Center for Research on Education, Diversity and Excellence

Innovative programs of school reform and research for diverse students have tended to concentrate on specific cultural, linguistic, or ethnic populations and on specific local communities. Research has been conducted on a variety of at-risk populations, including Native Americans; Korean, Chinese, and South-east Asian Americans; Haitian Americans; Native Hawaiians; economically disadvantaged and geographically isolated European Americans; rural and inner city African Americans; and Latinos of many national origins. Continued energy has also been devoted to the study and development of model school programs for a variety of mixed racial, linguistic, and cultural groups.

For many years, researchers have attempted to integrate studies of these groups into literature reviews encompassing thousands of studies conducted worldwide. These reviews have un-covered a core list of "generic" findings that transcend specific groups, localities, and risk factors (see, e.g., Collier, 1995).

There is broad enough consensus to make these findings, or principles, an organizing structure, both for continuing research and for immediate implementation into programs for at-risk children. These principles provide the basis for research being conducted by the Center for Research on Education, Diversity & Excellence (CREDE). CREDE studies focus on the principles by studying their enactment in a variety of settings. CREDE's mission is to help the nation's population of diverse students, including those at risk of educational failure, to achieve high standards. CREDE's research operates under six strands: (1) language learning; (2) professional development; (3) family, peers, school, and community; (4) instruction in context; (5) integrated school reform; and (6) assessment.