For more than a decade, a principal of a large innercity elementary school in New Haven, Connecticut, convened a committee of parents and school personnel to interview candidates for positions as teachers and aides. About 50 persons were hired using this process, and all the teachers were successful. The interviewing process has since become…

An inner-city school has a remedial word processing program for students from the sixth to eighth grades. Students are writing more and reading more. The computer has increased their confidence and serves as a nonjudgmental third party and can communicate their feelings to others. (MLF)

A program allowing all students (including 135 students with disabilities) at 1 urban elementary school to participate in an enrichment activity on Friday afternoons is described. Information on activity selection, program organization, materials, community involvement, student leadership, goals, and student reactions is provided. (DB)

This paper presents an analysis of the correlation between the Hispanic Bilingual Gifted Screening Instrument (HBGSI), a recently developed inclusionary gifted identification measure, and the Naglieri Nonverbal Ability Test (NNAT) when administered to Hispanic elementary school children (grades K-4) in a large urban school district in Texas. The…

This collection of papers examines the hidden risks that teacher researchers may face in action research. There are 12 papers in three parts. Part 1, "School-Based Researchers," includes: (1) "Drafting Ethical Guidelines for Teacher Research in Schools" (Marian M. Mohr); (2) "'Tuesday Night' Revisited: Learning to Survive" (Leslie Turner Minarik);…

This study involving 113 students identified factors (attentiveness, child's level of involvement, and feedback received from the teacher) differentiating children at risk for special education referral from other low achievers and low achievers from mainstreamed special education students and average achievers. Urban/suburban differences were…

This report describes four urban elementary schools in Massachusetts that provide integrated two-way bilingual education to linguistic minority and majority students. Properly designed and implemented, two-way bilingual programs offer a language-rich environment with high expectations for every student in a climate of cross-cultural respect.…

The principal of a large Boston elementary school encountered 10 barriers to high student achievement. Examines why he and his staff struggled with those barriers for most of his 15-year tenure at the school. Believes the turning point came when Massachusetts mandated high-stakes tests. (MLF)

The Parent Project is a workshop approach to increasing parent involvement in their children's education. It began in the late 1980s in three inner-city elementary schools in Milwaukee (Wisconsin) as an outgrowth of the Milwaukee Writing Project. The workshop approach that developed focused on what children were learning in the classroom and how…

This elementary school curriculum guide, the subject of a citywide teach-in in the New York City schools, provides facts, lessons, and learning activities designed to provide information about and to prevent the use of crack, a form of cocaine. The lessons are divided into two groups, one for grades K-3 and the other grades 4-6. The primary…

A brief questionnaire examining how teachers' rules of conduct facilitate learning was answered by 20 teachers in a Northeastern urban elementary school. Only two of these, from the upper levels, posted written rules. Verbal rules regarding inappropriate talking and seat leaving behavior were most frequently issued across all grades. Also issued…

In this paper, the authors use data from interviews and observations in four urban elementary schools, two high and two low performing, to examine how schools respond to high stakes accountability policies. The authors argue that school responses to high stakes accountability depend on school context. In low performing schools, responses focus…

Describes a six-week curriculum unit to assist Hispanic immigrant students entering mainstream urban elementary classrooms. Emphasizes interviewing activities that "empower" the new student and heterogeneous group activities that break down prejudice among the mainstream students. (FMW)

This paper presents an overview of the evolution of the Yale University Child Study Center's School Development Program (SDP) since its implementation in New Haven, Connecticut in 1968. The needs of inner city school children are discussed, and results of parent and staff surveys are presented. A critique of alternative school improvement…

Although the single-grade classroom has emerged as the most prevalent administrative arrangement, the existence of the split grade phenomenon continues to be a part of educational tradition in both rural and urban schools, predominantly at the elementary levels. Teachers are then forced to compromise curriculum to teach all levels simultaneously.…