School racial climate is an important aspect of the school environment that can have significant implications for youths' development. However, existing research is limited by conceptual and methodological concerns that restrict the ability of researchers and educators to identify "what" about and "how" the racial climate is…

Few studies have investigated school connectedness from the perspectives of the adults working in the school. Using qualitative methods, the present study examined three dimensions of school connectedness in one urban, low-income middle school. Analyses revealed that school personnel cared for students' needs, sometimes at the expense of holding…

A university near a major city in Georgia and a large, urban school district established a Professional Development School (PDS) in which the majority of junior and senior-level preservice teacher coursework and fieldwork took place at seven urban, high-needs public schools. The purpose of this study was to provide preliminary feedback to the…

The present case study investigated the impact of a short-term summer literacy approach on writing performance and self-perception of writing for young adolescents of low-income families residing in urban housing projects. The approach offered intensive literacy engagement to offset summer achievement loss; assisted ethnic-minority, low…

Disparities in educational outcomes exist between students in rural areas as compared to students in urban settings. While there is some evidence that these rural disparities are present in eastern Europe, little is known about young peoples' lives in the rural areas of this region. This paper presents an analysis of science achievement by…

This study explored the challenges facing 1st-year alternatively certified teachers of mathematics and science in urban middle schools. Four teachers, participants in a National Science Foundation (NSF)-funded Robert Noyce Scholarship Program, were followed from preservice training through their 1st year of teaching, having taken part in…

In 1999, it was estimated that 50% of new teachers leave urban districts in less than five years. New urban teachers face a host of demands that can contribute towards stress and burnout. While some of the literature has focused upon teacher stress, to date none has focused upon new teachers who are enrolled in alternative licensure programs with…

This quantitative and qualitative study sought to examine the factors that teachers in a poor socio-economic, high-minority, urban, inner-city school district determined were important when gauging their effectiveness in the classroom. The study focused on the selection of specific factors by approximately seventy-five teachers from seven of eight…

Many factors inhibit college completion by African-American high school graduates who come from low socio-economic backgrounds. Some factors are "cognitive," while others can be classified as "non-cognitive." Variables in the latter classification are examined in this study conducted at an urban high school in the Midwest with…

This study explores how a genre-based approach to writing instruction influenced by both genre theory and systemic functional linguistics supported the academic writing development of English language learners (ELLs) transitioning to middle school. Drawing on Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) as a tool for pedagogy and linguistic analysis, the…

The Association of Literacy Educators and Researchers (ALER) Yearbook, Volume 34, includes papers presented at the annual conference, which have gone through a double peer review process. It also includes the Presidential Address and the keynote addresses given at the conference. For ALER's 55th annual meeting, the Association of Literacy…

Low scores of minority students who performed below the standard on the seventh-grade writing test of the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS), are the basis for this study, which examines the effectiveness of Saturday Title I classes in increasing student scores on the TAKS. The treatment of instructional intervention is delivered…

This book compiles and synthesizes existing research on teachers' use of mathematics curriculum materials and the impact of curriculum materials on teaching and teachers, with a particular emphasis on--but not restricted to--those materials developed in the 1990s in response to the NCTM's Principles and Standards for School Mathematics. Despite…

Representative samples of fourth- and eighth-grade public school students from 21 urban districts participated in the 2011 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) in mathematics. Eighteen of the districts participating in the 2011 NAEP Trial Urban District Assessment (TUDA) participated in earlier assessment years, while three districts…

Representative samples of fourth- and eighth-grade public school students from 21 urban districts participated in the 2011 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) in reading. Eighteen of the districts participating in the 2011 NAEP Trial Urban District Assessment (TUDA) participated in earlier assessment years, while three districts…