Examines the history and importance of parent involvement in schools. Explores ways that urban schools can increase the participation of poor and minority parents. Suggests that schools might develop wider community partnerships. (FMW)

In light of recent calls by educational organizations to abolish tracking because of its role in perpetuating inequities in achievement among racial and ethnic groups, this digest looks at current school detracking efforts. An initial section reviews the extent and reasons for tracking and the concerns raised when detracking is proposed, noting…

This paper reviews 1993 trends and issues in urban education in five sections. Following an introduction, the first section describes the economic conditions of today's diverse urban public school students and the way that poverty differentially affects various ethnic and racial student groups. A second section analyzes key educational policies…

Research on microcomputers in education suggests that this new technology may be widening the gap between rich and poor schools and talented and underachieving students. Public schools in poor districts and small parochial schools are the least likely to own computers. One survey indicates that while 66 percent of affluent school districts have…

The importance of parent participation in a child's education is undisputed, and low-income urban parents can and want to help with their children's schooling, both at home and at school, as much as do middle class parents. However, most poor urban children live in single-parent, female-headed households--often Black or Hispanic--and many school…

This paper summarizes several research findings in order to determine the urban high school characteristics that are most likely to decrease alienation among inner city, minority students, and to make their attitudes toward education, themselves, and their futures more positive. First, the paper discusses the phenomenon of alienation in society…

Summaries of current research on aspects of urban and minority education are compiled in these fact sheets. The first report provides guidelines for counseling in a multicultural educational setting, and outlines what counselors should know about and what they can do for students of culturally different backgrounds. The second report, which…