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ABSTRACT The goal of this study is to simultaneously explore resource allocation across schools within large urban school districts and across all schools within major metropolitan areas that include those [...]

This article presents findings from a qualitative study of first-year elementary teachers who assessed the strengths and weaknesses of their preservice student teaching experiences vis-a-vis their inservice realities. Specifically, the study explores opportunities to learn across student teaching placements and analyzes the degree to which placements present participants with equitable opportunities to build a specialized view of professional practice--one that can support them to enact in urban, high-needs schools the kind of practices that research suggests are crucial to the academic success of historically underserved students. Findings highlight the importance of providing preservice teachers with examples of 'what's possible' in the face of tightly regulated, accountability-driven policies. The authors conclude with suggestions for teacher educators concerning the reorganization of student teaching and the strategic mediation of preservice teachers' learning to ensure that all preservice teachers receive equitable opportunities to learn in and through their placements in the field. Keywords student teaching, urban teacher education, equity, field experiences, teacher learning, Several recent volumes synthesize the research on learning to teach, describe effective programs and methods, and lay out theoretical frameworks on which teacher education ought to be based (e.g., Cochran-Smith [...]

ABSTRACT This study was designed to explore fiscal interrelationships that underlay capital outlay funding, including the differences between rural and non-rural school districts. The study additionally focused on the relationships [...]

Objective To characterize the nutritional status of school-aged children from an urban public school in Mexico City, Mexico, and to assess the influence of obesity on health status in a subgroup of these children. Design Cross-sectional descriptive study. A nutrition screening was done for all children, including anthropometric (ie, weight, height, and waist circumference) and blood pressure assessment. In the subgroup of children, complementary dietary and biochemical assessment (ie, glucose, total cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, triglyceride, insulin, albumin, hemoglobin, and hematocrit levels) was done. Subjects Children from an urban school in Mexico City (N=561) aged 6 to 13 years. The representative subgroup (n=88) was selected based on age (9 to 12 years) and weight status (ie, normal, overweight, or obese). Statistical analysis Descriptive statistics, correlations, mean differences tests (analysis of variance, Kruskal-Wallis and Mann-Whitney U), and [chi square] tests (categorical variables) were done with SPSS version 13 (2005, SPSS Inc, Chicago, IL). Results In the whole school, overweight and obesity prevalence were 27.1% and 21.4%, respectively. High systolic blood pressure was seen in 8.4% of children and 6.2% of children had prehypertension. Higher hypertension risk was seen in children with body mass index [less than or equal to] 95th percentile and waist circumference [less than or equal to] 90th percentile (88 cm). Significantly higher waist circumference, systolic blood pressure, insulin resistance indexes, and triglyceride levels were found among the obese when compared with normal-weight children. Conclusions Childhood obesity prevalence is high in Mexico and it is having an influence on children's health. It is urgent to design, implement, and evaluate specific childhood obesity prevention programs.

This paper describes the identification process of a Priority One Jacob K. Javits grant, Clustering Learners Unlocks Equity (Project CLUE), a university-school partnership. Project CLUE uses a 'sift-down model' to cast the net widely as the talent pool of gifted second-grade students is formed. The model is based on standardized test scores, a nonverbal ability test score, and/or a checklist completed by parents and/or teachers. Analysis of the year one data revealed an increase in Hispanic and English as a Second Language (ESL) student representation in the gifted program. Teachers' reactions to the identification process after working with the gifted students identified through Project CLUE's screening process are also described., Urban schools typically have a high percentage of students who have been traditionally underserved in gifted programs. One of the major concerns in the field of gifted education is how [...]

Drawing on an ESRC funded project of children's transitions to secondary schools in two London boroughs, this article works with spatial metaphors (Lefebvre, 1991; Shields, 1991) in order to interrogate dominant representations of inner city schools, but also to present the children's own views and experiences of inner city schooling. It examines the processes through which certain secondary schools and certain groups of children come to be demonized in local and wider social imaginaries, exploring both the impact of damaging discourses of demonization and the connections between social and psychic realities in the increasing segregation and polarization of inner London secondary schools. Race and racism, as well as social class and gender, enter powerfully into representations of 'good' and 'bad' schools and the article examines the consequences of such representations for both middle- and working-class children and their families. The article concludes with a discussion of the wider issues of social justice raised by growing processes of demonization and polarization. KEY WORDS demonization / inner city schooling race / representations / segregation / social class

Academically oriented young males, or 'schoolboys,' who reside in inner-city communities are often required to choose between their home and their school and are at risk of becoming alienated from either community, with far-reaching and dire consequences. The two cultures are often mutually antagonistic, and most students are severely challenged when trying to maintain a balance. The author uses relevant insights from his own childhood to approach his ongoing research with African American male students in a college preparatory magnet high school in Philadelphia. Keywords: urban ethnography; race relations; inner-city school; status mobility

