve students of color and low-income students. It also confirms that students of color and students from low-income families are less likely to have access to rigorous course work and experienced teachers, and are more likely to be suspended than their white and wealthier peers.It analyzes data from the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights’s Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC) to determine how this data can be used to support effective secondary school reform, with a particular focus on the nation’s lowest-performing secondary schools. [Note: contains copyrighted material].

[PDF format, 13 pages, 379.95 KB].

Estimating Benefits from University-Level Diversity.

Estimating Benefits from University-Level Diversity. National Bureau of Economic Research. Barbara L. Wolfe and Jason Fletcher. Web posted April 8, 2013.

The authors use national data on the racial and ethnic characteristics of students who were attending college during the 2001-2 academic year to create an “index of diversity” for various colleges and universities. They then relate the students’ subsequent earnings, in the period from 2007-8, to this index of diversity, and find a positive link between attending a college with greater diversity and higher earnings and family income. [Note: contains copyrighted material].

[PDF format, 27 pages, 223 KB].