A student's lack of belief in his or her own ability to do well in school can be a driving component of disengagement. In response, the author created art activities aimed to build students' confidence in their ability to learn, carry out a given art task, and identify a competence; such asset-based thinking approaches encourage students to reach…

In 2014, The Urban Education Collaborative at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte hosted its first biennial International Conference on Urban Education (ICUE) in Montego Bay, Jamaica. In 2016, the second hosting of the conference took place in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Additionally, in 2018, the third hosting of the conference took place in…

In "Cinema Paradiso" (Tomatore, 1988), Salvatore's love of movies came from spending his earlier, young life inside a cinema with the fatherly projectionist Alfredo, now blind and bitter. Alfredo is right. Life is much harder, yes, yet still very much "like in the movies" filled with frustrated actions, performed inside blind…

Urban education is a complex system that is often shrouded in stereotypes, labels, and barriers. Service-learning is well-entrenched in suburban institutions, but is a fledgling or grassroots organization in the urban education community. Often, suburban service-learning initiatives have taken the tone of community service in that it is often…

In every state in the South, the percentage of residents with bachelor's degrees or higher who were born outside the state exceed the percentage born in-state, reflecting their dependence on imported talent over building their own talent-development systems. In Virginia, the Southern state with the highest percentage of residents with a B.A. or…

This executive summary highlights research findings on outcomes in education, employment, and income in the southern United States region. Findings include: (1) As a whole, Southern schools, colleges, and universities perform better than ever, though they are in constant need of improvement to meet the demands of both democracy and a changing…

Preparing new teachers to work in urban schools has become a priority for many teacher education programs. This study explored 20 preservice teachers' responses to a scenario about working in an urban school as a beginning teacher. Specific attention was placed on what participants believed were key challenges and concerns. Findings indicated that…

Adopting a Freirean perspective, the purpose of this autoethnography is to reframe the typical relationship between university educators and communities in poverty by highlighting the educative impact of such a community on a university professor's academic, cross-cultural critical and civic learning. By reframing communities in poverty as sources…

The purpose of this article is to provide insight into the strategic transition of preK-12 education in Poland in the Post World War II Period. Strategic planning was primarily focused on centralized state-control and was heavily predicated on Marxist-Leninist ideology in the three decades following World War II. However, since that time, there…

In order to be effective educators in the 21st century, it is essential for teacher candidates to develop a deep understanding of the culture and contextual factors surrounding their students' lives, and the ability to apply this understanding to classroom instruction. This action research study discusses how the implementation of teaching…

In 2005, when the Canton City Schools (CCS), Stark State College (SSC), the Canton Professional Educators Association (CPEA), and the Stark Education Partnership (SEP) came together to establish Canton's Early College High School (CECHS), the percentage of the city's young adults with some college or an associate degree was 33%. CECHS affords…

This study examines the experiences of a number of participants from urban community colleges with high percentages of students from underrepresented populations in Central California. The participants were involved in action research with the Center for Urban Education (CUE) at the University of Southern California. The purpose of the study is to…

The purpose of our study was to examine mathematics and science pre-service teachers' perceptions of their mentoring experiences during their 1st year in the Teaching Residency Program for Critical Shortage Areas, an initiative designed to recruit, prepare, and retain teachers for high-need urban schools. Results from this mixed-methods study…

Outreach and engagement initiatives are crucial in promoting community development. This can be achieved through a number of methods, including institutions of higher education. "Changing Urban Landscapes through Public Higher Education" is a critical scholarly resource that examines the unique ways in which the faculty and students of…

This article discusses two education abroad programs that afford pre-service teachers with purposeful opportunities to enhance their intercultural competence through immersion in teaching internships in British schools. The programs, in London and Nottingham, provide pre-service teachers with direct experiences that engage them with diverse…