In an effort to bridge the gap between service need and service utilization, an urban based, university-affiliated children's psychiatric outpatient clinic implemented a program which provides mental health services in inner city schools. Since impressions of school and mental health personnel affirmed the effectiveness of such services, an evaluation of this program was conducted, despite the difficulties inherent in implementing research in 'naturalistic settings.' A clinic sample of children (N = 220) was compared with a sample served in the urban schools (N = 256). The findings revealed that both sets of children showed improvement as indicated by the Children's Global Assessment Scale (C-GAS) and Global Assessment of Functioning Scale (GAF). The improvement was comparable, even though the school children were seen for a slightly shorter period of time (an average of 5 versus 8 months) but had an equally frequent level of service (3 sessions per month in each setting). This finding may have important implications for the managed care environment. These results indicate that school based mental health services show improvement comparable to the clinic-based services, and have the potential for bridging the gap between need and utilization by reaching disadvantaged children who would otherwise not have access to these services.

A study by Valerie J. Martinez, R. Kenneth Goodwin, Frank R. Kemerer and Laura Perna deals with the viability of choice programs in both public and private schools. The study provides important data that can be used in future research and can be used in evaluating the validity of existing arguments for choice programs. However, data from the study leads to the conclusion that broad-based voucher programs are not viable and would only lead to the decline of the quality of education given to public school students.

There is concern in the US that inner-city schools are failing to provide quality education for their students. Children from difficult backgrounds who develop resilience are most likely to succeed throughout the education system. Research has shown that children from communities which have developed community programmes for their citizens are those most likely to gain from their education. A programme developed at an elementary school has shown how inner-city schools can offer a positive learning environment to their students.

This study tested the generality of Jessor and Jessor's (1977) problem behavior theory, which states that a variety of problem behaviors constitute a behavioral syndrome in normal adolescents. Relationships among 5 adolescent problem behaviors cigarette use, alcohol use, marijuana use, delinquency, and sexual intercourse) were examined in 7th-grade boys (n = 556) and girls (n = 715), and 9th-grade boys (n = 481) and girls (n = 485) in an urban school system in which the majority of students were African American and from low-income families. Measures of problem behavior frequency were positively correlated with each other and negatively correlated with several measures of conventional behavior. Confirmatory factor analyses replicated findings of previous studies that a single common factor underlies adolescent problem behaviors., Five adolescent problem behaviors - cigarette use, alcohol use, marijuana use, delinquency, and sexual intercourse - were tested to be positively correlated with each other. The study was conducted to 7th and 9th grade boys and girls coming from urban schools and from low-income families. Most of the subjects were Afro-American. Further findings were that these problem behaviors are negatively correlated to conventional behavior. The study also confirms the findings of previous similar studies.

Teacher agency and support-seeking in urban, high-needs schools is examined through an inductive approach. Relationships among the support network of teachers, their participation in school change efforts, and career decision making are studied.

Abstract This study examined the effects of a collaborative urban partnership on student literacy achievement. The participants were approximately 220 students in kindergarten through third grade and 10 teachers. Participants […]

A research was conducted to identify what enables some urban schools serving low-income, minority students to succeed while most do not. The extraordinary efforts of administrators, teachers, parents and students to achieve educational excellence are described.

In this article I review scholarship in a number of disciplines within education, including psychological and social foundations, policy, instruction and curriculum and analyze implications for urban teacher preparation. I define the distinguishing characteristics of urban school systems, and analyze and synthesize relevant research about the diverse social and political contexts that have influenced urban schools and urban teacher preparation, paying particular attention to implications for the 'ecological' paradigm of school reform. I suggest how the challenges in urban teacher preparation in the U.S. have changed in the past decade because of the linkage between education and the economy, as well as alterations in the knowledge base of teaching, especially data about cultural diversity. While a growing consensus has emerged among researchers that learning is enhanced when it occurs in contexts that are socioculturally, linguistically, and cognitively meaningful for the learner, policy has been driven by contradictory assumptions, most importantly the belief that educational outcomes can and must be standardized because of the demands of an increasingly global economy. This contradiction presents new and urgent challenges for urban teacher preparation.

ABSTRACT In nine urban Ohio school systems, low-income minority students identified as academically promising in sixth grade are eligible to participate in an intervention program. In the present study, twenty-two [...]

The Chicago school reforms have received significant national attention due to their sweeping, radical nature. Growing out of state legislation in 1988 and 1995, the reforms encompass a powerful bottom-up/top-down strategy that provides multiple avenues for initiating building-level changes in teaching and learning. We offer a provisional answer concerning the effects of these reforms by comparing the 1993-1998 performance of Chicago's grammar schools with all other grade-equivalent schools in the State of Illinois. We find city schools making major gains over the last three years. Regression residuals show that Chicago's schools now significantly outperform Cook County suburban schools and schools in the rest of the state after controlling for rates of poverty and student mobility. While schools placed on probation have predominantly African American and low-income student bodies, rates of improvement among School as a whole appear to be equitably distributed across the city neighborhoods. We close with several policy recommendations, one of which focuses on the potential for major goal displacement as a result of the reform board's criterion for determining the probationary status of schools.