Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) charter school, alternative type of American public school that, while paid for by taxes, is independent of the public-school system and relatively free from state and local regulations. A charter sch...

(Encyclopedia) Burlington. 1 City (2020 pop. 23,982), seat of Des Moines co., SE Iowa, on four hills overlooking the Mississippi (spanned there by rail and highway ...

(Encyclopedia) Long Island (1990 pop. 6,861,454), 1,723 sq mi (4,463 sq km), 118 mi (190 km) long, and from 12 to 20 mi (19–32 km) wide, SE N.Y.; fourth largest island of the United States and the largest outside ...

(Encyclopedia) SLM Corporation, foremost provider of funding for higher education to American students; commonly known as Sallie Mae. The company, which also offers information and resources to assist students and o...

(Encyclopedia) civics, branch of learning that treats of the relationship between citizens and their society and state, originally called civil government. With the large immigration into the United States in the la...

(Encyclopedia) Russell, William Fletcher, 1890–1956, American educator, b. Delhi, N.Y., grad. Cornell, 1910, Ph.D. Columbia, 1914; son of James Earl Russell. He was dean (1917–23) of the College of Education, St...

(Encyclopedia) Schwerner, Chaney, and Goodman, American civil-rights workers in the South during the 1960s. Michael Schwerner (b. 1939) and Andrew Goodman (b. 1943), both white New Yorkers, went to Neshoba co., Miss...

(Encyclopedia) Rock Island, city (1990 pop. 40,552), seat of Rock Island co., NW Ill., on the Mississippi and Rock rivers, adjacent to Moline and opposite Davenport, Iowa; inc. 1841. These three cities, with Bettend...

(Encyclopedia) living wage, the hourly wage that, at a minimum, supports a standard of living above the poverty level in a given locality. It differs from the minimum wage, which often provides a less than adequate ...